I know, I know.
Actually, I've read a fair number of the short stories over the years, but for some reason, never delved into the novels - and I am so impressed. Conan Doyle takes brilliantly to the larger canvas. In fact, I would say this is by far the best novel I've ever read that consists of a few men and the occasional woman just talking in three or four rooms and moving from one to the other.
But the jaw-dropper is when Holmes proves the ineptitude of Scotland Yard's best by solving the case, giving us the name of the murderer, and opening himself to questions regarding his deductive reasoning. I'm reading this in an ebook, Delphi's COMPLETE WORKS OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, so I imagined there was maybe one chapter left, and then I turned the page to see "Part II"... and Part II commences many decades earlier, in the most barren patch of the North American desert, another continent entirely, with no immediate sign of a living soul for miles around!
This is not just great writing, it is masterful showmanship. I daresay it is probably one of the literary forebears that led to the term Kubrickian.
(c) 2018 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
