As I said in my last post, I finished A Study In Scarlet and immediately reached for The Sign of (The) Four - which I've read a couple of times previously but not often enough for it to be spoiled. Earlier this year I'd already read The Valley of Fear for the first time and The Hound of The Baskervilles for the second or third time, so I've now clocked up all of Conan Doyle's Holmes 'novels' or longer stories.
I've really enjoyed them all, but The Hound of The Baskervilles is my clear favourite and The Valley of Fear is the weakest in my view.
The Sign of Four, or The Sign of The Four (depending on which edition you read), is a good solid story and a good solid read. As with A Study In Scarlet the reader is given much to sympathise with the villain over and it's not such a black-and-white case as it at first appears. It may surprise some readers that Watson finishes up married at the end, so early in the Holmes canon - particularly when we are conditioned by popular mythology to think of them both as confirmed bachelors looked after by the faithful Mrs Hudson.
It's a definite progression on A Study In Scarlet, though, and I can see why my Nineteenth Century Culture tutor at university selected it in preference to its forerunner. There's much more for both Holmes and Watson to get involved with. There's pace, intrigue and action here aplenty, plus some cocaine injections to help you through the quiet periods.
The Hound of The Baskervilles is almost as famous on its own as Sherlock Holmes is, let's face it. It's easily the most popular of the novels, if not the most popular Holmes story full stop. This is not without some justification either. It is in plain and simple terms a brilliant read. In my mind it sits equally well alongside the fin de siecle gothic horror masterpieces Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde with its evocation of monstrous horror and dark foreboding in the wilds of Dartmoor. It's as much an exercise in atmospheric description for Conan Doyle as it is a detective story. I first read this at secondary school, when my English teachers complained that I was reading too many Doctor Who books and should read something 'proper' instead. This was an obvious choice. I then got marked down for quoting too much from it in my book review. Hmmm.
The Valley of Fear I found the most disappointing. It shares structural similarities with A Study In Scarlet and there's possibly even less for Holmes and Watson to do in this book than there was in that first novel. How much of this was down to Conan Doyle being fed up with his creations by the time this was written I wouldn't like to say. The story seems to me much more of a puzzle for Holmes to solve than an investigation for him to undertake per se. All the evidence is laid before him and he works it out, essentially. There are, however, some nice twists and clearly considerable thought, planning and research went into crafting the story. The power that the hidden Moriarty wields at the end is a concern for the reader and either makes Holmes' nemesis a chilling unknown or it could be misread as a lazy Conan Doyle tying up loose ends with a sweep of his hand rather than proactively through the narrative. It was the only one of the four that I finished and thought 'oh' rather than 'excellent'. I'll certainly give it another read in the future, so I'll be interested to see how I react to it then.
I read the Oxford Classics / Oxford Sherlock Holmes editions of each of these novels, with their thorough introductions and copious explanatory notes. I find much to recommend them.
Having read all these, I do think it's clear that Conan Doyle's strengths lay in shorter stories. I can't imagine reading a full 500-odd page novel by him, nor do I feel his talent lay that way. These Holmes 'novels' are only long stories or novellas really. But they're great, engaging reads even at worst, which is why they are still very much a part of popular culture now and I'm sure they always will be. Thank you ACD.
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