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The Sherlock Holmes Companion
Stories, plays & poems, unearthed from obscurity and collected in this volume to provide the final account of the great sleuth Holmes. Includes a foreword by Jeremy Brett, who portrays Holmes in the long-running TV series.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 30, 2010
They key difference between this book and a Cliff's Notes approach to Doyle's Sherlock Holmes body of work is that it is written with loving and respectful precision, based on the acquired expertise of Mollie and Michael Hardwick, mid-20th century writers. Their beautiful little book is no replacement for a thorough reading of the original works, but for me, who has need of a research tool for my Darwin & Dr. Watson project, it is indispensable, the fastest way to get to a remembered story detail or specific aphorism without having to find it again in the original.
Containing a Who's Who, plots of each story, biographies of Holmes and Watson, and an anthology of famous and less-famous bits of dialogue. It also -- as an extra bit of fun -- contains dozens of Sidney Paget's original illustrations for Conan Doyle's heroes and villains.
Containing a Who's Who, plots of each story, biographies of Holmes and Watson, and an anthology of famous and less-famous bits of dialogue. It also -- as an extra bit of fun -- contains dozens of Sidney Paget's original illustrations for Conan Doyle's heroes and villains.
April 18, 2022
I’m a bit hesitant to review The Sherlock Holmes Companion, because I haven’t read all of it. But, on the other hand, it is a reference book, and one seldom reads them from start to finish, so I hope I’m excused.
The book consists of five parts. It starts with Who’s who, Plots of the stories, and A sampler of quotations. The last 50 pages of the book are the most readable section, as it contains fine essays on Holmes & Watson and Doyle from a biographical point of view. The illustrations are classic Sidney Paget drawings.
Despite giving four stars, I have to say I’m just a bit disappointed. At least my edition (Senate, 1999) suffers from lousy image quality. Paget’s wonderful drawings are very dark and lacking any shades of grey. Knowing how great they are, it’s painful to see them presented like this.
Who’s who is mostly good and concise, and includes quotes from the stories describing the characters. Although it seems to be complete with respect to main characters (I haven’t checked thoroughly), I noticed many minor characters missing. Thus, it’s far from a complete Who’s who, which is a pity.
The summaries of the plots are each roughly two thirds of a page long, which is just about right. They’re well-written, but what I found a bit problematic was that they’re largely spoiler-free. In other words, they summarise the main flow of the plot but never the solution (or at least the details of it). So for those you still have to go for the actual stories, which is slightly annoying although it’s an understandable choice.
Quotations are arranged by topics, like Holmes, Watson, Women, Tobacco, etc. They’re fun and I can imagine them being useful for many, but I don’t really need them that much myself.
We don’t know much about Holmes and Watson from a biographical point of view. What we do know and what we can reasonably assume and read between the lines is nicely summarised in the essay on Holmes and Watson. I enjoyed this bit the most.
The essay on Doyle is also mostly a fine summary, but I don’t get the ending. In the second to last paragraph the Hardwicks write:
“In 1917, Sherlock Holmes too had lived his last adventure. The author could confidently entitle it His Last Bow. Despite past experience, he knew that he would write Holmes no more. The last decade of his life was to be devoted almost completely to his new cause, with an occasional story – generally with a supernatural element – as a gesture towards his faithful readers of the Strand.”
The uninformed reader could easily interpret this as His Last Bow being the last Holmes story that Doyle wrote and that those “occasional stories” in the Strand magazine were something else than Holmes. This is a very strange way to treat the 12 Holmes stories that appeared in the Strand between 1921 and 1927 (compiled as the Case-book). Admittedly they’re not the greatest but, e.g., Thor Bridge is quite alright. Thus, I find this total neglect of the Case-book to be a strange and disappointing way to end the book.
In summary, although this didn’t turn out to be quite the book I was hoping for, it’s still useful and entertaining for the fans of Holmes and Watson.
The book consists of five parts. It starts with Who’s who, Plots of the stories, and A sampler of quotations. The last 50 pages of the book are the most readable section, as it contains fine essays on Holmes & Watson and Doyle from a biographical point of view. The illustrations are classic Sidney Paget drawings.
Despite giving four stars, I have to say I’m just a bit disappointed. At least my edition (Senate, 1999) suffers from lousy image quality. Paget’s wonderful drawings are very dark and lacking any shades of grey. Knowing how great they are, it’s painful to see them presented like this.
Who’s who is mostly good and concise, and includes quotes from the stories describing the characters. Although it seems to be complete with respect to main characters (I haven’t checked thoroughly), I noticed many minor characters missing. Thus, it’s far from a complete Who’s who, which is a pity.
The summaries of the plots are each roughly two thirds of a page long, which is just about right. They’re well-written, but what I found a bit problematic was that they’re largely spoiler-free. In other words, they summarise the main flow of the plot but never the solution (or at least the details of it). So for those you still have to go for the actual stories, which is slightly annoying although it’s an understandable choice.
Quotations are arranged by topics, like Holmes, Watson, Women, Tobacco, etc. They’re fun and I can imagine them being useful for many, but I don’t really need them that much myself.
We don’t know much about Holmes and Watson from a biographical point of view. What we do know and what we can reasonably assume and read between the lines is nicely summarised in the essay on Holmes and Watson. I enjoyed this bit the most.
The essay on Doyle is also mostly a fine summary, but I don’t get the ending. In the second to last paragraph the Hardwicks write:
“In 1917, Sherlock Holmes too had lived his last adventure. The author could confidently entitle it His Last Bow. Despite past experience, he knew that he would write Holmes no more. The last decade of his life was to be devoted almost completely to his new cause, with an occasional story – generally with a supernatural element – as a gesture towards his faithful readers of the Strand.”
The uninformed reader could easily interpret this as His Last Bow being the last Holmes story that Doyle wrote and that those “occasional stories” in the Strand magazine were something else than Holmes. This is a very strange way to treat the 12 Holmes stories that appeared in the Strand between 1921 and 1927 (compiled as the Case-book). Admittedly they’re not the greatest but, e.g., Thor Bridge is quite alright. Thus, I find this total neglect of the Case-book to be a strange and disappointing way to end the book.
In summary, although this didn’t turn out to be quite the book I was hoping for, it’s still useful and entertaining for the fans of Holmes and Watson.
September 14, 2023
A really good book for Sherlock fans
February 8, 2011
Quotes, story reviews and a few excellent essays. Michael Hardwick was a napoleon among men.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews