Whats Your Favorite Case?

[Inge l-w]

Hello Cenci, welcome to fun and speculation! Hopefully, your nickname has nothing to do with the Italian family and its rather gory, utterly horrible ending!

My absolute favourite ones are The Greek Interpreter and The Bruce Partington Plans, because it is very amusing to see Mr Holmes, (no Sherlock nonsense, this time around) recognising his brother's higher mental acumen and then proceeding to indulge Mycroft's whims, rather than the other way around, as so often happens in our favourite series!

Also, The Three Garridebs has a unique moment in it that I shall treasure as long as I live! Those who have read the story, know what I mean, without elaboration.

[The Cenci]

The Bruce-Partington Plans has been my favourite for absolutely years. I'm trying not to give the ending away but the 'window' solution was just genius. One of those 'Ah' endings.

 

I know what you mean about Garridebs but I just can't shake it.

 

Lord, I forgot about The Three Gables! Straight in at number one in the worst stories list, mostly for the awful racism in Baker Street.

 

The Cenci is a nod to the Shelley poem (about the murderous family)

[Inge l-w]

Dear Cenci, that's what I was talking about, the poem was inspired by a real Roman family's troubles with the Papacy. What about

the ones where he plays detective, judge and jury, like The Blue Carbuncle, The Abbey Grange, The Second Stain and The speckled Band?

[T.o.b.y]

I don't think "The Three Garridebs" is worth that one moment... It could just as well have been worked into a better (and more original) story if Doyle felt he absolutely needed to have it.

 

I've always loved "The Devil's Foot". I love the atmosphere, I love the bit where Holmes and Watson try out the drug, and I love the "I have never loved" quote.

[Inge l-w]

Dear TOBY, he uses a similar expression when talking about a hypothetical daughter of his in The Illustrious Client, too. But I do agree that the Devil's Foot shows how willing he is to experiment on himself, although he does apologise to poor Dr Watson after getting rid of the lamp!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Seems a bit harsh given the pleasure Sir ACD has given us but...

 

1. The Mazarin Stone. Too many coincidences - hoping that the villains implicate themselves. Plus the doll decide had already been used.

2. The Three Garridebs. A re-writing of The Red Headed League and The Stockbrokers Clerk - getting an unwitting obstacle out of the way

3. The Devil's Foot. Never warmed to it.

4. A Study in Scarlet. Well, the second half of it. I love the first half, obviously.

5. The Noble Batchelor. More gossipy than crime based.

 

About Study in Scarlet -- do you dislike the entire second half (including the scenes in London at the end), or just the Utah part?

[The Cenci]

The Utah scenes. Anything Victorian London based and I'm fine.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I like a study in scarlet but the Utah scenes felt like a different story until I realized they were connected. I also like sign of four and seeing the different ways it was pulled into the BBC version.

[sfmpco]

So far...okay, I've only read three of the stories... I have not been all that impressed.  I think part of it is that the stories are often retold in dialogue by another character and so I feel taken out of the action.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The Utah scenes. Anything Victorian London based and I'm fine.

 

Me too.  Seems like Conan Doyle could have summed up the Utah portion quite adequately in a few paragraphs.  Maybe the magazine was insisting on a longer story?

 

So far...okay, I've only read three of the stories... I have not been all that impressed.  I think part of it is that the stories are often retold in dialogue by another character and so I feel taken out of the action.

 

Which three?

 

I think I disagree with you about the retelling.  I would have been ecstatic if Jefferson Hope (in Study in Scarlet) had summed up his motives in about a page and saved us from trudging through Utah.  And while I don't care for what's-his-name's backstory account in Sign of the Four, I don't think that's because I've been taken out of the action.  Rather than "seeing" the story happen instead, I'm reasonably certain that I'd once more prefer something far shorter.  I'm interested in the Holmes-related action, not the interminable backstory.  (I often had the same complaint about Perry Mason.)

[sfmpco]

 

 

 

So far...okay, I've only read three of the stories... I have not been all that impressed.  I think part of it is that the stories are often retold in dialogue by another character and so I feel taken out of the action.

 

Which three?

 

 

The Gloria Scott

The Muscgrave Ritual

A Study in Scarlet

[Inge l-w]

Dear Carol,

My Dad was a huge Perry Mason fan, and frankly, it is through reading Erle Stanley Gardner that I learned English (OK, the American variation thereof) , just as I learned French from his reading the original Tintin and Asterix stories and my parroting the language. I have 106 Perry Mason novels and short stories at home, there is hardly a handful that has anything resembling a backstory. It's all client- mystery- the game is on- Drake as Dr Watson doing the legwork - Perry and Della relaxing comfortably over a three -course steak dinner as Drake has to suffer through endless hamburgers and bicarbonate of soda after effects. Can you remember the titles of those with back stories, or are you referring to his Doug Selby or Donald Lamm series? Bertha Cool is such a character!

[Carol the Dabbler]

So far...okay, I've only read three of the stories... I have not been all that impressed.  I think part of it is that the stories are often retold in dialogue by another character and so I feel taken out of the action.

 

Which three?

 

The Gloria Scott

The Muscgrave Ritual

A Study in Scarlet

 

Thanks -- I see what you mean, then.  I do find portions of those stories enjoyable, but I must say I prefer stories that stick closer to Holmes and/or Watson.  (My main gripe with Musgrave is Holmes's inane trigonometrical exercise -- which fails to take into account that trees grow!)  But if you got through Study in Scarlet, you've already survived one of the longest non-Holmes passages.  You might want to give The Hound of the Baskervilles a try.  As I recall, the narratives are generally fairly short in that one, like real-life conversations.

 

Dear Carol,

My Dad was a huge Perry Mason fan, and frankly, it is through reading Erle Stanley Gardner that I learned English (OK, the American variation thereof) .... I have 106 Perry Mason novels and short stories at home, there is hardly a handful that has anything resembling a backstory. It's all client- mystery- the game is on- Drake as Dr Watson doing the legwork - Perry and Della relaxing comfortably over a three -course steak dinner as Drake has to suffer through endless hamburgers and bicarbonate of soda after effects. Can you remember the titles of those with back stories...?

 

I will admit that it's been a while since I read any Mason stories (though I have my father's complete collection) or saw any of the television episodes -- but my impression is that they tend to start off following some unfamiliar character such as the future client, so that Mason and crew don't enter the story till later on. I never feel much connection with the "guest stars" so I find the early portions kind of tedious, something I have to sit through in order to get to the good stuff.  That's what I mean by "back story" -- a back story from Mason's point of view.  Oddly enough though, that same characteristic didn't bother me much with Columbo.

 

[Goodnight-Vienna]

Valley of Fear was the most fun to read, IMMHO. But you can't beat the first. Study in Scarlet remains the best.  I also like Boscombe Valley and Silver Blaze. 

 

[lvijay]

One of my favorites is The Silver Blaze because of the manner of reasoning used by Holmes.  In it Holmes shows that negative information is also information which, as far as logical reasoning goes, is an extremely valuable trait.

 

Spoilers so beware.

 

 

 

Holmes remarks about "the curious case of the dog" to which Watson says the dog said nothing that night. Holmes says that was indeed the most curious aspect of the case.

With this information, Holmes deduces that the perpetrator must have been an insider because otherwise the dog would have barked.

 

 

 

 

[Hikari]

Perusing the Canon, I realize that I like the Whole (Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson) better than the sum of their parts.  A great many of the stories have excellent and invaluable dialogues and friendship moments between our pair; some memorable plots, too, though for me 'the case', ie. The What SH is solving is always less important than the How.

 

Picking a single favorite is not possible; I have quite a few favorites.

 

Out of 'The Adventures'

 

A Scandal in Bohemia is absolutely essential, for the introduction of SH Muse, Irene Adler.  It's also possibly the most fun Sherlock ever had on a case, notwithstanding that he was beaten (twice) by a female.  The 'disguise' portion and the rather madcap comic setpieces of the throwing of the 'firebomb' and the mad rush to the church are great fun.  This may just be my favorite case of the Jeremy Brett series.  It has been observed that Holmes's function as 'a witness' to the nuptials of Miss Adler and her groom, Mr. Godfrey Norton, read more like SH is, in actuality, the groom here.  Witnesses to a wedding do NOT 'mumble responses'--not at any wedding I've ever attended.  Hmm!

 

The Man With the Twisted Lip is one of the more satisfying cases to me.

 

The Copper Beeches is one of the super-creepy Gothic ones, but Miss Violet Hunter stands above the pack as a resourceful, intelligent and worthy client, enough for Sherlock Holmes not to be Bored with her despite her being a girl.  Dr. Watson thought so too and was in fact quite keen to play matchmaker for his friend with Miss Hunter.  (She being too freckled and apparently too much of a tomboy for *his* taste.)  This did not transpire, but Holmes continued in correspondence with Miss Hunter after their case together, and she is a popular pastiche subject . . because she *would* have been a good match for SH, Adler being already spoken for.

 

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle wins points with me as the most comic/lighthearted of our stories, with SH on very good form, infused with, of all things, the Christmas spirit, or at least his own version thereof.

 

In my opinion, Holmes's best and most defining moments come, not in the 'big' cases, like The Speckled Band, but in the small, more homely cases in which he takes up the cause, not of a nobleman or person of means, but of 'ordinary' women.  A Case of Identity & The Noble Bachelor are two such.  These are not of earth-shattering importance to the realm, but to the individuals involved, they are the entire world.

 

I have to leave off there for now but I will be back with more.

[Arcadia]

I haven't read all of them by any means, but I think I enjoyed "Hounds" the most. And Violet Hunter sticks in my mind as one of the more interesting clients, so I must've liked The Copper Beeches too, even though I don't remember a single other thing about it.

[HerlockSholmes]

They are all works of sublime genius of course......in my humble, completely unbiased opinion of course

[Hikari]

They are all works of sublime genius of course......in my humble, completely unbiased opinion of course

[HerlockSholmes]

I always find it difficult to select my favourite Holmes story because I’m the world’s most uncritical fan. I just can’t dislike any of them but I do accept that some are less good than others (some considerably less of course.)

I was about to start on The Adventures to choose my favourites but I just couldn’t. I love them all....sorry

[HerlockSholmes]

This isn’t the correct forum but I’ve just got a file reducing app so I want to see if I’ve used it properly and I can actually post a picture for the first time ever!

 

Nope I’ll try again!

[Caya]

Best of luck. :smile: You need help with that and/or want me to move this post? (if it's no longer relevant, you can hide it yourself, btw)

[HerlockSholmes]

Thanks Caya. I’ve never been able to post pictures/photographs either on here or on other forums because it always said ‘file size too big’ or words to that effect. So I recently bought an app from the iStore called ShrinkMyPicures. I compressed a picture to the maximum but it still said ‘too big.’ I’m unsure if I’m doing something wrong but I can’t for the life of me see what. It’s a bit frustrating. It’s not that I’m desperate to post anything but it would be good to be able to do it. Nothing is simple with technology. Not when I’m involved anyway☹️

[Carol the Dabbler]

I *would* advise you to stop trying to embed photos (which is the cause of the "too big" message) and use an image-hosting site. But then PhotoBucket happened. :(

 

The worst thing about embedding photos is that no matter how ruthlessly you smallify your images, you'll use up your allotted space pretty quickly. I use mine only for really teeny things like the occasional borrowed emotie.

 

Still haven't found a satisfactory hosting site. :sigh:

[Arcadia]

Did you try the one Van Buren recommended? Postimage?