Good old index
Subtitle: the Sherlock Holmes handbook : a guide to the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, persons, places, themes, summaries of all the tales, with commentary on the style of the author
By: Thomas W. Ross.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Camden House
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Columbia, SC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 171
Subjects: Doyle, Arthur Conan, -- 1859-1930 -- Characters -- Sherlock Holmes -- Dictionaries.; Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character) -- Dictionaries.; Detective and mystery stories, English -- Dictionaries.; Private investigators in literature -- Dictionaries.
Description: Good Old Index is a fascinating collection of information, hitherto unavailable, about the Great Detective and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For example, the Index lists the astonishing variety of weapons employed in the stories - life-preservers (black-jacks), chairs, poison gas, and an arsenal of knives and pistols. Readers can study Holmes's garb, and the Index facilitates the evaluation of the character of Dr. Watson.

It also provides abundant material for an assessment of Doyle's writing habits. He was one of the greatest story-tellers in English, but could be pompous and circumloquacious, as when he calls a sawed-off shotgun a truncated fowling-piece! The author has included thousands of Sherlockian facts into alphabetically arranged categories that allow the reader to dip into the book and find what he wants instantly. This volume fills a unique void in the literature on Doyle and his famous detective.