The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes - Commentary

Commentary

Copyright end is year 1980 Canada, 2000 UK, but not till 2016-23 US.

The original title "Reminiscences of Mr. Sherlock Holmes" was to be for occasional tales to "reflect particular concerns of Conan Doyle beyond exciting whodunit plots ... exploring changes in the modern world". The first Reminiscence about Wisteria Lodge, "a dictator who has ruined a small country", fictionalizes his later "blistering indictment of the Belgian treatment of the people of the Congo".

The Case-Book contains three stories not narrated by Dr. Watson, as most Sherlock Holmes stories are. "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is narrated in the third person, since it was adapted from a stage play in which Watson hardly appeared. "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" are both narrated by Holmes himself, the latter being set after his retirement.

Although some of the stories are comparable with Doyle's earlier work, this collection is often considered a lesser entry in the Sherlock Holmes canon. David Stuart Davies has commented that "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" "veers towards risible science fiction"; in the 1974 novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, author Nicholas Meyer's Watson claims that this entry, as well as three others from the Case-Book ("The Mazarin Stone", "The Three Gables" and "The Lion's Mane"), are forged "drivel". Kyle Freeman also suggests that "The Mazarin Stone" and "The Three Gables" may not be Conan Doyle's work, stating that "lmost nothing about either of "The Mazarin Stone" or "The Three Gables" has the true ring of Conan Doyle's style about them."