Delving into the Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

by Benjamin C.

Welcome back to blogging with Benji, where there’s no need to be shelf-conscious! This month, I’ll be talking about the canon of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A collection of mostly independent mystery short stories and four novels written from 1887 to 1927, Doyle’s work still inspires present-day mainstream culture. BBC’s Sherlock television series and the Sherlock Holmes movie series starring Robert Downey Jr. (both of which I highly recommend) are just a few

examples of the massive amount of extra-canonical material that has been produced after Doyle’s death.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock

The imposing presence of Sherlock Holmes in modern society shows the timeless appeal of the classic mystery stories and the intriguing character of Sherlock Holmes. I read part of The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1976 and is a 600+ page collection of 37 short stories and one novel detailing the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a detective genius. I am sad to report that I only got through about 1/5th of the book before I had to return it to the library. However, I plan to read through the entire canon of Sherlock Holmes one day since it’s just that good.
          For those who have been living under a very large rock for their entire lives, Sherlock Holmes is a consulting detective who lives at 221b Baker Street in London. He is skilled in the art of observation and deduction, being able to glance at something and then extrapolate important details.

For example, Holmes tells Watson, his friend, to raise an alarm of fire at someone’s house in order to deduce the location of an important object. The owner of the house reveals the location of the object by instinctively glancing at its hiding location. Holmes and Watson (who sort of plays a ‘side-kick’ role) are nearly unstoppable when it comes to solving the bizarre crimes that people bring to them. All of the stories are written from Watson’s point of view, which I think is a very interesting way to set up the narrative. Most first-person narratives are told from the point of view of the main character since the focus is on them and their story. However, I highly enjoyed this more unconventional style of writing that still manages to focus on Sherlock Holmes and his adventures. Doyle accomplished a highly successful blend of the advantages of first-person writing and the advantages of third-person writing by having an ‘outsider’ tell Holmes’ story. The reader is able to see what Holmes is like to the people around him and the book is able to reveal details about Holmes that would have been obscured if Holmes himself was the narrator. However, the narrator is not omniscient like in other books, which achieves a sort of closeness with the characters in the book, the intimate feeling that is only possible with first person. Watson’s tone conveyed his amazement with Sherlock’s abilities throughout the stories while also acting as a reliable narrator. Because of this, I was instantly addicted to Doyle’s unique writing style.
          In addition to the style, each mystery is carefully devised. When Holmes finally reveals how he solved the case, everything clicks in an extremely satisfying manner. Although it is usually easy to identify the perpetrator of the crime (since there are a limited number of characters in each short story), the method of the crime and Holmes’ logic is always unexpected and exciting to read about. Doyle does a great job of maintaining an air of mystery, that makes it a riveting read.

The premises of the mysteries are also wonderfully set up in a way that hooks the reader in. Holmes’ adventures are extraordinarily unusual, ranging from a diamond hidden in a goose to near murder by a hydraulic press. However, no matter how ridiculous the crime and circumstances may be, it all seems to be logically sound by the end of the story.
          Overall, the canon of Sherlock Holmes contains a plethora of great mystery adventures that are well-written with engrossing characters and plot. The only ‘fault’ that I see with Sherlock Holmes is that because it is in short story format, it is harder to read from cover to cover since the stories are not connected very much since there is not an obvious overarching plot. However, this means that it is well suited for quick reads or if you are looking for a book that you can pick up every so often and enjoy without having to remember all the complicated things that happened in previous chapters. After partially reading the canon of Sherlock Holmes, I would say it definitely deserves a greasy 10.5 out of 13 slices on the patented Bologna Blog scale and I highly recommend checking out a least a few of the stories.