The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a captivating set of over 20 stories of the 56 Sherlock Holmes stories ever written, described from the point of view of Watson, Sherlock Holmes's assistant, living up, if not surpassing, the expectations set by the age-old classic. Each story has a captivating plot, yet all different enough that it leaves you reading and re-reading key parts, trying to figure it out before Sherlock Holmes reveals the answer. I admit, I am yet to reliably put the clues together. As I have found, a large age group enjoys this book, making it a pleasure to share with family. Inside the story, there are plots filled with gentlemen, businesspeople, servants, witnesses, beggars, masked trespassers, and more, that unusually for a mystery book, all have the same likelihood of possibly having a hand in the crime. With stories that show weakness in character, like my personal favorite, (in which it turns out that the people who bring Sherlock there happen to be the murderers themselves!) brings a realistic image of the people involved, calling out to the reader, as if to say, "yes, you are here. This is what has been happening," and, from the moment you begin reading, put you in their shoes.
Occasionally, the plot is not truly revealed, such as in A Scandal in Bohemia, when the suspect escapes before questioning can occur, and the story ends in a question, as to whether or not the villainess escaped permanently, or if her story has just begun. Best set for the advanced reader, I would not classify it as a "light read", and is best read in small pieces, thanks to not only the magnitude of the book, but by the nature of a late 1800's mystery novel. Thanks to wikipedia, I have heard that in 1964, the Sherlock Holmes books were, selling second best in the world, second only to the bible. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most influential mysteries of the 1900's, and is, over-all, a true pleasure, and something I feel everyone should read at some point in their lives.
