The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 5

Hearing a good dramatic recording of a play is always more enjoyable than reading the script. And while that's not always the case with fiction, it holds true for Naxos's series of Sherlock Holmes short stories. The four collected here aren't the best Holmes stories, but they're tightly written, and their charm and suspense are magnified by David Timson's riveting narration. Timson, the reader for all the volumes in the series, is brilliantly convincing in his voices for Holmes, Watson, and all the butlers, squires, villains, and bit players. He even supplies the liner notes that give historical background to the stories. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine