Sherlock Holmes Anthologies #1:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle

This is a series of short stories about a detective Sherlock Holmes, and his assistant, Dr. Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including:
"The Red-Headed League"
"The Blue Carbuncle"
and "The Speckled Band."

Why I Read This
Listening to the entire original Sherlock Holmes collection narrated by John Telfer. Even though I read (parts) of this before, I'm still up for a refresher on the details I may have forgotten.

First Lines

“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position...

(from Scandal in Bohemia)

☂☂☂☂

This is a reread for me, and as such with rereads of mystery novels, it's harder to be surprised. That said, I did deeply enjoy the majority of the stories as I recognized the little clues dropped here and there along the way. I am also continuously surprised at the range of voices Mr. Telfer is able to emulate, it is almost like listening to a full-cast show!

review posted to goodreads

Sherlock Holmes Novels #2:
The Sign of the Four
by Arthur Conan Doyle

It is in this, the second Holmes novel, that the great detective comes fully to life - not only as a melancholic and an inscrutable master of deduction, but also as an incurable drug addict.
"Which is it today?" Watson asks Holmes matter-of-factly on the opening page of the novel, "morphine or cocaine?"
"It is cocaine," Holmes famously replies. "A seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?"
Mary Morstan comes to Holmes in the hope that he will be able to solve a mystery. Ten years earlier her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, had returned to London on leave from his regiment in India where it is said that he and one Thadeus Sholto, "came into possession of a considerable treasure." By the time his daughter arrived at his hotel, he had vanished without a trace.

Why I Read This
Obviously, having just finished A Study in Scarlet and fallen in love with John Telfer's narration, I immediately started listening to this second book in the Sherlock Holmes chronicles. A secondary reason for my enthusiasm is probably because this book tackles two topics I never quite gleamed from my first contact with the series those years ago: Holmes' drug addiction, and Watson's (second?) wife, Mary. Mary especially was a character I wanted to know more about because the 2009 film completely glossed her over as the token love interest.

First Lines

“Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.

☂☂☂☂.5

I'm glad that Mr. Doyle has understood that audiences did not much enjoy the 5 chapters of criminal exposition (from the first book) as much when Holmes is not there to deduce the hell out of stuff. This second novel of the Sherlock Holmes series delves further into the personal lives of both Holmes and Watson, yet maintains the quality of plot and pacing that the first book had offered.

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Sherlock Holmes Novels #1:
A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan Doyle

In this, the first Holmes mystery, the detective introduces himself to Dr. John H. Watson with the puzzling line "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."
And so begins Watson's, and the world's, fascination with this enigmatic character.
Doyle presents two equally perplexing mysteries for Holmes to solve: one a murder that takes place in the shadowy outskirts of London, in a locked room where the haunting word Rache is written upon the wall, the other a kidnapping set in the American West.
Quickly picking up the "scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life," Holmes does not fail at finding the truth - and making literary history.

Why I Read This
I've been a fan of Hound of the Baskervilles ever since I read it as a middle-schooler, but alas I was not particularly well-versed in the concept of "series" then and had thought the book a standalone. By the time I was in high school, I had read a few more Sherlock Holmes mysteries (The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League) but I had temporarily lost interest in reading. The most recent movie reboot, though rather different from what I remembered from the canon, had resparked my interest in the series and now I'm working my way through the entire audio book collection, read by the amazing voice of John Telfer. Oh, and did I mention all Sherlock Holmes ebooks and audio books (except Casebook in the US) are public domain, meaning they are available for legal downloads at sites like Project Gutenberg and AudioBooksForFree?

First Lines

“In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.

☂☂☂☂

This introduction of the uniquely gifted detective Sherlock Holmes, seen through the eyes of the humble ex-army doctor John Watson, appeals as both a historical mystery, as well as a deeply entertaining portrait of the eccentric sleuth. It was fun to follow along with the easily sympathized Watson as he struggles to figure out both what Holmes has already been able to deduce from the mystery, as well as the great mystery of Holmes himself. Even though I was not particularly interested in the 5 chapters of the criminal's backstory, John Telfer did an amazing job voicing both an excitable and gentlemanly Watson, as well as a soft-spoken and thoughtful Holmes. So, if you are planning to listen to this series in audio, I highly recommend Mr. Telfer as your narrator of choice.

review posted to Amazon.ca, goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari

The Strangler ♥
by William Landay

For the three Daley brothers, sons of a Boston cop, crime is the family business. They are simply on different sides of it. Joe is the eldest, a tough-talking cop whose gambling habit — fast women, slow horses — draws him into the city's gangland. Michael is the middle son; a Harvard-educated lawyer for an ambitious Attorney General, Michael finds himself assigned to the embattled Strangler task force. And Ricky, the devil-may-care youngest son, floats above the fray as a professional burglar — until the Strangler strikes too close to home.
As Joe's mob debts close in around him...and Michael becomes snarled in a murder investigation gone very wrong...and Ricky is hunted by both sides of the law...the three brothers — and the women who love them — are forced to one another's sides. Now, each must look deeper into a killer's murderous rage, into their family's own deadly secrets, and into the one death that has changed each of them forever. As William Landay's electrifying novel builds to a climax, bonds will be broken, the Strangler case will violently unravel, and two mysteries will converge and collide — until a shattering truth is revealed.

Why I Read This
I found this book at a foreign languages bookstore in Xi'an, China while on a roadtrip with my family. It was one of the only books I found interesting, and that was mostly due to the fact that there were brothers in it. I have no resistance against stories with brother-dynamics, and the premise of this - three brothers on different sides of the law - intrigued me to no end. Suffice to say I was expecting them to turn on each other or something at first, but I am just as happy having them work together.

First Lines

“Ricky Daley: In the subway: twenty swaying grief-stunned faces. A man insensible of his own leg pistoning up and down, tapping tat-tat-tat-tat-tat on the floor. At Boylston Street the track curved, the steel wheels shrieked against the rails, and the lights flickered off. Passengers let their eyes close, like a congregation beginning a silent prayer. When the lights came on again and their eyes opened, Ricky Daley was watching them.

☂☂☂☂.5

While the title and setting directly references the Boston Strangler's case, this book is more of a story set in the periphery of the fuss. It explores the brothers' varied relationships with their family, their heritage, and their jobs, as well as both mental and physical struggles and consequences they face as they become entangled in the world of serial killers and mob bosses. The subtle twists and turns impact more emotionally than thrillingly, but that's what makes this story so wonderfully character-centric.

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