THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, Volume 3.
The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Musgrave Ritual, The Cardboard Box,
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
David Timson.
Naxos Audiobooks NA319112
212m
DDD.
Crotchet
Amazon
USA
I had been waiting for david Timson's narrative of 'The Musgrave Ritual'
ever since Naxos launched this magnificent series about two years ago. And
I was not disappointed for the flowery delivery of this born narrator had
me at times agitated, palpitating and sometimes downright lost in the mysterious
tangle of this classic Holmes story. The web of intrigue that goes on in
country houses is always a delightful menu to a classic Holmes story and
the Ritual is certainly one of the best in this regard. This tale is matched
by (in my opinion) one of the weakest stories which is the occasionally silly
recount of the wild goose chase of The Blue Carbuncle' Indeed, one can only
appreciate Holmes' detective powers but there is no real excitement even
at the end when the criminal is let off by a magnanimous detective. We are
back to classic Watson territory with 'The man with the Twisted Lip' where
Lascars and opium dens rub hands with beggars and well to do men. This tale
also has Timosn in his element with some fine musical effects to boot. I
was also deeply chuffed by 'The Cardboard Box', a tale, which is sinisterly
reminiscent of the legendary 'Ripper'. It would have been hard to eclipse
the classic Volume 2 of this series but nonetheless, the selection is indeed
excellent and as the series rapidly grows, Naxos will definitely go down
in history as the most successful spoken word outfit for Sherlock Holmes
and his partner. I cannot praise David Timson too highly, he is indeed the
sleuth re-incarnated, at least for this enthusiast! Sinister chamber music
has also proved to be another winner throughout. Can we have the great novels
now? I shudder to think what Timson would make of the 'Hound of the
Baskervilles'!
'And that is the end of it Watson'
Gerald Fenech
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