About a week ago, my friend lent me a miniseries from BBC, the title was Sherlock. That miniseries is about modern day Sherlock Holmes. That amazing miniseries (I have reviewed A Study in Pink and The Blind Banker) has brought back so many great nostalgia of Sherlock Holmes. I couldn’t control my hand not to pick Sherlock Holmes book from my shelf. I am struggling to decrease my TBR books on my shelf and yet I end up reading a book I have reread before.
All the Sherlock Holmes books I have are already translated into Indonesian language, I am planning to buy the English ones one day. The book I read is called The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes, in my native language it become Koleksi Kasus Sherlock Holmes. 
The translation is not as beautiful as the original language, I read a bit from this site. After reading from this site, I really really want to reread all Sherlock books in English.
The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes has 12 cases. Some are great cases, some are not so great.
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client was not really a mysterious case at all, in fact I found it as a waste of Holmes’s talent. He was asked to help preventing a young girl from marrying one of the worst men in Europe. Basically, they way I see it, the case was only about finding the mistakes of the man…this didn’t need extreme deduction at all, it was a bit dull. The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier was more interesting than the previous case. Holmes was asked by a man named James M. Dodd to help him solved the mystery around his missing best friend. He was so confused with his best friend’s family. Holmes solved the case easily. What’s interesting about this case is that this case is, as if, written by Sherlock Holmes, not by Watson. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone was a very interesting case. It was about a missing jewel. The story didn’t begin with someone asking for Holmes’ favor, it begun in the end of the case.
The Adventure of the Three Gables was also an interesting case. It was about an old woman who had her house eyed by a very rich person. That person wanted to buy the house and everything in it with generous amount of money. Holmes easily solved the case. The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire involved a lot of family emotion. Sherlock and Watson tried to solve the mystery around a mother who was caught biting the neck of her own child. The Adventure of the Three Garridebs was really fun to read. It was really interesting to read Holmes’ deduction toward the 1st Garridebs. The story was about a man named Garridebs who came from America to find 2 other men with Garridebs as their last name. He said that a very rich man had inherited million of dollars to him but he needed to find 2 other Garridebs to claim that inheritance.
The Problem of Thor Bridge was very easy to guess. I could figure out the mystery by my self. Holmes was asked to help an innocent woman from being imprisoned. The one who asked for Holmes’ help was the man whose wife was killed by the woman he claimed to be innocent. The Adventure of the Creeping Man was the weirdest of all the cases in this book. It didn’t make any sense at all. However, considering that this book was written in early 20th century, the oddity of this case was quite acceptable. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might have imagination beyond his time. The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane took place after Holmes moved out of Baker Street. A peculiar murder was taken place near Holmes’ house. The victim was brutally attack. Everyone assumed that the murderer was the man who had had fight with the victim before.
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger was also not about solving a mystery. It was only about an old woman sharing her bad past to Holmes and Watson. The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place was really interesting. Holmes calmly solved the mystery around a woman with her rude brother. The horse trainer felt that the lady of the house seemed unlike her usual self and suspected that her brother had done something bad. The last case in this book was The Adventure of the Retired Colourman. An old man asked Holmes to help him find his cheating wife who had ran away with her lover. He also claimed that they had taken a lot of his money. Holmes solved the case through Watson’s observation.
There is nothing much I can say about this book. This book is not the best in all Sherlock Holmes books but it is still enjoyable. I love reading Sherlock Holmes smart brain with his arrogant way of delivery.
Book Details:
Title : Koleksi Kasus Sherlock Holmes (The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes)
Author : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Language : Indonesian language (Original language: English)
Pages :367 pages
Publisher : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Challenge : Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge 2011 (1/12)
Rating :
Polychrome Interest 
I got all the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories but all in German, so many of the stories do not sound familiar, title-wise. Your review reminded me of how great his books are. Even stories that are not totally stunning are still enjoyable as each one adds something on Holmes and Watson. I love the interactiosn of the two characters. Conan Doyle is an interesting figure. Sherlock Holmes is one of the great literary creations. After a while you think the person really exists.
Reading Sherlock Holmes doesn’t feel like reading a classic book, does it? at least that’s how I feel.
Honestly, when I first read the book, I thought it was based on real person. Doyle and Tolkien are two of great authors that can create believable characters.
Just like you said, after a while we think that the person really exist, I guess that’s the reason why it is so hard for me to accept Sherlock Holmes as movie/TVseries, unless if the character fits the book perfectly