the ADVENTURE
of the
FIRST COLLECTION

(To be read in the voice of David Burke)

I can safely say that I have never cared for an anthology of stories more than I have this which I here consider. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for The Strand Magazine and finally published out of serial form in 1892, these stories are some of the greatest and most fascinating that I have ever had the pleasure to lay my hands on.

I began quite out of order, reading "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" when I was rather a young child for a tale of such horror and villainy, and more lately have enjoyed The Sign of Four, which I read with a group of people from all parts of the country (we connected ourselves through a mutual benefactor who was kind enough to invite us all to join together in casting our eyes over the work. We engaged the services of Zoom for this endeavor). During those weeks we also read together the first five of Holmes' Adventures. This was in the summer of '23, and having then sated my appetite for mysteries and puzzles of that kind, I contented myself with different volumes and gave no other thought to the great detective.

I was reunited with my old acquaintance quite unexpectedly. The living room of my house is situated on the ground floor, and my own rooms above, overlooking the yard. As I came downstairs one morning, I observed my mother ensconced under a lamp with a rather large, paperbacked volume in her hands. I paid no attention, saw to whatever it was which had led me downstairs, and proceeded to settle myself comfortably at one end of the dark blue, well cushioned sofa. In this position, which in regard to the arm-rest of the couch was opposite to that of my mother, I was able to observe with little difficulty the title of the book she was reading. It was the the first volume of the complete stories and novels of Sherlock Holmes. I remembered that my mother had indeed read all there was by Doyle about the great man, and could not help but wonder to myself that she should endeavor to complete this feat twice over. She must have noted my glance, for she said quite unprompted by any word of mine,

"I am reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to complement my Victorian Challenge."

She was, of course, referring to one of her many and ambitious reading challenges with which she had equipped herself for seeing out her literary year. I spoke some words of my surprise and delight, wishing her all the best in her endeavors, and then returning to my copy of Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust thought little of the matter.

"I'm watching the Jeremy Brett adaptations to go along with the stories."

This caught my attention. "Oh, how fun!" I said with warmth. There was a moment's silence, in which I had only time enough to envy such a task as the reading of so undoubtedly magnificent a manuscript, though my own novel was certainly nothing less in way of entertainment, or indeed of intrigue, and then to watch one of the finest actors ever to appear upon stage or screen portray the great man, and solve his cases, and bring back memories in which I sat absorbed and enraptured, only a child, contemplating some of the most famous mysteries ever to be inscribed as they unfolded wondrously before my eyes. This had been my first exposure to Holmes and Dr. Watson, and indeed I feel it is safe to say my introduction to true, great mystery, though Joan Hickson's 'Miss Marple' was a family favorite which I enjoy to this day.

I believe my mother must have read my mind, for she said in the next moment,

"You could read it too, if you wanted."

This struck me as most agreeable, and I smiled thanks and uttered my willingness to take part in this scheme, and upon her questioning me whether I had sampled the volume previously, as she believed I had done, answered at the same time that I had had the pleasure to read a small number of the stories, and cited to her which ones.

"I don't think you need to re-read those, you read them fairly recently, didn't you? Well, I'm only up to 'The Blue Carbuncle', so you could start reading along now, and catch up on the ones you missed within a couple days."

I assented to this, and have since read all the stories about Mr. Holmes and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson contained in this wonderful anthology of his "adventures". Those which captured my interest to the greatest extent are those to which I have supplied the illustrations which appeared in the original publication. It has been a pleasure in the utmost degree to read along with my mother one of the greatest works of the English language, and to observe, through emulation of the careful analysis represented to us in our reading the differences between the original material and its adaptive cousin. It caused us great wonder to see that there had been not only changes, as in the case of the two unfortunate young ladies in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" being not twins as they were in the story, but that there had been omissions of the most vital character that we were not only amazed but shocked: I refer, of course, to "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", in which the most important clue is a peculiar cry, or call, heard in the woods by the young man before his father's death; we were astonished to find this unmentioned in the whole of the episode, and later, when we read one of my most definite favorites, I found upon viewing the program that Mr. Rucastle's reference to his daughter and to her living in Philadelphia were entirely cut from the production. These things were done, no doubt, to insure full respect by the audience of the inimitable detective and his impossible calculations. Nay, I say impossible, but when I have tried, which indeed I have, to implement the methods used by Mr. Holmes I have met with great success, which I have no doubt would not have been mine had I not taken the heed which Mr. Holmes gave so many times to Dr. Watson that he, knowing his methods, should see fit to use them.

It is my intention to work my way however slowly through the entire Holmes canon, and to this end I have so far read The Sign of Four, a most interesting and intricate tale, with John Thaw appearing in the adaptation, and this which I have taken it upon myself to review. With this progress in mind, I believe that I may say with absolute and sincere confidence, that the game is afoot.