The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The people living on the moor are terrified of a ghost hound that is being seen at night. It is running alongside a ghotly carriage. They both glow in the dark, and now people are dying...

Holmes will get to the bottom of it.

My Thoughts:

Another exciting Holmes mystery. I actually read it before I read Sherlock In Love because I wanted them to be chronological.

It was fun to revisit this story especially after having read The Moor last year.

I love the style of writing and the suspense. Conan Doyle exploits with the paranormal are legendary and I enjoy how they just get hinted at in this story.

The topography and the people of the moor area are fascinating. And a little creepy.

Definitely worth reading. Again!

The Importance of Being Ernest

The Importance of Being Ernest

by Oscar Wilde

This book is so funny. I laugh out loud when I read it. And then want to follow whoever is in the room with me and read them selections that I am finding particularly amusing at the moment.

I believe my family dreads it when they see me reading it.

It is such a gem.

Two Ernest's. No wait, NO ERNEST'S! An ailing friend in the country. A troublesome brother in town.

A baby in a bag left at the railway station?

And when the baby is finally found, 30 odd years later it is the return of the bag that is most celebrated.

I love that part.

I can't really give you a review, just go and read it. It is short and sweet, just three acts, I think. You will not be dissapointed.

The Moonstone

The Moonstone

by Wilkie Collins

I don't have enough good to say about this book. It had me hooked from the beginning. It is the tale of a missing Indian diamond- the Moonstone. The tale is unfolded with a certain calm urgency, if that makes any sense.

It is set in England in the 1840's and was written by Wilkie Collins. He was a friend and sometimes rival of Charles Dickens. The original edition of the Moonstone was as a serial in Charles Dickens weekly magazine.

Several of the key players write a narrative of what they saw on the days preceding the disappearance, the actual incident and then the activities of the following year. This allows you to see totally different and sometimes contradictory sides of the story.

It is satirical, thoughtful, suspenseful, and romantic.

There are even some loose ends that are left dangling, just a little tease mind you, but enough that I will lay in bed many a night pondering them.

Two big thumbs up.

Sherlock In Love

Set two years after Holmes has died a depressed and confused Watson keeps seeing him around every corner. But as his illusions start to become more real he is drawn into the past through his and Holmes' journals. Watson discovers a common thread that runs through several of their great adventures that was until then unknown to him.

As Watson investigates present day happenings it reveals a history of Holmes which he had no idea about. This book is one of the best I have read: warm, comforting and familiar. And yet it reveals an ending that I NEVER saw coming and that knocked my socks off.