Feels like two separate stories

There are two distinct parts to this audio book, the first part really doesn't refer to Sherlock Holmes at all, whereas the second half is more like a 'normal' Holmes story.
I thought that the first half was way too drawn out, and got rather tedious, the second half was a lot better, but still not up to the standard of other books by these authors that I have listened to.
The main problem that I had was the number of 'Americanisms' i.e. using American English to describe things in London, I appreciate that Lucy James is american, but there are several occasions where other characters also Americanisms and I also thought that the language and manner of talking was too modern in quite a few places. I found this particularly annoying because there was a lot less of this in the other stories. I also thought that the accents used slipped a bit in places.
So although I did enjoy the second half overall, this is far from being the best work by the authors or the narrators.

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Not as good as I hoped

What did you like best about Remember, Remember? What did you like least?

I really looked forward to this book, particularly as I had so enjoyed the previous two. However, the writing of this story was not at all up to the same standard and seemed to lack maturity. Sloppy repeated metaphors (I got really tired of hearing about icy grips on her heart or spine) and Americanisms (no Upper Class English woman would know what a "stoop" was, let alone tell her servant to clean it) did not help. The character of Lucy James and her language was all too modern, and distanced the entire novel away from the original Conan Doyle - which I felt the previous two books had captured very well. The idea of Lucy asking Sherlock Holmes for advice on love was excruciating though and that should never have made the cut. I did, however, enjoy the basic plot, even if was now Sherlock-Lite.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It would need tighter writing.

What didn’t you like about Edward Petherbridge and Laurence Bouvard ’s performance?

Edward Petherbridge was as excellent as ever, although sometimes it did seem as though he had recorded it separately to Laurence Bouvard. I cannot say the same for Laurence Bouvard. As an American, she came across well, but the same cannot be said for her accents, which at times had me laughing out loud. I do understand that the cockney accent is not an easy one for some Americans, but surely someone could have helped her get the crucial vowel sounds right?

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes, I might, but the script would need to be much tighter and go back to the original two novels in style. The story itself was rather fun and with the right actors playing the roles it would make a good film.

Any additional comments?

Overall, this book had such a lot of potential, but it was a disappointment when compared to the previous two novels. Perhaps if I had not listened to it as an audio book I would not have felt quite so strongly.

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If you enjoyed the first two books, please don’t buy this

If you enjoyed the first two books, please don’t buy this: it is not only nowhere near as good, it genuinely spoils the experience of the previous ones.

Apart from using the same characters (with different voices mostly) it is totally different and, sadly, far inferior.

It’s a romantic cosy mystery with overtones of wish-fulfilment by the author. The main character goes around hugging ‘Uncle John’ (Watson), Holmes and Mrs Hudson.

At one point, the main character tells Holmes off for being inconsiderate and makes him buy Mrs Hudson roses. This is after Mrs Hudson shouts at Holmes it’s like the author has no idea of the social Norma at the times nor the original book.

This book like a children’s version of the originals - language, style and storyline all together.

The narrator makes it worse by being unable to do English accents and then developing a cold halfway through the book.

I stuck it out for 6 hours but couldn’t finish.

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