The Final Tales of Sherlock Holmes - Volume Four

The Kew Gardens Gnomes

By: John A. Little

Narrated by: Steve White

Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

In this series of five short stories, Holmes and Watson continue their late investigations into dark crimes in 1920/30s London, joined by their excitable housekeeper at 221B Baker Street, the brilliant, buxom Miss Lily Hudson, and by Jasper Lestrade of Scotland Yard, the ambitious, respectful son of the late George Lestrade.

Thanks to Royal Jelly, Holmes is a fit 74-year-old, who has lost his interest in bees and returned to detecting, joining forces again with his colleague and friend, Dr. John Hamish Watson, a 75-year-old unfit twice-widower, who hankers after the good old days of derring-do. Together they explore the case of the Kew Gardens Gnomes and their fiery vengeance; the Portobello Pornographer and the reappearance of an old enemy; the Camden Counterfeiter and the theft of Doctor Watson's identity; the Kensington Kidnapper and the hefty price on Mrs Hudson's head; and the Undiscovered Country, in which a successful writer is haunted by his most famous character.

©2017 John Little (P)2017 MX Publishing

A nice collection of stories

Steve White is one of the best narrators of Holmesian matters. Little delivers a sound volume of text.

Good story marred by bad narration

Very interesting series, with a great idea about the continuing adventures of an older Holmes and Watson. The premise is that these tales were too lurid for Watson or Conan Doyle to publish at the time, but now that they have been discovered, they may be shared with the world. Unfortunately, the narrator leaves much to be desired. His voices are not compelling, his inflection off, and his general style is flat and boring. The stories deserve better. Alas, he is the narrator of every audible story in the series.

Great reading of very grim tales

Steve White is one of my favorite Holmes narrators (I also enjoy his narrations of the Solar Pons stories). Seeing him credited as the narrator is what sold me on this audiobook - and as usual, he provided an excellent reading.
These are extremely dark tales for Holmes and Watson. Not supernatural or horror tales. Just very bleak and grim stories. I typically find a joyful spirit in a good Sherlock Holmes story primarily due to the friendship of the two characters. That friendship is certainly on display in these stories but it isn't enough to cut through the impending doom which is described in the initial story and permeates the air throughout. These stories are closer in tone to some of the darkest Doyle stories like The Adventure of the Cardboard Box.
The first two stories are the strongest of the five. If you are looking for Holmes stories that ring true to the canon you may not enjoy these. I think the author was smart to point out that these stories were not accepted for publication. He may have been suggesting this was due to their extremely dark content but it could very well be due to the fact that these just don't come across as typical Holmes and Watson adventures. However, if you enjoy different takes on the characters and don't mind reading about their declining years this collection might very well be of interest to you. The stories are all interesting at the very least and the narration is superb.