Hello Bookworms!
As
you know, I have been reading through the original Sherlock Holmes stories,
lovingly referred to by Sherlockians as “The Canon”. The story I am going to
discuss in this post is The Adventure of The Noble Bachelor.
Summary
While
poor Watson is a bit under the weather, he’s had plenty of time to catch up on
the gossip in the local papers. What he did not realize is that his new found
information will actually help his dear friend Sherlock Holmes. Lord St. Simon
has written to Holmes to request his help in the much publicized matter of his
wife’s disappearance. The two had been married for just hours after a happy
courtship and engagement when his wife walks outside her father’s house where a
breakfast is being held and is never seen again. Can Sherlock find the new Lady
St. Simon?
Review
This
was an interesting story. It’s difficult to discuss the details of a short
story that I like without giving anything away, but I’m pretty sure (after
taking great care and proof reading before posting) that I have managed it so
here goes:
The
reason I found this story so interesting was because I thought I knew the
answer from the beginning. However, it shortly became clear that I had missed
the answer altogether! For me that’s something I love is when the answer to the
question is something that I did not consider as being possible in the story
and yet the evidence backs up the conclusion completely! I like the creativity!
Being
a person that enjoys studying people’s behavior, ideas, and habits, I loved the
section at the end after the solution has been explained. I loved the way that
Doyle wrote Sherlock inviting people to dinner at 221b Baker Street and that
Sherlock Holmes seemed to like Americans and said as much. It was just an
interesting moment to learn a little more about what kind of a person Sherlock
Holmes, the great detective, was meant to be in the original stories. I like
seeing what kind of a person Sir Arthur Conan Doyle originally wanted Sherlock
Holmes to be. Do not misunderstand me, it is fun to see all the variations of
Sherlock Holmes and all the variations of character and backstory that have
been given to the detective over the years, on the stage and screen, but I like
to see what person Sherlock Holmes was originally meant to be. Remember, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle was the original writer. Doyle created Holmes and had
reasons for writing Holmes the way he did. While we may never know what Doyle’s
actual thought processes or reasons were, I like the idea of paying the author
the respect of getting to know his original character while getting to know the
other variations as well (sometimes I find that I even like the original
Sherlock Holmes’s personality much better than the variationsJ).
I
have almost completed The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and will soon be moving
on to “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” as they have been published in the
compilation “The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes”
I realize that this version is missing many of
the short stories but I am going to go back and fill in the areas that have
been deleted using this book that I recently ordered through Amazon.com shown
here:
This book has all 56 Short stories and all 4
novels so I am really excited to get to add it to my collection.
I
think that either book would be a great addition to your personal library. While
the first is missing several stories, it does include the illustrations by
Sidney Paget and the stories are printed the way you would have seen them in
The Strand Magazine. The other has all of the stories and novels but no
illustrations. I like both copies and am glad to have both.
Until next time!,
Lizzie <3
