The Illustrious Client - can barely even remember it. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone - adapted from a play, this story not only relies on previously unheard-of architectural features at Baker Street, but fails to capture the reader's interest or render the characters particularly realistically. This story features the single most arresting, chilling images that Holmes and Watson ever encounter, but is ruined by a gobsmackingly bad denouement. The Adventure of the Creeping Man - the biggest letdown in the canon. There are three - maybe four - fiery foreign ladies whose ethnicity is a key part of the solution. One of the most frustrating elements of this book (admittedly a collection of individually-published short stories) are how often similar character tropes pop up. In truth, it's 2 stars for a non-Holmes fan, and 2-and-a-half if you know and love the guy already. However, there's not really a lot to recommend here. On the one hand, Conan Doyle's prose skills have developed considerably from the early days of and his handling of both atmosphere and the Holmes/Watson relationship is rivalled perhaps only by that series peak. To finish off the series, "The Case-Book" is. Well, I've now read the nine books in the Sherlock Holmes canon, and what a ride! After the initial two disappointing novels came three very good short story collections, a great novel, a better-than-average novel and a slightly-better-than-average short story collection.
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