The Adventures of the Eleven Cuff-Buttons


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.4 stars; 7 reviews)

The Adventures of the Eleven Cuff-Buttons: Being one of the Exciting Episodes in the Career of the Famous Detective Hemlock Holmes as Recorded by his Friend Dr. Watson is a parody of the Sherlock Holmes stories. "...there in the same old den, at 221-B Baker Street, in the city of London, we were domiciled on that eventful April morning in 1912 that saw us introduced to what turned out to be positively the dog-gonedest, most mixed-up, perplexing, and mysterious case we ever bumped up against in all our long and varied career in Arthur Conan Doyle's dream-pipe. It completely laid over "The Sign of the Four" and "The Study in Scarlet," and had "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" all beaten to a frazzle." That case is hereby related. - Summary by TriciaG & the author (3 hr 52 min)

Chapters

Chapter I 13:46 Read by SirQueezle
Chapter II 11:40 Read by SirQueezle
Chapter III 10:28 Read by TomDavisBeal
Chapter IV 10:54 Read by Amelia Chesley
Chapter V 12:07 Read by Andy Harrington
Chapter VI 14:33 Read by Andy Harrington
Chapter VII 10:33 Read by Andy Harrington
Chapter VIII 14:44 Read by Andy Harrington
Chapter IX 12:38 Read by Kathleen Moore
Chapter X 13:56 Read by Kathleen Moore
Chapter XI 11:43 Read by Kathleen Moore
Chapter XII 14:00 Read by Kathleen Moore
Chapter XIII 10:20 Read by Amelia Chesley
Chapter XIV 17:28 Read by Amelia Chesley
Chapter XV 14:05 Read by ToddHW
Chapter XVI 10:27 Read by ToddHW
Chapter XVII 11:36 Read by Devorah Allen
Chapter XVIII 17:51 Read by Devorah Allen

Reviews


(3 stars)

I found the first reader's accents highly irksome because they were unnecessary, poorly done, and difficult to understand. With the accent for the Earl particularly, the reader sounds too nasally and as a result his words run together. After the first reader finished, the recordings by the successive readers were much more tolerable and intelligible, though the reader for chapter 9-11 was extremely insipid and monotonous. Apropos the story itself, the parody is enjoyable for any fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I did, however, find Hemlock Holmes's apathetic and irresponsible attitude to be upsetting, for even Sherlock Holmes was not indifferent to his work nor this cold in empathy to others. Likewise, Hemlock Holmes's methods are rather amateur, or "common" as the French chef aptly puts it, demonstrating a certain incompetence not at all what one would expect for a top-notch detective. Oddly, the supposed Norwegian coachman has a German accent.