The Adventure of Dancing Men and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories

I bought this book over a year ago yet I never finished it, despite it’s so light and thin and it gives that “You can finish this book even less than an hour” impression, I still didn’t have that willingness to finish the book since the first I found out that (at that time), the English terms Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used in his book is quite heavy. I was a pretty normal English reader back then, and so am I nowadays. But, when I overlooked it again, I came to a conclusion which that hard English terms impression I got was simply a one-sided judgment, since the more I got into the short stories, the more I got excited with the plot.

Let me give a brief preview. Mr. Doyle had written these series quite long ago (before I was born) and surely, he lived in such a different era with mine. However, thanks to those hard terms he used in the stories, it actually gave those “I’m in this old era of England” feelings that you (particularly myself) shimmer when he tried to describe the story of the magnificent Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Dr. Watson.

This book revolves around Sir Sherlock Holmes cases, which are popular back in the era of this series. Surely some people know about The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Musgrave Ritual, etc. I have known ‘The Adventure of the Dancing Men’ from a manga called “Detective Conan”, thus it wasn’t that unfamiliar.

But a story that quite attached my attention on it is The Adventure of the Dying Detective, on how this marvelous gentleman has nailed his job to seek the truth with a tactical, sophisticated way that even expertise can be fooled. Although all of the stories are fast-read and for some people (particularly myself) who might be more interested to a more detailed book, this book has successfully given the first good impression for those who want to (finally) follow the stories of Sherlock Holmes.

Like the synopsis has stated, “In this inexpensive collection, these stories represent a wonderful introduction to the larger body of Holmes stories, as well as a delightful pocket-size treat for any mystery lover,” I get to agree with that. It did give me another reason to buy a complete series of Sherlock Holmes, and even though it is not a “pocket-size treat”, it’s more like a light and brief treat for mystery lover who needs a getaway from all of the heavy books.

Additional, even if the book doesn’t have that quality of paper that I always prioritize while buying a book, but the papers were thick and textural enough to make me bought it anyway. And the font was tolerable and has the perfect size that matches my sight.

Thus, it is wise for me to recommend this book, for those who want to have a good preview of Sherlock Holmes’ serial, or those who simply want to read another light-reading but fascinating book.

d.