Sherlock Holmes: Vol 2: The Complete Novels and Stories Book

The second volume of Bantam's Complete Sherlock Holmes collection is a little bit of a mixed bag, but still worth the modest outlay.

The starting point couldn't be better: the quintessential Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, represents the high-water mark of Conan Doyle's chronicles of Holmes. The desolate bleak moors of Devon provides Holmes with the opportunity to shine - and he does so in dramatic style. If you only read one Holmes novel, do make it 'Hound'. (Trivia: the legend Conan Doyle drew from comes not from Devon, but from near Kington, on the Herefordshire/Wales border)

The Valley of Fear gets off to a promising start, and for all of Part I we observe Holmes in his element, dealing with a more-than-meets-the-eye case of murder. Unfortunately, in Part II, Conan Doyle indulges his tendency to break off into long non-Holmes explanatory story-telling, as previously exhibited in A Study in Scarlet. It explains the build-up to Part I, but frankly he's not at his best in this vein, and while the story is mildly intriguing, it suffers from the absence of Holmes.

The rest of the volume is made up of two short-story collections: His Last Bow and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. The quality of these are rather variable: there are certainly low points, such as when Conan Doyle experiments with doing away with his narrator in the form of Watson ('Mazarin Stone', 'Last Bow'), and when he seems to forget to include a mystery for Holmes to solve ('Veiled Lodger'). It's not all bad, though, with humour combined with danger on display ('Lady Frances Carfax') and old-fashioned Holmes-thinking ('Thor Bridge').

In summary, then: despite the occasional dull moment, this is an essential addition to Volume 1, and should on no account be overlooked. Pass quickly over the weak points and enjoy watching the master of induction at work.