Post your favorite Sherlock Holmes story

[Coventina]

I've started re-reading the Holmes stories, and I've fallen in love with them all over again.

My personal favs:

The Hound of the Baskervilles (natch)
Silver Blaze
The Yellow Face (why didn't Granada produce a Jeremy Brett version?!?!)
and, a perennial Christmas favorite: The Blue Carbuncle

Some people love "A Christmas Carol" as their favorite Victorian Christmas story, but for me, it's Holmes producing a little Christmas miracle of his own.

There are a lot of other great ones, tell me your favorite and what makes it your favorite.

[Lavender Brown]

1. A Scandal in Bohemia

I love a big romantic mess. Also the Speckled Band. It's just so bizarre. I only have the Oxford Classics paperback version, so I think I'm missing quite a few stories. :shrug:

[Coventina]

2. There are four novels and 56 short stories

I'd be curious to know what is included in your edition.

Is it supposed to be a "greatest hits" type compilation?

[Lavender Brown]

3. Heading to bookshelf...

It's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It has twelve stories, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" and ending with "The Copper Beeches."

[Coventina]

4. The favorites you mentioned are two very good ones

The "Scandal" is a very pointed jab against Victorian double standards, with Holmes clearly taking the side of the woman. Kudos for him (and of course his creator, Doyle).

And of course "The Speckled Band" is one of those classic "locked room" mysteries, and has a great creepy feel to it.

[Lavender Brown]

5. I should read them again

I haven't in a while. But I'm kind of on an Agatha Christie kick right now. :)

[terrya]

6. "The Red-Haired League"

[Coventina]

7. That's a fun one.

One of the many that have the premise, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

[skygazer]

8. I love Sherlock Holmes

"The Musgrave Ritual" is a favorite, mainly because it gives a glimpse of the young Holmes. And "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is one of my favorite books of any genre.

I love Conan Doyle's titles, too. They're so vivid - "A Study in Scarlet" - how can you beat a title like that?

Oh, hell, now i have to read some Holmes!

[Coventina]

10. "The Musgrave Ritual" is another really good one.

I love how it combines a contemporary mystery with an ancient one.

And you are right, the titles are great.

Some of my favorite titles are "The Valley of Fear",
"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot"
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"
and
"The Adventure of the Creeping Man"

[lildreamer316]

9. You must be watching Biography Channel.

The Speckled Band at 11pm EST.

As to my fave; let me peruse my hardback Complete Original Illustrated compendium....

Return of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure Of The Empty House.

[Coventina]

11. No, actually I don't even have cable.

"The Empty House" is a sentimental favorite of mine.

Poor Watson, he is so abused, yet so devoted.

[lildreamer316]

12. I know..

and lemme tell ya,Edward Hardwicke does such a wonderful job on the televised episode of that story. That's why I loved the Jeremy Brett ones so much...he just WAS that role, body and soul.

[Coventina]

13. Those Granada productions will likely never be surpassed.

I am only sad that not all of the stories were made.

Some of my favorites (like the Yellow Face) deserved to be made.

[elfrangel]

14. I'm partial to

"The Sign of the Four". Freaked me out as a kid when I saw the play. Later, I read the story and it gave me chills. I then became a devoted Sherlock Holmes fan.

My mother and I are big mystery buffs...can't solve them, but sure enjoy them. She got me hooked on the ones with Jeremy Brett....I love him as Holmes. He just fits it, perfectly.

I also enjoy "Hound of the Baskervilles" and "Red-Headed League".

I will have to make a trip home and steal that collection of hers.... :)

[Coventina]

17. The Sign of the Four has some great, spine-tingling moments

And it has all the no-fail ingredients of great stories:

A damsel in distress
A mythical and fabulous treasure
A diabolical murder
A mysterious wooden-legged man
A frustrated lover
A climatic chase scene

What's not to love?

[elfrangel]

18. My thoughts exactly. EOM

[Arkham House]

15. The Valley of Fear...

...I know, I know...Part Two is a cheap dime novel. But Part One is the most underestimated of all the Holmes stories, with a brilliant puzzle--Doyle's best--and a stunning climax, which has influenced many later detective stories...

[Coventina]

16. I like "The Valley Of Fear" quite a bit as well

I don't know why it languishes in the cannon. It seems like it is neglected like "A Study in Scarlet" is as well.

Maybe because both of them spend time without the Watson/Holmes dynamic.

:shrug:

[Broken_Hero]

19. a side story, really...

S. King did a Sherlock Holmes short story in Nightmares and Dreamscapes, it was pretty good. I have never read a S. Holmes story, so no opinion on that subject....:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. Ship In a Bottle

One of my favorites!

Though I also really love The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League, and The Engineer's Thumb.

[Coventina]

22. Okay, I confess, you have me stumped!

I don't remember "Ship in a Bottle"

Can you refresh my memory?

I think "The Engineer's Thumb" is one of the scariest stories, along with "The Dancing Men". Both of those stories always gave me the colly-wobbles.

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Ship In a Bottle was the second Moriarty story on Star Trek

The Next Generation.

The first story had Data playing Holmes on the holodeck, and he asks the computer to make an opponent that can beat him. The computer creates a real person, Moriarty, who then takes over the ship and, blah blah blah, by the end he willingly allows himself to be put back into the computer to be saved until such time as scientists can figure out how to let him leave the holodeck.

In "Ship in a Bottle", Moriarty comes back - he's been aware of the entire 4 years he's been in the computer, and hes pissed off that no one has figured out how to let him leave the Holodeck so he takes over the Enterprise in a big way to force his hand. It's a great story, and the guy who plays Moriarty is fucking brilliant. He's the quintessential Moriarty in the way that Jeremy Brett is the quintessential Holmes.

[Coventina]

26. Okay, I kind of remember those episodes.

You would think that I would remember them better, since I love both Star Trek AND Sherlock Holmes!

But, it hasn't run in syndication here for a long, long time.
Did some cable channel buy up the rights?

[lildreamer316]

28. Spike has them, and so does G4.

I know it's not cool to have cable, but somedays it's worth it.

[lildreamer316]

27. It's the butler from 'The Nanny'.

I'll have to go look up his name.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

21. The first one I'd ever read...

was "The Speckled Band" in sixth grade. I fell in love with Holmes' world immediately, so I think I'll say that one's my favourite. :D :hi:

[Hand]

24. I actually like "The Final Problem"

That was to have been the last Holmes story--the on that ended with him and Moriarty going over the falls locked in each others' grip. Quite a moving elegy by Watson at the end.

I gather that Conan Doyle was sick and tired of Holmes at that point and truly meant to kill him off. Popular indignation put the kibosh to that.

[Coventina]

25. You're right. Doyle was afraid of Holmes taking over his entire literary

legacy (which he nearly did).

But, just like a vampire, Holmes just wouldn't stay dead or retired. Doyle ended up bringing him back several times.

Just like Dr. Frankenstein learned, sometimes your creation acquires a life and will of its own!

:-)

[lildreamer316]

29. You know, I swear...

some days I think the same person was Doyle and Brett (I'm obviously an extreme believer in reincarnation) because it seems as if Holmes was created so well and detailed so that Brett could embody him so completely. It's just scary how much he just WAS Holmes...a fictional character. Reminds me of something Richard Bach said in "Illusions":"If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats."

[SteppingRazor]

30. Silver Blaze...

the bit about the dog not barking in the night is THE classic Sherlock line.

Ever see the TV series with Jeremy Brett? He did the best Holmes ever, IMHO.

[Coventina]

33. Ah yes! "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time"

"The dog did nothing in the night-time."

"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

:thumbsup:

And yes, Jeremy Brett WAS and probably always WILL BE Sherlock Holmes.

:loveya:

[WI_DEM]

31. "The Speckled Band", "The Red-Headed Leauge", "Five Orange Pips"

"The Final Problem", "Adventure of the Devil's Foot", of the novels "Hound of the Baskervilles".

[Coventina]

34. I think "The Five Orange Pips" is one of the saddest.

One of the striking things to me in reading the stories is how America seems to be a supply of exotic material. Doyle seems to have been very interested in Americana and its secret societies like the Mormons, the KKK, the budding Mafia, etc.

Over here we think of the KKK as a bunch of evil, ignorant, mouth-breathers and don't really attach a sense of romantic, gothic horror to them.

And the Mormons are the nice family that lives down the street.

[Love Bug]

32. "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie King

I know it's not in the Holmes "canon" but I love this book.