uncomfortableNumber of pages: 243
The title should give it away, but this is the final collection of short stories about Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The book opens with a preface by Dr. Watson, stating that Sherlock is still alive (it will therefore come as no surprise in one of the stories, where Sherlock is apparently dying of a lethal poisoning, that he survives the whole ordeal).
I remember being nonplussed by some of the earlier stories, but I found myself taking more interest with stories like The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, which features the rarely-seen Mycroft, Sherlock's brother.
The final story, His Last Bow was nothing like any other Sherlock Holmes story I have read, not only in that it is written in the third person, and not narrated by Watson, but also that it appears at face value to have nothing whatsoever to do with Sherlock Holmes. Of course, you know he is going to show up, so this was a case of just reading it to see where it was going; the outcome made for an ultimately satisfying and poignant final story from Conan Doyle.
Next book: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
