The Adventure of the Late-Winter Read

 Long-time followers know this, but every winter I read one of the classics. It's important to understand the history of the craft of writing. All art forms are the same. It's important to stay current, but it's equally valuable to know where your craft comes from and to learn from what those folks created. And to understand how some cultural references came into being. 

This winter, I stumbled upon The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. As the title suggests, it's a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories from his later years: Sherlock Holmes. If you're not familiar, in the late 1800s, British author Arthur Conan Doyle created the world's most famous private detective. The stories are told through the eyes of Holmes' trusty sidekick, Dr. John Watson. He would eventually write 56 short stories into the 1900s and commanded vast sums of money to keep writing. 

I'm, and don't cancel me for this, not the world's biggest fan of Doyle's writing. He relies on Holmes knowing things and observing events and clues that aren't ones a reader could use to solve the mystery on their own. I humbly believe that the draw to a mystery is trying to solve it! And if the clues aren't there, it's frustrating to me. 

BUT! There is so much more afoot! The character of Sherlock Holmes- from his hat to his pipe to his apartment at 221B Baker St. in London (now the site of the Sherlock Holmes museum)- the character is a fabulous demonstration of character development. He has his positive traits and his weaknesses. He is distinctive. And, man, you want to root for him.

Doyle did some fabulous descriptive work. This is from "The Adventure of the Dying Detective," in 1913. "Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes was a long-suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters, but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London." Love it!

Less known is that Doyle grew to loathe Holmes. He, Doyle, wanted to be a serious writer, but never found success there. His only literary success was Holmes, which frustrated him greatly. So much so that in 1893, Doyle killed off Holmes in a battle with his arch-enemy. Alas, he never caught on as a "serious writer" and had to bring Holmes back to life. He needed to eat, and Holmes was his meal ticket. 

Holmes would go on to be the focus of movies and TV specials. To this day, there are countless groups that act out his works or form their own secret societies based on his work. There is a thing called a "pastiche," which is a modern writer creating stories in the style of an earlier writer. Absolutely no one is celebrated in this fashion more than Doyle. If ever there was a legacy in literature, by jove, I think he found it.

Fun fact- his famous catch phrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson," is not from the books. Doyle never wrote those words. They were introduced during the 1930s/1940s movie series.

Is he my favorite? No. Is he worth reading? Absolutely. And the stories are short, so you're not investing a million hours in it.

From perhaps his most famous work, Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles.