THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Narrated by Simon Vance

"In a romantic chamber of the heart, in a nostalgic country of the mind where it is always 1895." V. Starrett

I've read all the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories many times over the years, needless to say, and of course, I am very familiar with the movies and television versions. But I'd always thought about getting the entire collection on audio - and now, finally, I have. Hard to explain the 'comfort' of Sherlock Holmes to anyone not similarly affected or 'afflicted'.

I downloaded the entire unabridged series of stories from Audible with brilliant narration by Simon Vance and in effect, I've been happily ensconced in Victorian England over the past week or so.

Vance is a wonder, his remarkably rich voice captures the varying personalities of each and every character in the canon, even the American voices in A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE VALLEY OF FEAR. 'His' Holmes is perfection. I can't imagine a finer and more adept audio interpretation.

There are some audio versions of the Holmes stories available for free downloading online, but nothing on the level of Vance's narration. At least not that I've heard. This is the version to beat.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's New Book

Well, not really new, NEW, it was written when Doyle was 23, but THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel, is newly published this week. Originally 'lost in the mail' (yes, I kid you not), it was eventually re-writen by Doyle (left unfinished), and now these many years later,  the British Library is publishing it.

I hadn't heard the news until I read the scoop on Elizabeth Foxwell's blog, THE BUNBURYIST. 

Since I'm usually a day late and a dollar short, I'm playing catch-up. But, figuring there might be a few of us left who didn't know about it, here's a link which gives much more detail about the manuscript.

In conjunction with the publication of THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH, The British Library is having an exhibition of the actual manuscript and other Doyle ephemera.

Arthur Conan Doyle

To read about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, please go to his Wikipedia page.