A good, old-fashioned bit of Sherlockian gamery. Not as good as his first outing, 1969's Sherlock Holmes: Ten Literary Studies. In his first book he took some jumps, here he takes some leaps off into Reichenbach Falls. He errs in the Watson's wives chapter on placing too much stock in an apocryphal play. The guessing on the "Unpublished Cases" chapter is too much. And his guess on Holmes's death in the chapter "The Late Mr. Sherlock Holmes" is pure guessery. Not saying he isn't right about Baring-Gould's horrid guessery of a biography and all the "royal jelly" nonsense. But, I don't think Mr. Hall's guess is that much better. Still, good, old-fashioned exegisis, with exquisite old-fashioned footnotes! ( )