The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 3

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 23 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Arthur Conan Doyle never wasted time in getting his stories moving. His plots are always direct and refreshingly lucid, and the narrative has a velocity that sweeps you along right to the end. This was no doubt a large part of his immense worldwide success. Not surprisingly, each time he tried to end the series, his fans would howl in protest. But, as he says in the preface to his last collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, all good things must come to an end. And so it is with this series, as we have now arrived at the end of the Sherlock Holmes tales, Conan Doyle's most magnificent creation.

This last volume contains one novel, The Valley of Fear, and two collections of short stories: His Last Bow and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audio Connoisseur

Classic

Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of Sherlock stories. There narrator was pitch perfect for Holmes and supplied an admirable Watson as well. Always fun to revisit these classics An all around a pleasure!

Fun listening

It's a classic, what's not to like? Sometimes I would tune out a bit on lengthy descriptions but it was still easy to pick up the thread.

Best of the best

Doyle at his best. He uses every literary trick in the book to engage the reader. You are made to feel that you are just to the right of Holmes' shoulder and just in front of Watson. These stories are mystery adventures at their finest.

a list of what you'll find in Volume 3

His Last Bow (short stories, published 1908-1913, 1917)

The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
The Adventure of the Cardboard Box*(see below)
The Adventure of the Red Circle
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
The Adventure of the Dying Detective
The Adventure of Lady Frances Carfax
The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
His Last Bow (told in the third person)

The Valley of Fear (Serialized novel published 1914-1915)

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (short stories, published 1921-1927)

The Adventure of the The Illustrious Client
The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (Holmes narrates)
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (told in the third person)
The Adventure of the Three Gables
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
The Problem of Thor Bridge
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
The Adventure of the Lion's Man (Holmes narrates)
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
The Adventure of the Retired Colourman

*(The Adventure of the Cardboard Box chronologically appears in the canon in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - circa 1892-1893 - but, for some reason, appears in this Volume 3 audiobook.)

Elementary Adventures

Yes, it’s an obvious way to headline a review of Sherlock Holmes stories, but it fits.

As when I completed Dumas’ entire D’Artagnan cycle, I feel I have gained a familiarity with another cultural monument, another work more honored in the breach as it were, as most people only know it in terms of shorthand or stereotype. The Three Musketeers, Holmes and Watson, Dracula, they’re all characters we know more through spoof, parody or “serious” but necessarily skewed TV and film iterations. I know because I’m not immune from this cultural disorder either.

Back in the early 80’s I sat through through the TV series Sho-Gun and for several days after was under the curious impression that I could speak Japanese. Just so, many people sincerely believe they know Holmes and Watson because they’ve seen Disney’s Great Mouse Detective. I was wrong, of course, and so are they. That’s what makes the on-the-page Holmes and Watson so fresh, surprising and utterly satisfying.

Looking back over the entire cycle of novels and stories, Holmes is far more rude and sharp with Watson than I’ve ever seen him on the screen. Watson is far more long-suffering, patient and forbearing. His devotion is truly affecting, especially through the episodes of Holmes’ opium addiction. For someone raised on the film and TV avatars, other details are illuminating. I knew Holmes never stooped to swank about in a deerstalker, but I never suspected that Inspector LaStrade is far less of a presence in the books. Nor that Holmes disapproves of Watson’s literary career. Nor that Watson tells only a fraction of the tales he could tell.

Those tales are worth listening to even when the solution turns on a device—double identities, for instance—with which Conan Doyle’s legion of literary children have long since made us familiar. They’re worth listening to because they’re simply a delight to listen to. The prose is clear and well crafted; the plots expertly constructed, the characters distinct—helped, no doubt, by Charlton Griffin’s excellent narration. In this last set you also get a glimpse of Conan Doyle’s good sense when, as he lays his last collection of adventures before the public, he expresses a fear lest Holmes appear like “one of those popular tenors” who, though they have “outlived their time, are still tempted to make repeated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences” It’s a kind of sensitivity few artists, especially musical ones, seem to possess these days.

He needn’t have worried, of course. It’s all, as the younger set say, good. We get one story told in Holmes’ own voice. We get the kind of details that will help if we ever make the cut for Jeopardy (Watson worked with Holmes for 17 of the detective’s 23 year career). There’s the question of whatever became of Watson’s wife, who he married at the end of A Study in Scarlet, way back at the very beginning. As P. G. Wodehouse observed, a writer has to be careful how he starts out in the “saga racket”; dates and details like marriages can pose awkward questions later on. Mrs. Watson lingers in the background for a while, is sometimes conveniently out of town, then is out of the picture altogether. One might have some fun with that: The Adventure of the Disappearing Wife, in which Watson murders her simply because she’s getting in the way of his quests for other murderers. But, on second thought, better not.

Out of all the pleasures of this third recording, I want to draw particular attention to a short piece called “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger”. The pleasure is not so much in the mystery as in the story; we see Holmes acting outside his usual orbit of bloodless, rational deduction and displaying something not unlike human sympathy—a weakness he often chides Watson for possessing in too full a measure. For all his ill temper with his slower-witted friend, perhaps the doctor’s good example started rubbing off on Holmes toward the end.

The one low point is entitled, “His Last Bow” subtitled, “An epilogue of Sherlock Holmes”. Fortunately, neither moniker is true; Conan Doyle went on writing for another decade. Set at the outbreak of the First World War and told in the third person (which, after hours of the good doctor, is disconcerting), it’s a cloak-and-dagger spy-ring tale that would be far more thrilling in the hands of John Buchan. Ironically, it’s the sort of assignment—international players, nations on the brink—that Watson occasionally alludes to without giving us any details, his excuse being the sensitive nature of the case or the high-placed names involved. Then again, “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans” covers the same territory in high Conan Doyle style, without sounding like a pale imitation of Buchan. It would have been too bad if “Last Bow” really had been Holmes’ swan song.

The only other complaint is with the recording itself. The other two volumes of this series are divided into three reasonably sized chunks; this one is a single download, all 22 hours, 35 minutes and 32 seconds of it. A bit unwieldy, even in this era of iPods.

Like eating leftovers.

After being riveted by the first two volumes, volume 3 lacked the depth of the previous two. The stories began intriguing enough, but fizzled with predictability. It felt like these were the stories the editors had rejected at first publication. That said, I am sad to have finished the collection and say goodbye to Sherlock and Watson. They've kept me entertained for quite a while!

Throckmorton Street found its way into a story

all I can say was it was a fun adventure listening to all of the stories I hope it was as complete as it seems to have been the mystery that I'm left with his what happened to Watson's wife

Complete at last

Volume 3 finally finishes the Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes. Included among the 3 volumes are every short story and novel that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote starring this illustrious detective. No library is complete without Sherlock Holmes on the (proverbial) shelf.

Mystery and Crime fans rejoice!

If you've watched or read any modern crime or mystery series - you will feel right at home in Holmes' England. Modern NCIS or Law and Order episodes seem to be a homage to the works of Holmes. The short story format of many of the Holmes cases holds the interest and the narration work on this recording is absolutely outstanding. The third volume of the Complete Works does not disappoint, although one could make an argument that the first two volumes contain more popular material. It would seem to me that the Complete works are ordered roughly in the order in which the stories were released - which of course means that one moves forward and backward through time, particularly in this the last volume, when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was writing new stories after the original ones were released.
Enjoyable, well written, well read and with plot twists that abound - this is a must read if you've already read the first two.

QUAINT AND QUIET

I have just finished listening to all three volumes of this set. I thoroughly enjoyed the quiet and quaint stories and story-telling. While driving, I found myself relaxed and transported to another place and time. Often I was prepared to correctly guess the results of the investigation by Mr S H. Just as often, I was guessing until the end of each story. Doyle's expressions in literature were also amusing and I mused often on what would happen today should a writer use the same expressions. If you get the series, prepare to be entertained in a way that will engage your imagination and relax your mind. This is not a series to criticize but to drink in with slow steady intention like a great brew or a fine wine.