(3) YA Illustrated by Gris Grimly. With spindly lines; whimsical, off-kilter perspective; and a playful balance of dark and light, Grimly's ink drawings and watercolor plates give a comic gothic vibe to Doyle's unabridged tale of murder, Mormons, and revenge. Sherlock Holmes, in Grimly's art, is long, lean, and angular while Watson is his portly foil. It's a brilliant, if non-canonical, visual study in contrasts.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Pam Smy. Doyle's classic story is accompanied by undistinguished full-page ink and watercolor pictures in blue and red tones. Occasional spot illustrations breaks up the text, making it more accessible to a younger audience.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) YA Illustrated by Scott McKowen. Two Sherlock Holmes story collections are published in one large volume featuring elegant scratchboard drawings and a ribbon bookmark. These twenty-three classic mysteries--including "The Final Problem," in which Doyle infamously killed off his protagonist--will challenge young detectives' own powers of deduction. The book concludes with a section containing relevant open-ended questions ("Why does Watson tell the stories instead of Holmes?").

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 4-6 Dorling Kindersley Classics series. Illustrated by Mark Oldroyd. This is an abridgment of the classic detective story. In addition to profuse, dark illustrations, the supplemental facts and photographs that pepper the margins provide some interesting historic background, but they also distract from the flow of the text. Double-page spreads give a bit of information about detective work in the past and present and about Doyle and his fictional creation.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta