The Voice of Mystery

Sometimes we get lucky. Recently that happened to me when I set out looking for Sherlock Holmes books and found something totally unexpected.

It happened at Curmudgeon Bookseller in Historic Savage Mill, a shopping mall in Savage, MD. At first I was surprised and disappointed when I couldn't find a single Holmes or Arthur Conan Doyle book among the 5,000 used, rare, and collectible volumes. Then my wife checked with the clerk - or perhaps he was the owner.

"They're in the Literature section," section she reported.

"No argument from me," I responded. Of course they're literature.

Then followed the usual torture. Do I have this book or not? Is the copy of that book in my library in better or worse shape than the one I'm holding in my hand?

And then I saw the box pictured above and there was no question that I would buy it. It's a set of five audio cassettes of the great Basil Rathbone reading unabridged Holmes short stories from the Canon. It brought me right back to listening to those recordings on 33 rpm records at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County more than 50 years ago.

"Too bad nobody has cassette players anymore," said our younger son, age 35.

"I have two," I reported. "One is my car. The one is in the living room - it looks like an old-time radio."

"Sherlock Holmes Soundbook" cost me $3. It wasn't the only bargain I found that day, but it was the best one.