Grade 7 Up-Four short stories of mystery and intrigue by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are performed radio theater style by the St. Charles Players: "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," "A Scandal in Bohemia," and "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot." The narration is acceptable, although some characters sound flat and their British accent is too obviously forced. However, this detracts little from the overall entertainment value of the stories. The overall aural quality could be improved; a slight hissing can be heard throughout the narration. Though at times Holmes comes across as haughty, listeners become caught up in learning how he ingeniously solves the cases using clues that Watson, the other investigators, and most listeners miss. Fine for individual or group listening, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes could be used for entertainment or for a unit on the mystery genre in English classes. The lack of strong female characters in these stories may warrant including alternate classic mysteries with strong women, such as Simon Brett's Mrs. Pargeter, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton, or Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax. A nice feature of this package is that each short story is completed with one cassette. Unless you have a great demand for classic mysteries, this audiobook is an additional purchase.
Sarah Smith, Harrison Community Library, MI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"One thing is certain, Sherlockians, put aside your Baring-Gould Annotated, your Folio Society Illustrated-for the time being, the Oxford is the edition to curl up with on a winter's night"--The Chicago Tribune
"An incomparable gift book; or, should you find it impossible to surrender up such treasures, the best of gifts to oneself"--USA Today
"To the true Sherlockian, this will be a treasure; to otherwise diverted detective story fans, it is a rich lode for discovery"--Denver Post
"The complete and authentic adventures of the legendary detective--expertly edited and annotated by a team of Holmes scholars....in a handsome, boxed set....A lovely gift"--The Christian Science Monitor
"Here in nine volumes...are all the adventures of Holmes and Watson. Each book has an introduction, something new and fascinating for even the most devoted Holmesians plus a series of intelligent notes at the back of each volume."--Oxford Times "The Oxford Sherlock Holmes, a new edition of the stories, is a splendid piece of publishing. Nine compact volumes, beautifully produced, each with a stimulating introduction; clear type, accurate texts, a handy chronology, a helpful bibliography. And, most valuable of all, explanatory notes running to 50 pages or more per volume." --John Gross, writing in Sunday Telegraph