Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger attracts him.' In The Casebook, you can read the final twelve stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his brilliant detective. They are perhaps the most unusual and the darkest that he penned. Treachery, mutilation and the terrible consequences of infidelity are just some of the themes explored in these stories, along with atmospheric touches of the gothic, involving a bloodsucking vampire, crypts at midnight and strange bones in a furnace. The collection His Last Bow features some of Sherlock Holmes' most dramatic cases, including the vicious revenge intrigue connected with 'The Red Circle' and the insidious murders in 'The Devil's Foot'. The title story recounts how Sherlock Holmes is brought out of retirement to help the government foil a German plot on the eve of the First World War. These two fascinating sets of stories make a glorious farewell to the greatest detective of them all and his erstwhile companion, Dr Watson.

Reviews

In 1989 the BBC began an unprecedented project to dramatize all 60 of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories (e.g., The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/98). From the first, which was performed in 1989, to the final one, presented last summer, Clive Merrison has been the voice of Holmes and Michael Williams has been his trusty Watson. The four stories in this audiobook reflect a different atmosphere from the 1895 vintage Holmes Sherlockians cherish, but they still record the cases of that brilliant and eccentric detective. These BBC programs will show listeners just how well mystery can be performed as Holmes and Watson undertake the case of "The Three Garridebs," "The Problem of Thor Bridge," and "The Creeping Man." The true gem of this collection, however, is the case in which Holmes must confront "The Sussex Vampire." Superb!ÄTheresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville