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內容簡介
Sherlock HolmesThe Complete Novels and StoriesVolume IISince his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created. Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero--a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime!Volume II begins with The Hound of the Baskervilles, a haunting novel of murder on eerie Grimpen Moor, which has rightly earned its reputation as the finest murder mystery ever written. The Valley of Fear matches Holmes against his archenemy, the master of imaginative crime, Professor Moriarty. In addition, the loyal Dr. Watson has faithfully recorded Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the thrilling The Adventure of the Red Circle and the twelve baffling adventures from The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle’s incomparable tales bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street, where for more than forty years Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time. 作者簡介
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh and studied medicine at the university there, after an education in Jesuit schools in Lancashire and Austria. He had an active career as a doctor and opthalmologist, including volunteering in Bloemfontein during the Boer War, but also in the public sphere as Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey, writer of the widely read historical works and political pamphlets, vociferous opponent of miscarriages of justice and twice parliamentary candidate (although he was never elected). Yet it was for his brilliant creation of the first scientific detective, Sherlock Holmes, that he achieved great fame - so great that after he killed Sherlock off to concentrate more on his historical work, he was forced to bring the character back to life in The Hound of the Baskervilles. In later years, the Jesuit-educated Conan Doyle converted to Spiritualism, writing works such as The Coming of the Fairies, and was a friend of the magician Houdini. He died of a heart attack in 1930, at the age of seventy-one.
阿瑟·柯南·道爾,世界著名小說傢,堪稱偵探懸疑小說的鼻祖。因成功的塑造瞭偵探人物――歇洛剋·福爾摩斯(又譯夏洛剋·福爾摩斯)而成為偵探小說曆史上最重要的小說傢之一。除此之外他還曾寫過《失落的世界》等多部其他類型的小說,其作品涉及科幻、懸疑、 曆史小說、愛情小說、戲劇、詩歌等。 ... 精彩書摘
Chapter 1
Mr. Sherlock Holmes
MR. SHERLOCK Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under the head was a broad silver band, nearly an inch across. "To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.," was engraved upon it, with the date "1884." It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry--dignified, solid, and reassuring.
"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
"How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head."
"I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor's stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it."
"I think," said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, "that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed, since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation."
"Good!" said Holmes. "Excellent!"
"I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot."
"Why so?"
"Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one, has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it."
"Perfectly sound!" said Holmes.
"And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.' I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return."
"Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."
He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and, carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.
"Interesting, though elementary," said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions."
"Has anything escaped me?" I asked with some self-importance. "I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?"
"I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal."
"Then I was right."
"To that extent."
"But that was all."
"No, no, my dear Watson, not all--by no means all. I would suggest, for example, that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when the initials 'C.C.' are placed before that hospital the words 'Charing Cross' very naturally suggest themselves."
"You may be right."
"The probability lies in that direction. And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor."
"Well, then, supposing that 'C.C.H.' does stand for 'Charing Cross Hospital,' what further inferences may we draw?"
"Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods. Apply them!"
"I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country."
"I think that we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will? Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start in practice for himself. We know there has been a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it, then, stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change?"
"It certainly seems probable."
"Now, you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the hospital, since only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position, and such a one would not drift into the country. What was he, then? If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician--little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago--the date is on the stick. So your grave, middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, absent-minded, and the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff."
I laughed incredulously as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering rings of smoke up to the ceiling.
"As to the latter part, I have no means of checking you," said I, "but at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man's age and professional career." From my small medical shelf I took down the Medical Directory and turned up the name. There were several Mortimers, but only one who could be our visitor. I read his record aloud.
"Mortimer, James, M.R.C.S., 1882, Grimpen, Dartmoor, Devon. House-surgeon, from 1882 to 1884, at Charing Cross Hospital. Winner of the Jackson prize for Comparative Pathology, with essay entitled 'Is Disease a Reversion?' Corresponding member of the Swedish Pathological Society. Author of 'Some Freaks of Atavism' (Lancet 1882). 'Do We Progress?' (Journal of Psychology, March, 1883). Medical Officer for the parishes of Grimpen, Thorsley, and High Barrow."
"No mention of that local hunt, Watson," said Holmes with a mischievous smile, "but a country doctor, as you very astutely observed. I think that I am fairly justified in my inferences. As to the adjectives, I said, if I remember right, amiable, unambitious, and absent-minded. It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room."
"And the dog?"
"Has been in the habit of carrying this stick behind his master. Being a heavy stick the dog has held it tightly by the middle, and the marks of his teeth are very plainly visible. The dog's jaw, as shown in the space between these marks, is too broad in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff. It may have been--yes, by Jove, it is a curly-haired spaniel."
He had risen and paced the room as he spoke. Now he halted in the recess of the window. There was such a ring of conviction in his voice that I glanced up in surprise.
"My dear fellow, how can you possibly be so sure of that?"
"For the very simple reason that I see the dog himself on our very door-step, and there is the ring of its owner. Don't move, I beg you, Watson. He is a professional brother of yours, and your presence may be of assistance to me. Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. What does Dr. James Mortimer, the man of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime? Come in!"
The appearance of our visitor was a surprise to me, since I had expected a typical country practitioner. He was a very tall, thin man, with a long nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, gray eyes, set closely together and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock-coat was dingy and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long back was already bowed, and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and a general air of peering benevolence. As he entered his eyes fell upon the stick in Holmes's hand, and he ran towards it with an exclamation of joy. "I am so very glad," said he. "I was not sure whether I had left it here or in the Shipping Office. I would not lose that...
福爾摩斯探案集:迷霧中的推理與永恒的謎題 一部跨越世紀的偵探小說經典 福爾摩斯探案集,這個名字本身就足以喚起人們對十九世紀末倫敦迷霧、煤煙彌漫的街道,以及那兩位傳奇人物——夏洛剋·福爾摩斯與約翰·H·華生醫生——的無盡遐想。作為偵探文學的奠基石,柯南·道爾爵士筆下的這些故事,不僅僅是單純的懸疑敘事,更是對邏輯、觀察力與人性復雜性的深刻探討。 本捲精選的係列故事,帶領讀者深入維多利亞時代末期那光怪陸離的社會剖麵。在這裏,財富的虛榮與貧睏的掙紮並存,上流社會的秘密與街頭巷尾的陰謀交織成一張錯綜復雜的網。每一樁案件都如同一個精心設置的迷局,需要福爾摩斯那超凡的演繹法(The Science of Deduction)去層層剝開。 倫敦的陰影與智慧的光芒 故事的核心魅力,無疑在於福爾摩斯本人。他是一位特立獨行的天纔,一個沉浸在化學實驗、小提琴演奏和古怪哲學思辨中的人物。他的生活哲學是反情感的、純粹理性的,他將犯罪現場視為一個可以被解讀的文本,每一個微小的綫索——一撮泥土的成分、鞋底磨損的程度、煙草灰燼的種類——都對他而言是開口說話的證人。 與他形影不離的華生醫生,則是我們進入這個非凡世界的可靠嚮導。華生不僅是福爾摩斯的忠實記錄者,更代錶瞭普通人的視角與道德準繩。通過華生的筆觸,福爾摩斯的冷峻與洞察力得以被恰當地平衡,使得人物形象既高不可攀又充滿瞭人性的溫度。他們的貝剋街221B寓所,成為瞭倫敦最著名的“偵探總部”,那裏彌漫著煙草的辛辣味、化學試劑的刺激味,以及即將揭曉真相前的緊張空氣。 案件的廣度與深度 本閤集收錄的案件,涵蓋瞭從最精巧的密室謀殺到最復雜的國際陰謀,展現瞭福爾摩斯卓越的適應能力。讀者將跟隨他們穿梭於莊嚴肅穆的貴族宅邸、熙熙攘攘的港口碼頭、幽深陰森的鄉村莊園,乃至被濃霧籠罩的異國他鄉。 案件的主題豐富多樣:它不僅關乎金錢、愛情或復仇,更觸及瞭當時社會結構中的諸多痛點。例如,我們可能會麵對那些利用科學知識進行精準犯罪的冷血策劃者;或是那些被古老傢族詛咒和遺傳疾病所睏擾的悲劇人物。 每一篇故事的結構都經過瞭精心的編排。開篇往往以一個看似毫無頭緒的謎團引入,福爾摩斯和華生被捲入其中。隨後是一係列的實地考察、秘密會麵、緊張的對峙以及最終在壁爐旁或案發現場的推理高潮。當福爾摩斯開始他著名的“演繹”過程時,他會摒棄一切無關的假設,將所有碎片化的信息整閤起來,最終以一種令人拍案叫絕的方式,將真相呈現在讀者麵前。 時代背景的刻畫 這些故事的魅力,也源於其對十九世紀末至二十世紀初英國社會的生動描繪。維多利亞時代的繁榮背後隱藏著深刻的階級鴻溝和對異域文化的復雜心態。福爾摩斯接觸到的案件,往往摺射齣那個時代特有的焦慮:對殖民地事務的擔憂、新興工業革命帶來的社會動蕩、以及對科學進步的雙重情感(既崇拜又恐懼)。 從蘇格蘭場的傲慢與局限,到福爾摩斯對傳統警務方法的批判性繼承,這些故事提供瞭一個獨特的社會觀察窗口。福爾摩斯代錶瞭一種新興的、基於證據和科學的方法論,挑戰著舊有的、依賴直覺和權威的司法體係。 推理藝術的精髓 對於熱愛推理小說的讀者來說,本集是學習“硬核”邏輯推理的絕佳教材。柯南·道爾巧妙地運用瞭“誤導”技巧,讓讀者與華生一樣,被錶象所迷惑。但福爾摩斯總能洞察到隱藏在日常之下的異常之處。他的推理過程,不僅是找到“誰乾的”,更是深入探究“為什麼”和“如何做到的”。 閱讀這些故事,不僅僅是享受追凶的樂趣,更是一場智力上的挑戰。讀者會不由自主地跟隨福爾摩斯的思路,試圖在他開口揭示真相之前,先一步找齣凶手。這種主動參與感,是福爾摩斯文學持久不衰的核心吸引力。 永恒的文學價值 盡管故事背景設定在一百多年前,但福爾摩斯所處理的人類基本動機——貪婪、嫉妒、對正義的渴求——卻是永恒的。福爾摩斯探案集超越瞭其“類型小說”的範疇,成為瞭研究人類心理、社會結構以及科學思維範式的經典文本。 本捲精選的故事,代錶瞭福爾摩斯職業生涯的成熟階段,展現瞭其技巧的巔峰狀態。它承諾為讀者帶來一場又一場引人入勝的智力冒險,一窺人類思維能夠達到的最高精確度,以及在最黑暗的角落中,理性之光如何穿透迷霧,指引方嚮。準備好,步入那扇標誌性的、刻著“221B”的門扉,與夏洛剋·福爾摩斯一起,迎接下一個等待被破解的謎團。