Where should I start with Sherlock Holmes?

[Shodan]

@Sauron

The main thing, the most important thing, you absolutely must do when attempting to read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, is this:

Skip “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone.”

If you happen to buy a collection that has this story in it, rip it out and burn it unread. If you dowload an electronic version or visit a Website that has this story as part of its offering, immediately throw away your tablet or e-reader or whatever and purchase another one.

Trust me on this.

Add “The Creeping Man” to that, which is even worse.

After “The Adventure of the Empty House”, ACD could still make it happen, but it got rarer and rarer as he went on, and finally he was just phoning it in.

I would start with The Adventures, do *A Study in Scarlet *(and skip the Utah part) and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Save the rest for after you are addicted.

Regards,
Shodan

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Holmes’ idiosyncrasies, eccentricities, and borderline crazy plotlines were being spoofed as early as 1896. Some of the early ones are funny but hard to find.

Fortunately, the best Holmes parodies - the best parodies in the crime genre - are cheap and easily available. Schlock Homes: The Complete Bagel Street Saga by Robert L. Fish contains the two original volumes, all masterpieces even though a few shine above the rest. “The Adventure of the Adam Bomb” is glorious punnery and the spoof of “The Final Problem” is sublime. Homes’ deductions are always ludicrous yet always lead to an ending, if not necessary a solution, that slices Doyle’s hackery into shreds.

I assume that everybody who’s reading here loves a great pun - and if not, go to a different internet and leave us alone. Everybody else should grab this book and treasure it.

[Sauron]

@Irishman

So I acquired “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” in the version edited by Kyle Freeman. This one is nice because it is annotated enough to explain some of his cultural referents like people names he drops, and some comments on contradictions with other stories, etc.

There’s one footnote by Freeman that has always bugged the heck out of me. In “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” Holmes is talking with a servant woman who had allowed a man to visit with the governess in a house, against the master’s wishes.

Holmes says something like “Through persuasive arguments, metallic or otherwise, he convinced you to let him in …” and the servant says something like “He is a very free-handed gentleman.”

Freeman’s footnote for the “metallic or otherwise” quote says “A gun or a knife can be a very persuasive argument.” Please! It’s obvious Holmes is implying the man bribed his way in with coins, and the woman is essentially agreeing with him.

Overall I love the footnotes and additional information Freeman brought to the table, but the obvious swing-and-a-miss on this one is particularly frustrating.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@Sauron

…Holmes says something like “Through persuasive arguments, metallic or otherwise, he convinced you to let him in …” and the servant says something like “He is a very free-handed gentleman.”

Freeman’s footnote for the “metallic or otherwise” quote says “A gun or a knife can be a very persuasive argument.” Please! It’s obvious Holmes is implying the man bribed his way in with coins, and the woman is essentially agreeing with him…

Yes, “free-handed” certainly suggests a big spender.

[Irishman]

@Sauron

Freeman’s footnote for the “metallic or otherwise” quote says “A gun or a knife can be a very persuasive argument.” Please! It’s obvious Holmes is implying the man bribed his way in with coins, and the woman is essentially agreeing with him.

Overall I love the footnotes and additional information Freeman brought to the table, but the obvious swing-and-a-miss on this one is particularly frustrating.

Thanks for that. I found the gun or knife explanation weak, and the monetary explanation makes much more sense.

[Sauron]

@Irishman

Thanks for that. I found the gun or knife explanation weak, and the monetary explanation makes much more sense.

It honestly flabbergasted me when I first read that footnote. How can Freeman not know money is what’s being referenced? Particularly with pounds and guineas being more frequently mentioned as coins rather than notes in the stories.

Shodan: I tend to give ACD a pass on stories that reference scientific principles (such as “The Creeping Man” or “Speckled Band”), because I assume his understanding was based on the prevailing knowledge of the day. For my money, the worst story of the bunch is “Mazarin Stone,” and I’m pretty well convinced ACD didn’t actually write it.

[Terraplane]

If you scroll down to the end of the first post, here, you can download all the stories at once for free.