内容简介
Grade 9 Up-The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II is narrated by British theatre, film, and television actor David Timson. His Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are near perfect. The only place where Timson's narration is less than perfect is his female and German characters. All in all, this is a fine production, with piano and string music by Paganini and others sprinkled throughout. All of the stories take place after Dr. Watson has married and moved from Baker Street. "The Scandal in Bohemia" is a good story with which to begin, because in it Watson describes both Holmes' singular lifestyle of old books, the violin and cocaine, and his extraordinary powers of deduction and disguise. This information may help to reel in students who are unfamiliar with the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. The four cases are interconnected in that, although Holmes solves each case, in each he has to admit a failure, which adds a humanizing quality to the otherwise invincible Holmes. In "The Scandal in Bohemia," Watson and Holmes try to extract a photograph and compromising letters from the opera singer, Irene Adler. In "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," Holmes must untangle events that have led a hydraulic engineer to have his thumb chopped off while working for the secretive Colonel Stark. In "The Five Orange Pips," unravels a plot by Klu Klux Klan members to retrieve sensitive documents from the Openshaw family, or kill all of them in the process. Finally, in "Silver Blaze," Holmes and Watson must succeed where the Dartmoor authorities have failed, by finding prized racehorse, Silver Blaze, whose trainer has been killed. the 12-page booklet provides information about the author, the musical selections, and the timing of each cassette. All Sherlock Holmes aficionados will appreciate the quality of Timson's narration. For students, listening in the classroom might help to make the accents, language, and setting more understandable.