Complete Sherlock Holmes (Wordsworth Library Collection) Book

Director Guy Ritchie's film adaptation of the most famous detective figure in all of English literature, Sherlock Holmes, sparked something of a resurgence in interest in the character when it was released two years ago, and stands to do the same with its sequel due out at the end of this year.

My own connection to Sherlock Holmes dates back to many years before these films, but watching the first film when it was release in 2009 reminded of just how brilliant a character Holmes is, and how much fun he is to follow in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. And so after watching Guy Ritchie's take on the character, I returned to this collection that I bought a few years ago to reread those old stories that I had always so loved.

Reading and rereading Sherlock Holmes continues to imbue me with a sense of nostalgia, for Conan Doyle's work reminds me of my childhood and adolescence in a way that no other book does. As a child, I would have these stories read to me before bed, and when I was old enough, I would lock myself away and follow Holmes across all of his many mysteries, trying to solve all of the clues just like he did - something I confess I was not quite able to do like he could. And I learned of and thoroughly enjoyed some of the darker Holmes stories that I was not privy to as a child, discovering Holmes' use of drugs as a way of keeping his mind stimulated when a case was not at hand. Whilst of course never sanctioning such an activity, it was incredibly interesting to read about this side of Holmes that is often left unmentioned or unknown in the mainstream view of the character.

What strikes me most interesting about Holmes is, like many others, his incredible skills of deduction. In one particular story, he is able to deduce the most minute of details about his friend, his biographer (and our narrator), and long-term colleague, Dr. Watson, simply by looking at the man's pocket watch. Such a skill was an absolute marvel to me when I was first read this story, and going back and reading it again now that I am older, I still remain in awe of his talents, and cannot but utterly enjoy reading all about him.

I have also always found it very interesting that the stories are not told through either the third or first person, through an external narrator or through Holmes himself, but by Watson, his friend. In this way, we always remain, like Watson, at least one step behind Holmes as he dashes off into the night in one of his many brilliant disguises, already aware of the perpetrator of the crime, and leaving us behind to try and decipher the clues and see where they lead. It amuses me to no end when we find we have ourselves passed by Holmes in one of his disguises in the story without even realising it to be him, so great at the art of disguise is he.

If ever you have been a fan of any of the several Sherlock Holmes adaptations, for television or for film, but have never read any of the original stories by Conan Doyle, I would definitely recommend that now would be a fantastic time to start reading his work. Holmes has been brilliantly captured on the screen, and will be returning again under Ritchie's direction at Christmas, but he of course has his origins in Conan Doyle's original short stories, of which there are dozens and dozens, all neatly contained within this fantastic anthology collection. The more famous stories - The Sign of Four, A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles - all make their appearances in here too, along with the much lesser known stories that are no less prime examples of the writer's genius. It is a terrific collection, and an absolute must-have for any fan of the Sherlock Holmes character.

A century after his first appearance, Sherlock Holmes continues to entertain audiences around the world, and has gained new fans with the success of the films starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. But the originals will always be the greatest, and this collection brings together both the short stories and longer novels that have made him, and loyal companion Watson, amongst literature's biggest sensations. Illustrated by the remarkable Sydney Paget, this is a must-have for anyone who is a big fan and wants to know Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest creation in closer detail.

The literary cult of Sherlock Holmes shows no sign of fading with time as each new generation comes to love and revere the penetrating mind and ruthless logic which were the undoing of so many Victorian master criminals.