The Papers of Sherlock Holmes: Volume 1

By: David Marcum

Narrated by: Simon Shepherd

Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Spanning events over thirty years, Volume I of The Papers of Sherlock Holmes relates narratives of Holmes and Watson's days in Baker Street, as well as particulars of Holmes's supposed retirement.

Follow along as The Master and his Boswell travel from the streets of London to the Kent countryside, to Oxford and Sussex.

Written in traditional canonical style, these stories provide fresh details of Holmes's world. Join us as we climb the seventeen steps to the Baker Street sitting room, where Holmes and Watson prepare to begin their next adventure. The game is afoot!

©2013 David Marcum (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

The Papers of Sherlock Holmes

Mr. Marcum, needs to keep finding more lost or hidden papers. A very well done novel. New Holmes Family information was great!!

A middling Holmes pastiche

The stories herein are just that, stories. There is little in the way of mystery and our protagonists feel as though they're just along for the ride.

many nested stories

I like the way the author packs each story with multiple coalescing storylines, so each tale is made of several. It seems like a spendthrift approach, tossing out so many story lines that other people would be happy to have just one of, but it makes for a rich narrative, a tour de force . . .

No one talks like that.

What would have made The Papers of Sherlock Holmes: Volume 1 better?

The volume was fine.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The stories were quite good.

What didn’t you like about Simon Shepherd’s performance?

His voicing of Sherlock was stilted, halting and sounded like a poor imitation of William Shatner. No one speaks like that normally and it was grating on the ears.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The stories/cases were good.

Any additional comments?

What a shame that the voice portrayal of the main character spoiled the whole experience. Very disappointing.

great stories

I enjoyed all of these stories. the narration was good except for the voice of Sherlock. for some reason the narrator would pause a couple of seconds after every word that Sherlock spoke. very irritating.

Not great - narrator irritating

Not one of the better ones of the 'new Holmes' genre. The narrator seems to be making Holmes sound like a poor man's Edward Fox, which becomes really irritating after a while.
And I'm afraid the plots just aren't in the style of Conan Doyle's. If you like the Bert Coules stories, I doubt you'll enjoy this any more than I did.

Irritating american vocabulary

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not bad until each ridiculous and lazy American term cropped up - Fall / Autumn, Sidewalk / Pavement etc - which was distracting

What will your next listen be?

Not something like this

Did Simon Shepherd do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Yes but his Holmes voice is annoying

Do you think The Papers of Sherlock Holmes: Volume 1 needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not until author has better attention to detail

Find another narrator

Reasonable reader in general, but when reading as Holmes or one of the American characters this is very poor. This appears odd as the stories are clearly written by an American, the usage of pants, sidewalk, block, and most telling, the use of root cellar. A good editor is needed to decide whether the stories are written by the British Dr Watson or some unknown American.

Stick with it, it gets better!

Use of Americanisms and the annoying voice of Sherlock can be overlooked as the stories improve through the book.