Audible, the audiobook division of Amazon, has produced a six part "complete" Sherlock Holmes read by the actor Stephen Fry. It turns out that the American version is not quite complete as it is missing The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes due to a British copyright issue. So far I have listened to Part 1 which includes the two short novels A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. The first is the introduction of Sherlock Holmes and his tremendous powers of deduction. Dr. John Watson joins Holmes as he was looking for someone to share his apartment. When Holmes is summoned to assist in a murder investigation Watson soon finds himself in the midst of it. Connected to this story is what, at first, seems to be an unrelated story of a father and daughter who are rescued in the American wilderness by Brigham Young's Mormon's traveling west. By the end of the story its connection to the London murder becomes obvious. The Sign of Four has never been one of my favorite Holmes stories. It's the tale of murder, a missing Indian treasure, a boat chase on the Thames, and an extensive story by "the man with the wooden leg." This is also the story that sees Watson become betrothed to Mary Morstan, whose treasure was lost during the boat chase.
Fry does a wonderful job of narrating the stories and when voicing Dr. Watson, at times, sounds almost like Nigel Bruce who played the part in the classic films starring Basil Rathbone. I am continuing with Part 2 but I may take a break with other books before completing the set.
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