March 15, 2015
This was the first Sherlock Holmes book, and having blasted through it (it's not all that long, but I did have a tough time putting it down), I can see why these works were so popular in Doyle's time, and continue to be so today. The writing style is very clear, and Holmes is a fascinating character, still a fixture in popular culture. Told, of course, from the perspective of Dr. Watson, it tells how the two met and became roommates, and describes the first case that Watson saw Holmes work.
Holmes is one cocky motherfucker, but it's well deserved. He runs circles around the best of Scotland Yard (Lastrade and Gregson, who are not all that great of detectives), and yet he isn't even upset when they get the credit for solving the case. It's enough for him to be credited by these men (privately) and by his roommate as being the best. He explains his methods to an incredulous Watson, and while his attention to detail and deductive thinking seem necessary and obvious in our time, they were innovative in his. If Holmes' real goal was to spread his method (and he does express this desire), then mission freaking accomplished.
The circumstances of the murders are complex themselves. As Watson and Holmes learn more about the first victim, Drebber, Watson comes to the conclusion that this guy was kind of a piece of shit. In spite of this, he knows that justice must be served. The first part of the book deals with the investigation and the eventual arrest of Jefferson Hope, and the second part mostly tells Hope's story, showing him to be much more sympathetic than his two victims.
All three (Hope, Drebber, and the other victim Stangerson) were all Americans. Drebber and Stangerson had been early members of the LDS church, actually traveling with Brigham Young's group to Utah. They'd been polygamists, of course, and as young men had vied for the hand of young Lucy. But she loved Hope, and her adopted father, who had never truly adhered to the Mormon faith, had approved of this match. The three fled Salt Lake City, but were pursued; Lucy's father was killed when Hope was away from their camp, and Lucy was forced to become Drebber's eighth wife. Hope swore vengeance on both men, following them around the country, then Europe, after they were excommunicated from the church. He finally killed them in London.
There were two fascinating, well-written stories intertwined here. This isn't the first Holmes book I've read; The Hound of the Baskervilles is entry #1 of this blog, in fact. It certainly won't be the last. In fact, just as I've aimed to read all of Jane Austen's works (quite close there), I would like to read all of the Sherlock Holmes books and stories, eventually. This book was just about perfect, and I'm sure reading the others will be time well spent.
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