The Best Sherlock Holmes Novel?

*Only* novels, now...no short stories. *A Study in Scarlet* introduced us to Holmes and Watson, and has a terrific unmasking of the criminal, but also has a long, dreary American sequence that could have come from a dime novel. *The Sign of Four* is the choice of most true Sherlockian afficionados, and has a great atmosphere. *The Hound of the Baskervilles* is of course the most famous, and even more atmospheric than *The Sign of Four*. But my choice is *The Valley of Fear*--the sleeper--it too has a dime novel sequence, but the Holmesian part is superb, by far the best detective story, in the classic sense, that Doyle ever wrote...

Holmes' response to Watson's impending marriage was good. :D

Ummm. Very Sherlockian...

I read that quite a while ago. I was sure that was one of the times he mused over women and how he'd never enter the marriage bonds. :shrug: Oh well.