The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

First appearing in print in 1890, the character of Sherlock Holmes has now become synonymous worldwide with the concept of a super sleuth. His creator, Conan Doyle, imbued his detective hero with intellectual power, acute observational abilities, a penchant for deductive reasoning and a highly educated use of forensic skills. Indeed, Doyle created the first fictional private detective who used what we now recognize as modern scientific investigative techniques.

Doyle ended up writing four novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson. All but four are told in the first person by Watson, two by Holmes, and two are written in the third person. Together, this series of beautifully written Victorian literature has sold more copies than any other books in the English language, with the exceptions of the Bible and Shakespeare.

Volume 1 in this series consists of two novels, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, followed by a collection of short stories entitled The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Public Domain (P)2009 Audio Connoisseur

Very good rendition of classic stories

Mr Griffin reads with energy and gives each character a very distinct accent. Mostly this works well, though some of his pronuciation sounds a little strange to a British ear. The hero's name comes out as "Horms" much of the time, and some place names like "Wool-witch" give away that the excellent British accent hides a non-native English speaker :-). That said, this is one of the best Holmes readings available.

classic

What a great way to experience the genius at Baker Street! The narration was well done, and the adventures were as compelling as I remember.

An Absolute DELIGHT!

I downloaded these because I was bored and in desperate need of something to fill the silence, but all the while harbouring the honest feeling that Sherlock Holmes was a little culty and geeky and I'd never really get into it. So wrong.
What a joy this series was. Engrossing, exciting, perplexing, funny, and, in the later years, even a little racy! I truly felt drawn into the world of the 19th century and actually feel like I learned more than I ever expected to about an era gone by.
The performance is phenomenal; Griffin can fulfill any accent, any character.
Holmes has enjoyed a real spike of popularity in the past decade and I often overhear debates over the "best Sherlock ever." I can honestly now say that the best Sherlock ever, WAS Sherlock, no updating or sexifying required. There's a reason these books are still favorites.

I made a mistake writing this review

I was listening to " A Study in Scarlet" and had thought that I read reached the end of the story and started " The Sign of Four" I got confused with story about a man and a child lost in Idoho and saved by Mormoms then forced to live their way of life. I researched this story and found that it was not the same. After I saw another person review I discovered that this was still "A Study in Scarlet" I rated this low because I thought the download was incorrect. However I found that this is part of A Study in Scarlet after doing some more research.

Old English but still relevant

Where does The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

All books I've listened to so far have been smash hits

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Doyle knows how to tell a great story. I felt like poor foolish Watson who could never figure the crime out.

What does Charlton Griffin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The accent, it made it more authentic

If you could rename The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1, what would you call it?

"It's all in the details", Analytical thinking with Sherlock Holmes

Any additional comments?

I think there are still more Sherlock Holmes stories after this

Great Book

Would you consider the audio edition of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1 to be better than the print version?

Yes easy to listen to then read when you have a busy life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1?

Watson's meeting of his wife

Which scene was your favorite?

The escape of the father and daugther from the Mormon group

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Watson kept me laughing

Any additional comments?

reminds me of the old Sherlock Homes moveies from the 30's and 40's better than the movies of more recent years especially basing them on the book.

A wonderful pairing of content and narrator

What did you love best about The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1?

This is an extremely well done systematic retelling of the Holmes short novels and stories in the order in which they appeared. Charlton Griffin, clearly a very talented actor, seems to relish the many characters he is called upon to portray. An unexpected pleasure was the amount of 19th-century social history contained in the stories. A world where the new--typewriters and telephones--collides with the old, rigid class system of Victorian England. I had forgotten that Dr. John Watson is a disabled veteran of the Second Afghan War--chillingly familiar in the world we walk around in, 130 years later. There is much more humor in the stories than I had remembered: Watson's hilarious description of how he met and courted his future wife during the course of a story (that I will not spoil by describing further) is a good example.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1?

When Holmes--whom Watson claims was entirely innocent of any knowledge of literature--quotes from Henry David Thoreau to explain deductive reasoning. I did not see that coming.

Which scene was your favorite?

And another spoiler alert: When Sherlock Holmes is bested by "the woman"--Irene Adler--but still saves his princely client, all he asks for, when he might receive any reward that he could name, is a photograph of her.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There is no accounting for taste, but I have been sharing my pleasure with these stories with many people--to the point that I probably seem to be obsessed with them, and I still have parts II and III (almost forty hours--including both "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and the "The Valley of Fear") of listening pleasure ahead of me.

Any additional comments?

Make note of the descriptions of Americans who play a surprisingly prominent role in the Conan Doyle novels and stories--an interesting combination of admiration for what are perceived to be our admirable qualities--and more than a few familiar and sometimes painful stereotypes.

Love Sherlock

I believe he was as endlessly fascinating to Dr Watson as he is to me.

Good stories and good performance by the reader

Considered by many as the original and greatest detective of all time, these Sherlock Holmes stories takes you to late 19th century London. I like the descriptive writing style and many of the stories are stories told within the narratives. Not much action in the sense of fighting or chasing, but I did enjoy the mental aspects of how Sherlock solves the mysteries. I am listening to Volume II now and will listen to Volume III as well.

Move Over CSI

I could not put this down. I forgot just how good Doyle's stories are and what a cool dude Holmes was. There is also something to be learned here and that is that "good investigative work" still trumps all the para-military stuff we do today.