#65 in Crime & mystery
His Last Bow
- 214
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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Our view
Eight late Sherlock Holmes stories make up “His Last Bow”, a collection even in quality and a pleasure to read through. “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge” is singled out as one of the stronger entries, and some readers find the closing story rushed. That title story is the unusual one: told in the third person without Watson as narrator, it is a spy tale from the eve of the First World War, not a detective puzzle.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
"His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes", later titled "His Last Bow: An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes", is one of 56 short stories about Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in September 1917 in The Strand Magazine and collected as the last of an anthology of eight stories titled His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes the following month. The narration is in the third person, instead of the first person narration usually provided by the character of Dr. Watson, and it is a spy story, rather than a detective mystery. Due to its portrayal of British and German spies on the eve of war, its publication during the First World War, and its patriotic themes, the story has been interpreted as a propaganda tool intended to boost morale for British readers.
Reading order · canon of Sherlock Holmes
Full order & progress →- A Study in ScarletStart here
8.08.0 / 10 - The Sign of Four
7.67.6 / 10 - The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Speckled Band
–Not ranked yet - A Case of Identity
–Not ranked yet - The Man with the Twisted Lip
–Not ranked yet - The Five Orange Pips
–Not ranked yet - A Scandal in Bohemia
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
7.57.5 / 10 - The Adventure of Silver Blaze
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
–Not ranked yet - The Final Problem
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Naval Treaty
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Resident Patient
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Crooked Man
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Gloria Scott
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Reigate Squire
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Yellow Face
–Not ranked yet - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
8.28.2 / 10 - The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
–Not ranked yet - The Boscombe Valley Mystery
–Not ranked yet - The Hound of the Baskervilles
8.28.2 / 10 - The Adventure of the Empty House
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Three Students
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Second Stain
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of Black Peter
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Priory School
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
–Not ranked yet - The Return of Sherlock Holmes
8.18.1 / 10 - The Adventure of the Dancing Men
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Red Circle
–Not ranked yet - The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Dying Detective
–Not ranked yet - The Valley of Fear
7.87.8 / 10 - His Last BowThis book
7.97.9 / 10 - The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
–Not ranked yet - The Problem of Thor Bridge
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Creeping Man
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Three Gables
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
–Not ranked yet - The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
7.97.9 / 10 - The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk
–Not ranked yet - The Adventure of the Devil's Foot
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 151 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 51% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Crime & mystery average of 7.6. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 151 | 100% |
Frequently asked
How long is His Last Bow?
It has 214 pages — shorter than 96% of the ranked books in Crime & mystery.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Crime & mystery — with scores between 7.8 and 8.0, closest to this book.
