Sherlock Holmes

I have mentioned before that I am infatuated with books that have titles like The Complete Works of [author's name]. I like being comprehensive. I like to hold an author's entire oeuvre in my hands all at once.

I have been reading my behemoth edition of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes. Study the cover. Do you notice anything missing?

The author's name is not on the cover, the spine, the copyright page, or anywhere in its 1408 pages where I have looked. Maybe Arthur Conan Doyle's estate is very modest and unassuming? Maybe the publisher just forgot? Or maybe the publisher thought that Sherlock Holmes actually IS the author. It would have been more accurate to call it The Complete Transcriptions of John H. Watson MD.

I like the style of writing, the character of Holmes, and the stories are entertaining.

But I am a teensy bit disappointed. One of the reasons that I like reading mysteries is that I like to be an armchair sleuth. I like to study the group of suspects and clues and come to my own conclusion. When the ending is revealed, I like to either be smug or to be outraged at myself for not figuring it out. In Sherlock Holmes stories (the two that I have read so far), it is not possible to do this. When the villain is identified, it is a stranger who is being introduced for the first time. Then the stranger says something like, "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you kids!", and then he goes on to spill his whole story.

I enjoy the stories, but they are not as fabulous as I thought they would be. I will continue reading Holmes, but will intersperse it with other works.