My Meeting with the Greatest Detective

Until late November last year, I had never read Sherlock Holmes, and although my dad constantly recommended it, I thought it sounded boring. Then my brother had to read some for school, and I saw the little book lying on the floor one day, and, feeling I had nothing better to do, started to read it. It was made up of The Speckled Band, The Blue Carbuncle, The Dancing Men, The Six Napoleons, Silver Blaze, and the Reigate Puzzle, and I think I first read The Six Napoleons, as the book was opened to it. I was interested, so I read the others from the start, and they impressed me. Most clearly, I remember being rather alarmed at Holmes slashing at nothing in the dark in The Speckled Band.:) When I had finished them, I asked my mom for more, and she gave an enormous book with double-column, tiny print, consisting of the collections: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the novel: Hound of the Baskervilles. I surprised myself by starting this book in the first week of November (after I'd read the Doctor Who 1970s script book I got for my birthday), and finishing it around a week before Christmas. I spent every spare hour reading the stories, and when I woke up in the early hours of the morning and couldn't sleep, I would shield my torch with my hand to keep the light from waking up my light-sleeping dad across the passage, and read until the batteries went flat. I just loved the personality of Holmes, and how he was cold and scientific one minute, being intrigued rather than sympathetic at a client who started to cry, but then suddenly be a kind and caring friend when Watson was in danger. I also remember seeing the title of The Final Problem and beginning to very nervously read, and seeing the aggravatingly hinting words 'It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.' When I turned the page and saw the full-page picture of Holmes and another man fighting on the edge of a cliff and slipping, entitled 'The Death of Sherlock Holmes', I had this growing feeling that this was going to be the worst story I'd ever read. I got to the end, and I was so shocked I spent the rest of the morning pacing around the house complaining about it, and making the decision never again to read Sherlock Holmes. My dad remembered it being a trick by Holmes, but then he said he may have just imagined that years ago to make himself happy with Holmes's death. I could not find perfect confirmation, so I read the next story, which was Hound of the Baskervilles, set years before (I insisted on reading them in order). I finished that, and went onto The Empty House, and if I remember right, screamed with joy when Holmes reappeared.:) I thought it made his personality almost sweet when Watson fainted and he was so worried about him. For Christmas I got a book of the four novels, Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. I read Study in Scarlet in four days, and would've finished it sooner if it had not been for bedtime.;) But I think it is my favorite of the stories, because it shows Holmes's personality so well. It's got so many lovely quotes and little quaint things, like his speech about the brain being like and attic, and 'The Science of Deduction' (which I wanted as a name for this blog), and the one that goes something like 'Once you have removed the impossible, what ever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' I also liked his first words upon meeting Watson: 'I've found it! I've found it!' and when he starts listing all his faults so kindly when he hears Watson is interested in sharing the Baker Street rooms with him. I even tested him statement that  'When a man writes on a wall, his instinct leads him to write about the level of his own eyes.' and it's true! I am now reading His Last Bow, and although its not quite as good as the other books, Holmes is as charming as ever.