221b: Studies in Sherlock Holmes

THE Higher Criticism applied by various hands to the great detective’s life, work, and methods. A delightful book. Mr. Morley’s ingenuity with the question whether Holmes was an American is in step with the best in Shakespearean biography. So is Mr. Leavitt’s on the sources and amount of Holmes’s income; so is Mr. Officer’s on Holmes as a musician. Mr. Keddie assembles all the data on the apparently impenetrable mystery of the Other Boarder in Baker Street; Mr. Bell, with great penetration and insight, identifies Lauriston Gardens, Upper Swandam Lane, and Saxe-Coburg Square; and so on, throughout a fair-sized volume. One feels much indebted to the Baker Street Irregulars, as these critics call themselves. It is pleasant to turn away from the rather prosaic course of modern letters and enjoy an authentic and very good contribution to the curiosities of our literature.