D - The world's greatest detective...

a coke fiend??? Okay so this is only moderately related to China, but I found it so amusing I had to post. Last week C was accompanied by a Chinese friend to the local English bookstore which contains literary classics such as The Da Vinci Code. The selection is not the greatest as I understand it. However, the bookstore did have "The Complete Sherlock Holmes". C has always been a big Holmes fan so she picked it up. The book is entirely in English so it's as good as buying it back home (perhaps with the exception of the rubber book binding).



In a few bored moments, I've picked up the book and read some of the stories. My previous Holmes experiences were not good so I was surprised that I quite enjoyed the repartee between Holmes and his assistant Dr.Watson. So last night I decided to read one of the longer stories, which is called "The Sign of Four". Here are a few quotes from the opening chapter...

"Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantlepiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff. He thrust the shar point home, pressed, the tiny piston, and sank back into the armchair with a long sigh of satisfaction."

or
Watson: "Which is it today? Cocaine or morphine?"
Holmes: "It is cocaine, a 7% solution. Would you care to try it?"

and later in the first chapter...
Watson: "Would you think it impertinent if I put your theories to a more severe test?"
Holmes: "On the contrary, it would prevent me from taking another dose of cocaine."

Now I haven't finished the story of course, so maybe Holmes beats his cocaine habit by solving a mystery in a rehab facility, but I was shocked! To the author's credit, Watson does lecture him about the ills of addiction but I did not realize Holmes had such a bad habit. No wonder he can get away with wearing that hat...