The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. The Musgrave Ritual and Other Stories

Among the cases which Sherlock Holmes investigates in this collection are not only those ones in which the peccable nature of the criminals and human weak points are being revealed (“Silver Blaze”, “The Cardboard Box”, “The Stockbroker’s Clerk”, “The Gloria Scott”), but also the cases in which the solutions of them impel the detective’s clients to take humane decisions and commit noble deeds (“The Yellow Face”); in one of the stories, Holmes even tries to reveal the state secret of the Charles I and Charles II epochs (“The Musgrave Ritual”). In all these cases his logical thought, his attention to details, the knack of analysing remain worthy of amazement and enchant.

In the stories about Sherlock Holmes which are included into the proposed collection, Arthur Conan Doyle not only once again proves that the character made up by him is the most talented and the best detective in the whole world, but he also reminisces about Sherlock's juvenile years. So, the investigation of the first case pertaining to the boat “Gloria Scott” to which Holmes got down as far back as he studied at the college suggested him the idea that deduction might be not only the interest but also a trade. And all the crimes which the detective has to clean in this collection only prove to what extent his choice was right and successful.

Серед справ, які Шерлок Холмс розслідує в цій збірці, не лише ті, де виявляються гріховна сутність злочинців та людські слабкості (“Срібносяйний”, “Картонна коробка”, “Біржовий клерк”, “Глорія Скотт”), але й ті, розгадки котрих спонукають клієнтів детектива до гуманних рішень та шляхетних вчинків (“Жовте обличчя”); в одній з історій Холмс навіть здійснює спробу розкрити історичну таємницю часів Карла I та Карла II (“Обряд родини Масґрейвів”). І в усіх цих випадках його логічне мислення, уважність до деталей, вміння аналізувати лишаються гідними подиву та зачаровують.