Book Review: The Adventure of The Dying Detective

As you may have guessed from the title, this book for #reviewsdaytuesday is one of the original Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Well technically, it's a short story, but close enough. (If you're wondering why I didn't start with the first Sherlock Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet, it's because it's such an awesome novel that I'd need to spend more time on a book review to do it justice. And I picked this particular short story because I've read it recently and I like it.)

As this is not the first story, here's a brief summary of the Sherlock Holmes books.
For non-Sherlockians: Sherlock Holmes is a consulting detective, a genius who helps the police solve crimes. Dr. John Watson is an ex-army doctor who now writes books. They share a flat at 221B (at least at the beginning of the books) and solve crimes together.
For BBC Sherlock fans: The books are very similar to the TV series, except that they are set in the late 1800s/early 1900s. John writes books, not a blog. and John and Sherlock are older (possibly. See this forum discussion about their ages.) I should also point out that while Johnlock isn't canon in TV series (depending on how you interpret it), it's even more not canon in the books. John and Sherlock have a close platonic relationship, and they are not romantically involved.

Spoiler-free introduction: this story is set later in the series, and Sherlock is much older now. When Sherlock contracts a rare and difficult-to-cure disease, John wants to help him (he is a doctor, after all), but Sherlock refuses.

Okay, this is a mystery story, so there are major spoilers ahead. Read on only if you've read the story.

The Adventure of the Dying Detective

It sounds a bit like fanfiction, doesn't it? But this is actually a story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. It's a great example of the way John Watson has come to really care about Sherlock over the time of their cases together. John's concern for Sherlock's well-being is clear and real, and he wants to do anything he can to help. When John goes to fetch Mr. Culverton Smith, it shows how much he trusts Sherlock's judgement. Rather than insist on having things his own way and tending to Sherlock himself (or getting other doctors who he knows are skilled), John chooses to listen to Sherlock and take his advice.

Of course, there's also Sherlock's side of the story. Sherlock comes up with a brilliant plan to foil Culverton. Sherlock often discovers and stops the schemes of criminals, and in this case, Sherlock develops a counter-scheme. Sherlock makes it appear that Culverton's plan has succeeded and gets Culverton to come over and gloat. If it hadn't been for Sherlock's plan, Culverton might have won, as somebody was bound to accidentally touch the box eventually. But by convincing Culverton that he was actually dying, Sherlock stopped that from happening.

What starts out as a very serious story changes to a humorous one as the reader realizes what Sherlock is up to. The whole thing would never have happened had it not been for Sherlock's great plan, John's compliance, and Culverton's gullibility.

I really enjoyed this story, and it's a great one to read if you're already familiar with the original books or BBC Sherlock. Even if you don't know the Sherlock stories that well, it's still fun to read.