THE SCIENCE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, The Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases

Despite the title, this book is much more about science than Sherlock Holmes. The stories about the fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle offer only jumping-off points for examinations of the history of forensic science. The book is interesting, informative, and even enlightening, but it’s not Sherlock Holmes. The author narrates most of the work, with Simon Prebble reading only occasional passages from the Holmes stories. Overall, the work sounds like a lecture rather than a book. The author’s voice is pleasing, but she doesn’t vary her tone or pace much, thus failing to convey the enthusiasm for the subject that she expresses in her introduction. This book would have been stronger had the author read only the introduction and Prebble taken care of the rest. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2011]