Last week’s meeting of the Illustrious Clients, the Indianapolis scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars, featured a new activity: Member Meredith Granger asked several other of us members of name their favorite and least favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as their opinion as to the best, worst, strongest, and weakest.
Here are my selections, with the reasons:
FAVORITE STORY
“His Last Bow”
- Strong beginning and ending paragraphs
- Beautifully written throughout
- Touching relationship between Holmes and Watson
- A view of Holmes and Watson post-retirement, far from 1895
LEAST FAVORITE STORY
“The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone”
- Count Sylvius and Sam Merton are the weakest villains in the Canon
- The plot gimmick just doesn’t work
- One of the few stories without even a few memorable lines
- Only positives: the presence of Billy the page, and the thumb in the nose of Lord Cantlemere at the end
BEST STORY
The Hound of the Baskervilles
- “A real creeper,” in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Also a strong detective story, with clues, red herrings, and surprise killer
- We never tire of re-reading it
WORST STORY
“The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” – see above
STRONGEST STORY
“The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans”
- Strong opening and closing lines
- Mycroft and Lestrade
- – because it’s both a spy story and a detective story
- Great dialogue
- Highest possible stakes
- Holmes commits burglary, as usual
WEAKEST STORY
“The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger” – in which Holmes does nothing
Now, what do you think?
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