What the deuce?

I found that phrase incredibly funny for some reason.  I tend to be amused by the small things in life.

So this was my first literary exposure to the Sherlock Holmes series.  I had seen the Robert Downey Junior movie a few years ago, but I honestly remember nothing about it except maybe people riding a train, that’s about it.

I found the first couple short stories to be rather dull but I appreciated that I got to be introduced to the characters and get to know them a little better.  The two stories I liked best were “The Speckled Band” and “The Dancing Men.”  These were the two stories that I felt had the most action and suspense, which I enjoyed a lot.

“The Speckled Band” had me in suspense the entire time and I was dying to know what the band was and how the girl had died.  But I have to say, the ending was a little disappointing.  I mean, it was interesting and a little unexpected that the “band” was actually a snake, but I was expecting some kind of huge scandal or elaborate scheme that led to the girl’s death.  Instead, it was just a snake that was fed through the wall and happened to eventually bite and poison her.  It was kind of a letdown, but I still enjoyed it.

“The Dancing Men” was super interesting.  I really like mystery/suspense stories that involve cryptic symbolism or secret codes, so I really liked the fact that a hieroglyphic alphabet was included.  But again, the ending disappointed me.  I was expecting Abe to get angry that he was caught and cause a big scene.  But instead, he just willingly gave up and conveniently told us exactly what happened.  I don’t know, maybe I’m too used to today’s twist endings on crime shows, but Doyle’s plots aren’t very interesting.  I think the only reason he’s maintained such a strong readership is his ability to maintain suspense.

Also, just a sidebar, Holmes is a total jerk.  Especially in “Charles Augustus Milverton.”  Who gets engaged to a woman just for the sole purpose of solving a case? A jerk, that’s who.

But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by BBC’s Sherlock.  I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting, but knowing it was something produced by BBC, it had to have been good.  And it really was.

I loved how they managed to convert the series to a modern setting while still maintaining that vintage feel.  For instance, just with Sherlock’s clothing, the trench coat and the scarf made his character seem like he just stepped out of 1878.

The extremely modern touches, like the cell phones, text messaging and GPS tracking devices gave the story exactly what it needed.  I really loved how the viewers could see the text messages throughout the show by having them pop up beside the character as he/she is reading rather than just showing the phone screen with the text on it.  I thought that was very creative and a refreshingly different way of showing something so simple to the audience.

I also liked how the show portrayed Sherlock’s character as finding joy in what he does.  Doyle’s story shows some of this, but it was particularly highlighted in the show.  It was kind of funny watching Sherlock become giddy and jump up and down in excitement after making a breakthrough in a case.

Overall, my second experience with Sherlock Holmes has been a good one and now I’m going to go binge watch more episodes of Sherlock.