The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 29 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Volume two in this series consists of one novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and two collections of short stories, which include "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (a total of 23 stories). These creations by Doyle represent the finest work of his Holmes series, and certainly the most famous. They are reproduced here (and in all volumes) in the order in which they were first published.

First appearing in print in 1890, the character of Sherlock Holmes has now become synonymous worldwide with the concept of a super sleuth. His creator, Conan Doyle, imbued his detective hero with intellectual power, acute observational abilities, a penchant for deductive reasoning and a highly educated use of forensic skills. Indeed, Doyle created the first fictional private detective who used what we now recognize as modern scientific investigative techniques. Doyle ended up writing four novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson. All but four are told in the first person by Watson, two by Holmes, and two are written in the third person. Together, this series of beautifully written Victorian literature has sold more copies than any other books in the English language, with the exceptions of the Bible and Shakespeare.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audio Connoisseur

THE BEST

Volume 2 is one of if not the best Sherlock listen I have had, and I have most of them. Narration is great and of course Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes are still the best of them all.

Really lovely to revisit an old friend...

I downloaded this after watching Guy Ritchie's god awful film "Sherlock Holmes." I loved Shelock Holmes when I was younger, and remember him being an interesting, complicated, multifaceted character who had many exciting -- sometimes violent -- adventures. Ritchie's film turned Holmes into an action star / weirdo -- and his 'adventure' in the film was absurd instead of clever.

It was nice to re-read Sherlock Holmes and discover that I was right about him all along -- much more interesting and exciting a character than in that silly movie. The audio book itself has excellent narration -- crisp, convincing, and with very subtle voicework. The audio quality (format 4) was a little hissy, but i suspect this is because the original recording is slightly older.

Spend your credit -- rediscover Holmes.

A monumental undertaking!

I am amazed that Charlton Griffin did not expire giving this performance. It is lengthy, maybe a tad overlong, but an excellent and faithful delivery of the extensive Holme's catalogue. Well worth the effort.

Very Enjoyable

It took me awhile to determine which narrator I liked, and in the end I'm glad I chose this version. Takes Holmes and Watson past the text, into personality and even idiosyncrasies. Brett is my standard, but I enjoyed this immensely.

Love it

I love mystery books so I guess this is perfect I don't always have time to read so I love Sherlock Holmes

The best is The hound of Baskerville

More Sherlock Holmes mystery. This volume includes the key story of Professor Moriarty versus Sherlock Holmes and the supposed demise of Holmes. But the best story in this collection is probably the The Hound of Baskerville. The Baskerville is one of the longer stories and is sort of atypical of a Holmes' mystery. The mystery and solution unfolds in real story time which differs from most Holmes mysteries. Most typical Holmes mysteries start with a client visting Holmes at his Baker street home and narrates a story. Holmes asked a few questions, then dismissed the client and go on some tasks which won't be revealed till the end. Holmes returning from his unsaid tasks and states he has solved everything and they go on to arrest the criminal followed by a complete confession by the said criminal. The mystery concludes with Holmes revealing his deductions and how he went about to prove his deductions to the astonishment of everyone else.

However, in the Baskerville mystery, it is revealed in mid story that Holmes is under cover as he tries to solve the case. It also revealed the villain before the end of the story and the villain was never capture, thus no confession. Another different aspect was the mystery within a mystery such as the unrelated mystery of the butler, his wife and her criminal brother.

If you like turn of the 20th century writing and mysteries in general, ,this is a must get (along with volume I and III). I am currently listening to volume III.

A great listen!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The stories are spellbinding. The performance is also quite wonderful, though in Part 4, in a few places, the narrator somehow mixed up the voices of Holmes and Watson, and had me confused for quite a while!

Dated? Maybe. Relevant? Definitely.

What did you love best about The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2?

This review is really for all three. I spent about three to four weeks consuming these stories, while some are cliche most are still relevant and paint a great portrait of turn of the century British ideals and scholarship.

What did you like best about this story?

I highly recommend this set. Easy to start and very hard to put down. One very nice thing is most of these shorts are all about 45 minutes to an hour, and that makes them very easy to digest.

What does Charlton Griffin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Narration was stellar. Good audio quality and a great reading with true inflection of the time period.

If you could take any character from The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 2 out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Why, Holmes of course.

Enjoyed these classics

Some of the pronunciation of words were a bit off, but the intensity of the stories and build up to to each story climax was magnificent. Different individuals were easily recognized so the plot was easy to follow. Now for book 3

The Best

I absolutely reccomend it for fans of sherlock holmes and everyone. It is a great deal for one credit. you get so many stories, you never tire of hearing them and the narrator is superb!