Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This was such a fascinating little book! I highly recommend that you read (or re-read) The Hound of the Baskervilles and then go straight into Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong. Bayard puts up a very strong argument and I cannot help but agree with his conclusions.
After reading this book, I cannot help but see the plot of Baskervilles in a totally different light. In all honesty, it is hard to imagine that this particular theory has not been proposed before as it seems so obvious once presented. It is painful to think that our beloved Sherlock Holmes could be wrong about anything, but he is ultimately at the mercy of his disgruntled creator. And in this case, it seems that his creator got it completely wrong.
Bayard does provide some relevant background information on why Doyle would harbor such strong ill-will towards a character that was so universally beloved. However, the meat of this short book is truly spent on dissecting the plot of the Baskervilles. I consider it an essential read for any fan of Sherlock Holmes, even if we much watch our Holmes incorrectly solve a case without ever realizing the extent (or even the presence) of his many grievous errors.
After reading this book, I cannot help but see the plot of Baskervilles in a totally different light. In all honesty, it is hard to imagine that this particular theory has not been proposed before as it seems so obvious once presented. It is painful to think that our beloved Sherlock Holmes could be wrong about anything, but he is ultimately at the mercy of his disgruntled creator. And in this case, it seems that his creator got it completely wrong.
Bayard does provide some relevant background information on why Doyle would harbor such strong ill-will towards a character that was so universally beloved. However, the meat of this short book is truly spent on dissecting the plot of the Baskervilles. I consider it an essential read for any fan of Sherlock Holmes, even if we much watch our Holmes incorrectly solve a case without ever realizing the extent (or even the presence) of his many grievous errors.
Barry A. (scary-floating-eye) reviewed Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles on + 11 more book reviews
An excellent work that serves a few main purposes:
1) A critique of Sherlock Holmes' methods. While the results may be impressive, the methods are not above criticism. Serious issues include that what counts as a clue may vary between investigators and that clues may have multiple interpretations. Perhaps the most serious criticism is that the investigator, being human, will bring their own ideas and presumptions to the investigation, which may in turn may affect the results.
2) The author discusses the relationship between the real world and fictional worlds. Taken literally, some of this might sound more than a little goofy. However, the author wisely avoids talking about the mechanisms involved, and some of the basic ideas are fairly sound. Literary works are incomplete and we necessarily bring something of ourselves to them, which affects the interpretation. The discussion about fictional characters entering our world (in a certain manner) is actually more plausible than it would initially seem. Things that are done successfully tend to not only happen more often and more easily but also more "automatically," with less conscious awareness; for example, when we initially learn to drive, moving the car may be difficult and take a lot of thinking about the subject, but eventually we learn to drive without consciously thinking about it at all. It's not hard to imagine, after writing a few stories about Holmes and getting good at imagining what he'd say, Doyle would have Holmes' voice chattering away in his head, intruding in on situations; Holmes is good on paper, but if he kept bursting in on you with his observations at unwanted times, it would probably get really tired really fast. Little wonder that Doyle hated the character and wanted to kill him off. The discussion of how Doyle's hatred of Holmes affected his writing in "The Final Problem" and The Hound of the Baskervilles is worth a look.
3) Taking what is presented in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the author tries to look at the evidence more objectively than Holmes did. He asserts that Holmes grossly misinterpreted the situation and that the accused murderer was not in fact the culpable party. I won't reveal the results here as this is the best part of the book. However, the author makes an excellent case, and not only points to a different murderer, but the method of murder is so ingenious that it beats any of the weirder cases in the Holmes canon and probably most of detective fiction.
For anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes stories or for that matter detective fiction, this is definitely worth reading.
1) A critique of Sherlock Holmes' methods. While the results may be impressive, the methods are not above criticism. Serious issues include that what counts as a clue may vary between investigators and that clues may have multiple interpretations. Perhaps the most serious criticism is that the investigator, being human, will bring their own ideas and presumptions to the investigation, which may in turn may affect the results.
2) The author discusses the relationship between the real world and fictional worlds. Taken literally, some of this might sound more than a little goofy. However, the author wisely avoids talking about the mechanisms involved, and some of the basic ideas are fairly sound. Literary works are incomplete and we necessarily bring something of ourselves to them, which affects the interpretation. The discussion about fictional characters entering our world (in a certain manner) is actually more plausible than it would initially seem. Things that are done successfully tend to not only happen more often and more easily but also more "automatically," with less conscious awareness; for example, when we initially learn to drive, moving the car may be difficult and take a lot of thinking about the subject, but eventually we learn to drive without consciously thinking about it at all. It's not hard to imagine, after writing a few stories about Holmes and getting good at imagining what he'd say, Doyle would have Holmes' voice chattering away in his head, intruding in on situations; Holmes is good on paper, but if he kept bursting in on you with his observations at unwanted times, it would probably get really tired really fast. Little wonder that Doyle hated the character and wanted to kill him off. The discussion of how Doyle's hatred of Holmes affected his writing in "The Final Problem" and The Hound of the Baskervilles is worth a look.
3) Taking what is presented in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the author tries to look at the evidence more objectively than Holmes did. He asserts that Holmes grossly misinterpreted the situation and that the accused murderer was not in fact the culpable party. I won't reveal the results here as this is the best part of the book. However, the author makes an excellent case, and not only points to a different murderer, but the method of murder is so ingenious that it beats any of the weirder cases in the Holmes canon and probably most of detective fiction.
For anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes stories or for that matter detective fiction, this is definitely worth reading.
