So I've made it my personal mission to work through the Sherlock Holmes canon, and while I'm greatly enjoying the mystery and adventure took me forever and a day to get through this first novel because of the dreadfully long and random interlude to Utah! with the Mormons! who are Pretty Terrible! according to the Victorian mindset. Because they're clearly polygamist villains who force young girls into loveless marriages and set about a chain of events in which one wronged, righteous man spends the rest of his life on a crusade for vengeance. Oh, and also Sherlock Holmes is great at deduction but not really any social niceties.
Really though, this was an enjoyable read once I forced myself to get through the Big Giant Mormon Interlude with the knowledge that it was actually relevant to the larger frame story. And so it was! But clearly Doyle was still finding his feet, here. Also, the edition I have (Brentwood's giant New Annotated novels) is chock full of notes, some of which are helpful for understanding the British-isms, but are mostly more information than I will ever need to know about london cab driving, and lots of wild insane speculation from a bunch of Holmes scholars who 1) have far too much time on their hands nitpicking the accuracy of streets mentioned in the text and 2) seem to be convinced that Holmes and Watson were real people, and Doyle was acting as a literary agent. These scholars are mad. Or is it all one big joke? who knows. The story itself is great. But the notes make it really long. 200 pp.
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