The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

The Casebook collection cannot be called the strongest in the series, but it certainly has its merits. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle understood that these twelve stories about the genius detective would be his farewell to him, and he certainly took risks with the narrative, at times departing from his standard approach. In this particular book, more than in any other, he appears to have relaxed and gotten creative with his style. Some plots are better spelled out than others, but they are all interesting. There are stories in the collection told by Sherlock himself, and one of them, which happened during Holmes' retirement, takes place mostly on the beach. It's an amusing departure from the detective's usual habitat.

Doyle also allowed himself some sentimentality, particularly in the story "The Adventure Of The Three Garridebs," in which Watson gets into a difficult situation and Holmes is touchingly worried about him. And even loses control of himself for a moment. It's so unexpected!

Betrayal, mutilation, and the horrific consequences of infidelity are just some of the themes addressed in the stories in this collection, along with atmospheric insertions of the Gothic that include a bloodsucking vampire, crypts at the middle of the night, and weird bones in an oven.