I'm spoiled by Stephen Fry's superior characterization, but even if I'd never heard Fry read as Holmes, I think I would have disliked this characterization. Unfortunately, for Sherlock Holmes, he chooses to assume a truly annoying, nasal voice that makes you instantly dislike the character. 3) David Timson, the actor/reader, is skilled at assuming a variety of voices, male and female. Also, when a character is reading a letter written by someone else, the narrating character's voice fades out and the letter-writer's character's voice (all read by the same actor, mind you) and another character's voice are superimposed on top of it in a weird fade in/fade out effect that is just distracting. Stories open and close, and sections are divided, by a chamber orchestra that serves no narrative purpose. I have a number of criticisms of this audiobook, the most major of which is not the fault of the performer or the publisher: 1) See above 2) The production of this audiobook has some odd and unnecessary flourishes. I'm posting the same review for the two parts of this book, because (criticism #1) it's a money-grubbing move to split up what is basically a short to average-length collection of short stories to make consumers pay for it twice.
