The Best of Sherlock Holmes

The Best of Sherlock Holmes
Do you know that the Guinness World Records has consistently listed Sherlock Holmes as the "most portrayed movie character" with 75 actors playing the part in over 211 films? There is something magical about the character of Sherlock Holmes created by the Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The image of the tall, thin man with a cape, carrying a magnifying glass and wearing a deerstalker is recognized immediately. He is the international icon for the detective, the crime-solver and the righter of wrongs. The Best of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twenty of the best tales, selected, edited, and introduced by David Stuart Davies. Basing his selection around the author’s own twelve personal favourites, David S. Davies has added a further eight sparkling stories to Conan Doyle’s Baker Street Dozen, creating a unique volume which distils the pure essence of the world’s famous detective.
At the heart of the storytelling lie the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his faithful and staunch friend Doctor John H. Watson. Each story in the book is exciting reminiscences usually told by Watson. After the first few pages you find yourself involved in very unusual and really breathtaking cases. Take for example an amazing story “The Dancing Men” that shows Sherlock Holmes’ tremendous skills in disentangling different crimes.

These little dancing men are at the heart of a mystery which seems to be driving Mr. Hilton Cubitt of Ridling Thorp Manor in Norfolk and his young American wife Elsie crazy. From time to time they find the dancing men scrawled in chalk on a wall or door, even a windowsill. Each time their appearance has an obvious, terrifying effect on Elsie, but she refuses to tell her husband what is going on. That’s why Mr. Hilton Cubitt comes to Holmes asking for help in solving his frightening problem. Holmes quickly realizes that the dancing men are a substitution cipher. Through much brainwork he cracks the code by frequency analysis. The last of the messages conveyed by the dancing men is a particularly chilling one, and Holmes rushes down to the Cubitts only to find Cubitt dead of a bullet to the heart and his wife gravely wounded in the head. Inspector Martin of the Norfolk Constabulary believes that it is a murder-suicide. Elsie is the prime suspect in her husband’s death. But Holmes, as usual, sees things differently.
And what about you? How do you feel about this surprisingly strange case? Could you explain the mystery of the dancing men? The Best of Sherlock Holmes is well worth reading. Well-drawn characters don’t let you get bored with the narration: Arthur Conan Doyle always makes your brain think, observe, and evaluate.
I would strongly recommend this book to everyone because it’s not just a collection of detective stories – it’s a book describing the life of a very smart and honest person. If you haven’t read a single story about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and are not sure what to begin with, The Best of Sherlock Holmes is the perfect choice for you.