His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle

July 15th, 2008

His Last Bow
Arthur Conan Doyle
247 p.

Penguin Classics, 2007.
(first published by John Murray, 1917.)

Back cover blurb:

Revealed at last! The final twenty cases of Sherlock Holmes…

From the rooms at 221B Baker Street, the mind that strikes fear into the heart of London’s criminal fraternity turns its attention to some of the strangest and most intriguing cases ever to be set before the great Sherlock Holmes.

Adventures involving an illustrious client and a Sussex vampire; the problems of Thor Bridge and of the Lion’s Mane; puzzles concerning a creeping man and the three-gabled house; disappearances of secret plans and a lady of noble standing; all test the courage of Dr Watson and the intellect of the greatest detective of them all, Mr Sherlock Holmes.

This final collection also features the story ‘His Last Bow’, the last outing of Holmes and Watson…

This is another book I bought for its cover. I would assume the cover is of the Sussex vampire, which, unfortunately, is not in His Last Bow, but in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (which is what I’m currently reading). And unfortunately, I didn’t have much fun reading this. The intrigues of these short stories are all solution and no suspense. They were boring, a lot of the time. I feel dreadful for saying that, because I very much respect the character of Sherlock Holmes. But I must say it, because it’s true. At places it is even mind-numbingly boring. I was so bored.

So, the only part of this short story collection which didn’t bore the living daylights out of me, was the last story, His Last Bow. That one was even exciting! It was set during the first World War, and it was built up in a completely different way, and there were disguises and Germans and all sorts of awesome things! (I guess you can hear my excitement…) Luckily for Doyle, this story was the last one in the collection, so my reading ended on a positive note. And I still like Sherlock Holmes. I mean, The Hound of the Baskervilles was a damned good read.

Entry Filed under: Crime, English, Fiction