What is the meaning of: The Dancing Men

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Alex Woolf

I very much enjoy this series of Sherlock Holmes titles for young readers. Each is a short chapter book with cartoonish illustrations. The stories are well and simply told while keeping that sense of wonder about the ways in Holmes is able to find clues and draw conclusions.

This book begins with a perfect example. Holmes explains how he knew that Watson was not going to make a particular investment. Young, future, detectives will surely be inspired.

The actual case begins with a drawing that looks like one made by a child. The figures in this drawing are the dancing men of the story’s title. The note is brought to Holmes by a gentleman who married a woman with a mysterious past. More and more drawings are found. What is going on? What is the reason for an escalation that ends with a death? Young readers will, I think, be eager to find out.

I confess that I have not read all of the Holmes stories so this was new to me. I enjoyed trying (unsuccessfully) to solve the case.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Arcturus publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

Pub Date 01 Jul 2022