Book Review - The Complete Sherlock Holmes (e-book)

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume 1 - This is part of Barnes & Noble's Classic Series which offers great works of the past at low to no cost.  I snagged this at one point when it was available for free, I see it's now $3.99.  Still a deal if you're a fan or want to see where the great detective began.  This collection offers 3 novels (you'll see they claim four novels but there are only 4 Holmes novels.  "The Valley of Fear" is the other and it's not here.  I think they're including the multi-part story of "A Scandal in Bohemia" as the fourth) and 56 other stories including all of his most famous cases.

But what really makes this special is the attention to detail and use of the e-book format to help you get the most out of the book.  It includes great back story about Arthur Conan Doyle and the journey he took with his most famous character.  Conan Doyle didn't think much of the fame (and fortune) that Holmes brought him.  There was other writing that he thought much more important.  At one point to try and get out of having to write any more he began asking for more and more exorbitant fees from his publisher.  The publisher being no fool gave him whatever he wanted.  In its day the Holmes stories were pop super-events.

Even beyond that are the footnotes, each with a hyperlink that allows you to quickly leap from an obscure term (that had been well known in Conan Doyle's time) and then back to the action.  It fills in the gaps that sometimes occur when terminology is used that is utterly alien to the 21st Century reader.

I've been a fan of the Holmes stories for years.  It's interesting to see the liberties that TV and movie versions have taken with the character.  Some of which I don't mind and some of which are just silly.  If you love detective stories and you've never delved into the Great Detective this would be a great addition for you.  If you already know the scions of 221B Baker St London this would still be a great addition to your collection.  Volume 1 contains "A Study In Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", "The Hound of the Baskervilles".  Volume 2 contains "The Return of Sherlock Holmes".

Rating - ***** Put It In Your Library