PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) Born in Edinburgh, Conan Doyle practised as a doctor from 1882 to 1890. The first two Sherlock Holmes novels, A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE SIGN OF FOUR, were published in 1887 and 1890, but it was the publication in the STRAND MAGAZINE from 1891 onwards of the immortal short stories, starting with 'A Scandal in Bohemia', that brought him real fame. The complete canon was voted the greatest crime series of all time by the Mystery Writers of America.
This collection of the 12 short stories that make up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the full-length novel The Hound of the Baskervilles is an ideal introduction to the Great Detective. Many of the most famous tales are here - the singular case of 'The Red-Headed League', the terrifying 'The Speckled Band' and 'A Scandal in Bohemia', which records one of the few times Holmes was outwitted - and by a woman, whom he afterwards admired as he did no one else. Those who have not read the stories for years, or have never read them, will be astonished by the grace and humour of Conan Doyle's writing, the cleverness of his enigmas and the affectionate characterization of the outwardly cold, relentlessly logical Holmes and the eager admiring Watson. Unlike modern crime writers, Conan Doyle always plays fair with his readers, providing all the clues needed to solve the mystery but usually leaving us as baffled as Watson until Holmes untangles the thread. Best of all, though, is The Hound of the Baskervilles, a Gothic mystery with an ingenious plot and a real sense of menace. The image of the vast hound howling across the moors is one that has entered the British national consciousness, and reading the original it's easy to see why. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes are as readable and enjoyable now as they were when they were first published, and anyone who has not yet followed them should go out and buy this book forthwith. (Kirkus UK)
