wirrten by an outspoken critic mostly known for rock biographies and his work with Rolling Stone magazine. Starts with a short, but dense, biography of Doyle which gave me more info on Doyle's many jobs prior to Holmes than I had previously known. The main body of the text gives a synopsis and critical appraisal of each of the 56 stories and 4 novels. I found his opinions overall fair and reasonable without any particular brilliance. There are also sections on the various actors portraying Holmes and Watson and the quality of the many movies made about Holmes. Other than overrating Wilmer, I found his views accurate on most of this media. I think he is way to taken with the British 'Sherlock' which I find either insightful with a touch of genius or totally unintelligible. He seemed like another show that works Holmes in, rather than in the Holmes framework. He correspondently downplayed the American 'Elementary' series which I often found very entertaining. A short bibliography of source books is included, with a thorough checklist of, not only his novels and short stories, but also his verse, plays and sundry non-fiction. A long section on the many one-off movies and tv specials adds more depth to the offerings. Sherlock Holmes FAQ is not 'all that's left to know about' Sherlock Holmes, but it is full of useful information.

Not an FAQ. But there's some value here.

The background material in the early chapters is worthwhile, but probably available elsewhere. At the end there are comments about books and movies and television shows based on Holmes and Watson; those have value. In between are plot summaries; the treatments of the novels are OK, but the summaries for the short stories are pretty tedious and rarely tell much that's useful. ( )

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is probably the most widely-known and beloved character in English literature. His adventures, as chronicled in four novels and 56 short stories, have enthralled millions of people over the decades. Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson, have also been portrayed in dozens of plays, radio programs and films by the likes of Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch. SHERLOCK HOLMES FAQ is a one-stop shopping guide to all things Holmes, detailing the back-story of all written stories and filmed/spoken adventures interwoven with a biography of Conan Doyle. It's a lively, opinionated and entertaining tribute to the 'Great Detective.'

Mike O. / Marathon County Public Library
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