His Last Bow
Sherlock Holmes #8
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read by David Clarke

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This collection of short stories did not impress me overall. Based on synopses I’d read, I expected there to be more in the way of Holmes helping the British government during wartime than the one story, but there was only one. Most of the stories in the collection were either not particularly interesting to me or just felt too similar to many of the other Holmes stories I’ve read. However, the last two in the collection—”The Adventures of the Devil’s Foot” and the one for which the collection is named—were much more engaging and enjoyable. For those alone, I would probably have given the book 5 stars. The final one in particular, though I struggled to follow it early on, was quite different, being told in 3rd person and not really being a mystery. 

All I have left to read in the entire series now is The Hound of the Baskerville, and I will feel quite accomplished having finally read this well-known series in its entirety. Whether I will re-visit any of the Holmes stories in the future…I probably will, but not all of them.

Regarding the audiobook, I started listening to the narration of Frederick Davidson, but it reminded me too much of Cary Elwes’s impression of Winston Churchill in Robin Hood Men in Tights, and I couldn’t take it seriously. So I switched to David Clarke, and it was much better.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!