The sherlock holmes book

IN MY INMOST WHAT ONE MAN
HEART I BELIEVED CAN INVENT,
ANOTHER CAN
THAT I COULD
SUCCEED WHERE DISCOVER
OTHERS FAILED

I REALLY WOULDN’T I CAN DISCOVER MY NAME IS SHERLOCK
MISS YOUR CASE FOR FACTS, WATSON, HOLMES. IT IS MY
BUT I CANNOT BUSINESS TO KNOW
THE WORLD CHANGE THEM
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE
DON’T KNOW

I HAVE
A TURN
BOTH FOR
OBSERVATION
AND FOR
DEDUCTION

THE

GAME IS
BIG IDEAS SIMPLY EXPLAINED AFOOT

ONE OF THE STRANGEST I HAVE THE
CASES WHICH EVER THREADS OF
THIS AFFAIR ALL
PERPLEXED A MAN’S BRAIN IN MY HAND

THE WHOLE THERE IS NOTHING THERE IS
INEXPLICABLE MORE STIMULATING NOTHING LIKE
TANGLE SEEMED THAN A CASE WHERE FIRST-HAND
TO STRAIGHTEN EVERYTHING GOES
OUT BEFORE ME EVIDENCE
AGAINST YOU



THE

SHERLOCK

HOLMES
BOOK



THE

SHERLOCK

HOLMES
BOOK

DK LONDON JACKET DESIGN First American Edition, 2015
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CONTRIBUTORS

DAVID STUART DAVIES, CONSULTANT EDITOR JOHN FARNDON

David Stuart Davies is a crime writer, playwright, and editor. John Farndon is a Royal Literary Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University
Regarded as an authority on Sherlock Holmes, he has written seven in Cambridge, UK, and an author, playwright, and composer.
Holmes novels and several nonfiction works, including Starring Among his many books are Do You Think You’re Clever? and
Sherlock Holmes (Titan), and edited numerous collections dealing Do Not Open. He is the creator of The Secret History of Objects
with the Baker Street sleuth. His latest Holmes title is Sherlock tales, which premiered at the Moscow Polytech Festival in 2015.
Holmes & The Devil’s Promise (Titan). His own detectives are
Johnny Hawke, a private detective operating in London during ANDREW HERITAGE
World War II; Luther Darke, a Victorian “puzzle solver”; and
DI Paul Snow, a Yorkshire policeman in a series of novels set in Andrew Heritage is a publishing consultant who specializes
the 1980s, the most recent being Innocent Blood (Mystery Press). in cartography, current affairs, art, popular culture, and literary
His website is www.davidstuartdavies.com history. He has edited and contributed to over 100 titles including
the DK Atlas of World History, The Book of Codes, The Book of
BARRY FORSHAW, CONSULTANT EDITOR Saints, The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, and Great Movies.

Barry Forshaw is one of the UK’s leading experts on crime fiction ALEX WHITTLETON
and film. His books include Nordic Noir, Sex and Film, and The
Rough Guide to Crime Fiction. Other works include Death in a Cold Alex Whittleton is a freelance professional writer on a range
Climate, British Gothic Cinema, Euro Noir, and the Keating Award- of nonfiction subjects, including literature, lifestyle, media,
winning British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, along with books and food. She has had academic work published in the Thomas
on Italian cinema and Stieg Larsson. He writes for various national Hardy Yearbook and has a particular interest in Victorian
newspapers and edits Crime Time (www.crimetime.co.uk). literature and culture.

DAVID ANDERSON LIZ WYSE

David Anderson is a researcher based in the Department of English Liz Wyse is an author and editor who has written on a wide range
at University College London, where he specializes in the literature of historical subjects, and recently created a range of books on
and film of the city. He is a senior editor at Review 31, a staff writer etiquette and modern manners for Debrett’s. She has edited a
at Connell Guides, and writer-in-residence at the Cob Gallery. number of historical atlases, including The Times Atlas of World
Archaeology and The Historical Atlas of New York City, and was
JOLY BRAIME Editor-in-Chief of The Guinness Book of World Records.

Joly Braime has been a magazine journalist, a guidebook and
website editor, and a freelance writer who has worked on
everything from financial books to articles about Fifty Shades
of Grey. He has been a Holmes obsessive since acquiring The
Complete Sherlock Holmes at the age of 11.

6

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 62 I really wouldn’t miss 90 Each new discovery
your case for the world furnishes a step
14 Steel true, blade straight The Red-Headed League which leads on to
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the complete truth
68 The little things are The Adventure of the
22 My name is Sherlock infinitely the most Engineer’s Thumb
Holmes. It is my business important
to know what other A Case of Identity 94 I had formed my
people don’t know conclusions as to the
Sherlock Holmes 70 There is nothing case before our client
more deceptive than came into the room
26 I was a whetstone for his an obvious fact The Adventure of the
mind. I stimulated him The Boscombe Noble Bachelor
Dr. John Watson Valley Mystery
96 There are women in
28 He sits motionless, 74 I am the last court whom the love of a
like a spider in the of appeal lover extinguishes
centre of its web The Five Orange Pips all other loves
Professor James Moriarty The Adventure of the
80 It is better to learn Beryl Coronet
30 I am a practical man, wisdom late than
Mr. Holmes, and when I never to learn it at all 98 Crime is common.
have got my evidence The Man with the Logic is rare
I come to my conclusions Twisted Lip The Adventure of the
Inspector G. Lestrade Copper Beeches
82 In the larger and older
THE EARLY jewels every facet may THE GREAT
ADVENTURES stand for a bloody deed DETECTIVE
The Adventure of the
36 There’s the scarlet Blue Carbuncle 106 The real murderer is
thread of murder standing immediately
running through the 84 Violence does, in truth, behind you
colourless skein of life recoil upon the violent Silver Blaze
A Study in Scarlet The Adventure of the
Speckled Band 110 There is no part of
46 I never make exceptions. the body which varies
An exception disproves so much as the
the rule human ear
The Sign of Four The Cardboard Box

56 You see, but you 112 Any truth is better
do not observe than indefinite doubt
A Scandal in Bohemia The Yellow Face

7

114 Human nature is a 162 This empty house is my 192 Surely my deductions
strange mixture, Watson tree, and you are my tiger are simplicity itself
The Stockbroker’s Clerk The Adventure of the The Adventure of the
Empty House Golden Pince-Nez
116 And then in an instant
the key of the riddle 168 All my instincts are one 196 When a man is lost it is my
was in my hands way, and all the facts duty to ascertain his fate
The Gloria Scott are the other The Adventure of the
The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
120 In my inmost heart I Norwood Builder
believed that I could 198 The game is afoot
succeed where others failed 170 I have the threads of this The Adventure of the
The Musgrave Ritual affair all in my hand Abbey Grange
The Adventure of the
126 The results show that the Dancing Men 202 It is a capital mistake
trap was skillfully baited to theorize in advance
The Reigate Squire 176 She thinks she does not of the facts
know the man; I am The Adventure of the
132 One of the strangest cases convinced she does Second Stain
which ever perplexed a The Adventure of the
man’s brain Solitary Cyclist HOLMES TAKES
The Crooked Man A BOW
178 A criminal who was
134 I can read in a man’s eye capable of such a 212 A great brain and a huge
when it is his own skin thought is a man whom organization have been
he is frightened for I should be proud to do turned to the extinction
The Resident Patient business with of one man
The Adventure of the The Valley of Fear
136 To the logician all things Priory School
should be seen exactly 222 The whole inexplicable
as they are 184 One should always look tangle seemed to straighten
The Greek Interpreter for a possible alternative, out before me
and provide against it The Adventure of
138 The most difficult crime The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
to track is the one which Black Peter
is purposeless 226 Different threads, but
The Naval Treaty 186 By jove, Watson; leading to the same tangle
I’ve got it! The Adventure of the Red Circle
142 Danger is part of my trade The Adventure of Charles
The Final Problem Augustus Milverton 230 The London criminal is
certainly a dull fellow
A LEGEND 188 There is a certain method The Adventure of the
RETURNS in the gentleman’s Bruce-Partington Plans
eccentric proceedings
152 There is nothing more The Adventure of the 234 Well, Watson, we
stimulating than a case Six Napoleons seem to have fallen
where everything goes upon evil days
against you 190 Let us hear the suspicions. The Adventure of the
The Hound of the Baskervilles I will look after the proofs Dying Detective
The Adventure of the
Three Students

8

236 We simply can’t afford 266 Some people’s affability THE WORLD OF
to wait for the police is more deadly than the SHERLOCK HOLMES
or to keep within the violence of coarser souls
four corners of the law The Adventure of the 296 What do you say to a
The Disappearance of Illustrious Client ramble through London?
Lady Frances Carfax The Victorian World
272 I am not the law, but I
240 I have seldom known represent justice so far 300 There is nothing
a case which at first as my feeble powers go so unnatural as
sight presented a more The Adventure of the the commonplace
singular problem Three Gables Sherlock and Society
The Adventure of the
Devil’s Foot 274 I see no more than you, 306 I have a turn both for
but I have trained myself observation and for
246 There’s an east wind to notice what I see deduction
coming, Watson The Adventure of the The Art of Deduction
His Last Bow Blanched Soldier
310 There is nothing like
THE FINAL 278 I am an omnivorous first-hand evidence
DEDUCTIONS reader with a strangely Criminology and
retentive memory Forensic Science
252 This man has come for for trifles
his own purpose, but The Adventure of the 316 You know my methods.
he may stay for mine Lion’s Mane Apply them
The Adventure of the Crime Writing and
Mazarin Stone 284 We reach. We grasp. Detective Fiction
And what is left in
254 I can discover facts, our hands at the end? 324 What one man can invent,
Watson, but I cannot A shadow another can discover
change them The Adventure of the The Fans of Sherlock Holmes
The Problem of Retired Colourman
Thor Bridge 328 The best way of
286 Patient suffering is in successfully acting
258 When one tries to rise itself the most precious a part is to be it
above nature one is of all lessons Sherlock on Stage and Screen
liable to fall below it The Adventure of the
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger 336 The many faces of Holmes
Creeping Man
288 It is only the colourless, 340 Holmes by other hands
260 The world is big uneventful case which
enough for us. No is hopeless 344 Conan Doyle’s other works
ghosts need apply The Adventure of
The Adventure of the Shoscombe Old Place 346 INDEX
Sussex Vampire 352 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

262 There is some guilty
secret in the room
The Adventure of the
Three Garridebs

9

FOREWORD

I n 1946, almost 70 years ago, Edgar W. Smith Seventy years later, we can see that the spirit of Moriarty
pondered in an editorial in the Baker Street Journal, did not die in a bunker in Berlin or in a palace in Tokyo.
“What is it that we love in Sherlock Holmes?” Nearly His hand is clear after 1946, in the wars in which so
130 years after Holmes first appeared, subsequently many died, in Korea, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and
embedded in the hearts of millions, it is appropriate Iraq. Even today, his minions continue to foment crime,
to reconsider this question. corruption, hunger, and poverty, in a world with factions
no longer easily divided into good or evil.
First, Smith wrote, “we love the time in which he lived.”
When Smith wrote these words, that golden era, when And yet we return to Holmes. Smith was right in
it was “always 1895,” was only a half-century earlier, saying that Holmes appeals to us for “all that we
and well within the living memory of Smith (who was are not but ever would be.” But it is not Holmes’s
born in 1894) and his contemporary readers. Now it is heroism that calls to us, for he was not a hero (or
an alien country, as mythical and foreign as the era of perhaps not just a hero). Rather, he was an individual,
the Roman empire, the battlefields of Napoleon, or the in an age when individuality seemed lost in the teeming
court of Elizabeth I. While it may be true that we do masses of the Empire. Heroic or not, Holmes always
love the Victorian era, we love it as we love the Old West did the right thing. Some have pointed out that he was
or the countryside of Arthur’s Camelot, only as it exists arrogant, cold, high-handed, misogynistic, unfeeling,
in our imaginations, not in our memories. Even Smith manipulative—and these are difficult charges to deny.
knew that the late nineteenth century was no paradise Yet those are all merely facets of his single-minded
but instead a time of great changes, for people of color, character, unswerving in his pursuit of justice, without
for women, and for the middle class. In the world of 1946, regard for the conventions of law or society. Holmes is
just righting itself from the cataclysms of war and the what we dream of and yet hesitate to be: a man apart
horrors of the Holocaust, how could Smith justify a love from the crowd. While he had only a single friend,
for a character as out-of-date as Sherlock Holmes? Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes was very much a part of
his world, as comfortable with the grooms and street
Smith’s answer was emblematic of 1946, when the urchins as with the bankers and nobility. In an age
world could still believe in heroes: “[Holmes] stands bound by rules and rituals for social circumstances
before us as a symbol,” he wrote, “a symbol...of all that of every sort, even death, Sherlock Holmes followed
we are not but ever would be... We see him as the fine only his own rules.
expression of our urge to trample evil and to set aright
the wrongs with which the world is plagued.... [He] is The mystery writer Raymond Chandler, writing many
the personification of something in us that we have years after the death of Conan Doyle, had little liking
lost or never had… And the time and place and all the for the Holmes stories. His ideal detective, he said, lived
great events are near and dear to us not because our up to a simple credo: “[D]own these mean streets a
memories call them forth in pure nostalgia, but because man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither
they are a part of us today. That is the Sherlock Holmes tarnished nor afraid.” Yet these words could not more
we love—the Holmes implicit and eternal in ourselves.” accurately describe Holmes. Unafraid, untarnished,
focused on his fixed goal, Holmes inspires all of us to
Those were stirring words for a world on the brink believe that we need not be heroes; rather, we can
of peace and prosperity. The Allies had fought a make the world a better place by doing the right thing.
terrible war, the last “good” war, and the madmen
were defeated, by common men and women— Leslie S. Klinger
heroes—from many lands. But if Holmes was only
a hero, as Smith implied, he failed us, for he did not
slay the dragon, at the Reichenbach Falls or later.

INTRODU

CTION

12 INTRODUCTION

T hink of the silhouette: the format, he had his rather remote Conan Doyle inspired a reading
deerstalker, the Roman sleuth utilizing observation, logic, public so obsessed with Holmes
nose, the pipe. Sir Arthur and lateral thinking—all while that the writer’s attempt to kill off
Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes demonstrating his skill to an the character he had grown tired
is, quite simply, the most famous awestruck unnamed narrator; the of (in the short story “The Final
figure in all of crime fiction. Holmes formula, in fact, in embryo. Problem,” pp.142–47) was met
What’s more, he is one of the most with national outrage.
recognizable fictional characters Conan Doyle was a close reader
in the Western world—and beyond. of such Poe stories as “The Murders Writer at work
And although he owes something in the Rue Morgue” (1841), and he Conan Doyle’s own life was often
to his literary predecessors in the borrowed a variety of notions from as remarkable as anything to be
detective fiction genre, Sherlock Dupin and developed them far found in his more bizarre fiction,
Holmes is the template for virtually beyond anything Poe had ever particularly in his later years,
every fictional detective that has dreamed of. Influenced also by his when his interest in spiritualism
followed him. Even those who did charismatic professor at Edinburgh increasingly came to the fore. His
not emulate him were obliged to University, Dr. Joseph Bell, Conan feelings toward the character he
do something markedly different, Doyle forged an imperishable canon had created in Sherlock Holmes
so seismic was his impact. of work over some 40 years with were famously mixed. A well-
his stories and novels about the known Punch cartoon of the day
The brilliant, impatient master Great Detective, each brimming showed the author chained to the
of deductive reasoning who shared with atmosphere and invention. great detective, and Conan Doyle
rooms at 221B Baker Street with often expressed his frustrated wish
his faithful chronicler, Dr. John H. No man... has brought the to be remembered for something
Watson, is as popular today as same amount of study and of other than his famous protagonist.
when the young and ambitious natural talent to the detection But it was Sherlock Holmes rather
author Conan Doyle created him. of crime which I have done. than the author’s own preferred
Without doubt, Sherlock Holmes is historical fiction that made Conan
a figure for the ages, and this book Sherlock Holmes Doyle one of the most celebrated
is a celebration of the detective in popular writers of his age.
all his myriad facets. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
The famous duo
Early inspirations Apart from the mesmerising genius
When the American writer Edgar of his detective, Conan Doyle’s most
Allan Poe wrote about a proto- durable achievement within the
Holmes protagonist, C. Auguste Sherlock Holmes stories and novels
Dupin, in a series of stories that was the relationship he established
virtually forged the detective fiction

INTRODUCTION 13

between the logical sleuth and such Holmes imitators as Agatha historical and social aspects of
his colleague Watson (the latter Christie’s Hercule Poirot could Victorian England, 19th-century
a surrogate for the reader), which not begin to rival. criminology and forensics, and
the writer finessed into something the science and methods of logical
immensely satisfying. Much of the One reason for the longevity thought and deduction.
pleasure of the stories and novels of the character is his immensely
may be found in the interaction flexible appeal when adapted The Great Detective
between Holmes and Watson as for drama—on stage, film, and In short, The Sherlock Holmes Book
much as from the jaw-dropping television. Actors love to take up provides a complete guide to all
revelations of the plots. the magnifying glass, pipe, and aspects of Holmesiana. It is a
violin, and surround themselves celebration of Conan Doyle’s most
Holmes on the page with the cozy clutter of 221B Baker fascinating creation, the Great
The Sherlock Holmes Book not only Street. All the key actors who have Detective Sherlock Holmes. ■
examines the complete canonical taken on the mantle of Holmes are
collection of 56 short stories and celebrated here, from the earliest Barry Forshaw and
the four memorable novels (the portrayals to the most recent: David Stuart Davies
most famous of which, of course, Benedict Cumberbatch starring Consultant editors
is The Hound of the Baskervilles, in a massively successful modern-
pp.152–61) but also applies the day reimagining of Sherlock When you have eliminated
kind of forensic attention to all Holmes in the 21st century. the impossible whatever
things Holmesian that the sleuth remains, however improbable,
himself utilized in his cases— In these pages, you will also
including the life and character find the literary offshoots—the must be the truth.
of his creator, along with Conan creation of adventures for the great Sherlock Holmes
Doyle’s non-Holmes work. detective by writers other than
Conan Doyle, which began even The Sign of Four (1890)
Beyond the canon when the author was still alive,
While the original canon of Holmes and included such practitioners as
stories and novels remains the his son, Adrian Conan Doyle. Over
key element in the detective’s the years, there have been many
popularity, it is the infinite—and Holmes pastiches, from retellings
continuing—flexibility of Holmes of canonical works to complete
and Watson as characters that reinventions of the detective’s cases.
has rendered them relevant and
ripe for multiple reinterpretations Other areas for examination
even today, in a manner that are the influence of Conan Doyle’s
writing on the crime fiction genre,
along with the ways in which the
Holmes stories provide insight into

14 A rthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
was born in Edinburgh on
STEEL TRUE May 22, 1859. His mother,
BLADE Mary Foley, was of Irish extraction;
STRAIGHT she could trace her ancestry back
to the influential Percy family of
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Northumberland, and from there
to the Plantagenet line. Mary
recounted tales of history, high
adventure, and heroic deeds to the
young Arthur, which were to be
the seeds of inspiration in his later
writing career. The family was
large—Arthur was the eldest of
10 children—and life was difficult
for his mother, who struggled
to bring up the family on the
meager income provided by her
unambitious husband Charles
Altamont Doyle—a civil servant
and occasional artist. Charles
was prone to bouts of epilepsy as
well as depression and alcoholism,
which eventually led to his being
institutionalized in 1893.

Education and influences
In order to help Arthur escape
his depressing home background,
Mrs. Doyle scraped enough money
together to send him to Stonyhurst
College, a strict Jesuit boarding
school situated in an isolated
part of Lancashire. It was at this

That love of books…
is among the
choicest gifts
of the gods.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Through the Magic Door (1907)

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 15

Conan Doyle is pictured here
at work in the garden of Bignell
Wood—the family’s rural retreat
in the New Forest, Hampshire—
during the late 1920s.

establishment that he began to professors who would later serve the first collection of Holmes short
question his religious beliefs, and as models for his characters. In stories, The Adventures of Sherlock
by the time he left the school in 1875 his autobiography, Memories and Holmes (1892), is dedicated “To
he had firmly rejected Christianity. Adventures (1924), he describes My Old Teacher Joseph Bell.” It has
Instead he began a lifelong search Professor Rutherford with his been said that Conan Doyle looked
for some other belief to embrace— “Assyrian beard, his prodigious upon Bell as a father figure because
a search that eventually led him voice, his enormous chest and his he lacked one at home.
to spiritualism. It was also at singular manner”—characteristics
Stonyhurst that he encountered that Conan Doyle would later assign To help to pay his university
a fellow pupil named Moriarty—a to the colorful Professor George tuition and assist his mother
name that he would use to great Edward Challenger, the central with the upkeep of the family, Conan
effect later, in his writings. Conan character in his famous science- Doyle undertook many part-time
Doyle was always picking up trifles fiction novel The Lost World (1912). jobs, including that of medical
and tidbits of information, ideas, and Even more significant was his assistant in Birmingham, Sheffield,
concepts that he encountered and association with Dr. Joseph Bell, and Shropshire. He even served as
stored away with the idea of possibly whose method of deducing the a ship’s doctor on an Arctic whaler,
using them in the future. history and circumstances of his another experience that provided
patients appeared little short of material for his writing—particularly
After studying for a further year magical. Here was the model and the ghost story “The Captain of the
with the Jesuits in Feldkirch in inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, Polestar” (1890), and “The Adventure
Austria, Conan Doyle surprised his and it is interesting to note that of Black Peter” (pp.184–85).
artistic family by choosing to study
medicine at Edinburgh University. From doctor to writer
During his time at the university— After graduating in 1882, Conan
1876 to 1881—he encountered two Doyle became a partner in a
medical practice in Plymouth,
Founded in 1891, The Strand Devon, with Dr. George Turnaville
Magazine was an illustrated monthly Budd, who had been a fellow ❯❯
featuring short stories, including the
highly popular Sherlock Holmes tales,
which appeared in complete form.

16 INTRODUCTION

Born May 22 Sets up his A Study in Scarlet, Meets and
in Edinburgh, to own medical the first Sherlock falls in love
Charles Altamont practice in with Jean Leckie.
Doyle and Mary Holmes novel,
Southsea. is published.
Foley.

1859 1883 1887 1897
1876 1885 1891 1900

Enrolls at Edinburgh University Marries “A Scandal in Bohemia,” the first Went to South Africa
to study medicine and meets Louise Hawkins Holmes short story, appears in to serve as a
Dr. Joseph Bell—the main (“Touie”), sister The Strand Magazine.
inspiration for Holmes. medic for British
of a patient. troops in the

Second Boer War
(1899–1902).

student at Edinburgh University. stories, I was struck by the fact admiration for the works of Sir
Budd was an eccentric and volatile that their results were obtained Walter Scott. The result was Micah
man and the partnership soon in nearly every case by chance. Clarke (1889), a tale based on the
disintegrated, leaving Conan I thought I would try my hand at Monmouth Rebellion. It was a great
Doyle to pack his bags and set up writing a story in which the hero critical and financial success, and
a practice on his own in Southsea, would treat crime as Dr. Bell treated it was this that convinced Conan
Hampshire. By this time he had disease and where science would Doyle that his future lay in writing.
already tried his hand at writing take the place of romance.” This
fiction and had several short idea materialized in the form of the The US-based Lippincott’s
stories published, but it was while novel A Study in Scarlet (pp.36–45), Magazine commissioned a second
in Southsea that he made a more with Sherrinford becoming Sherlock Holmes novel in 1890,
determined effort to achieve Sherlock—and a legend was born. and he produced The Sign of Four
success as an author. As he slowly It was published in Beeton’s (pp.46–55) in less than a month.
built up his medical practice, Christmas Annual in 1887; Conan However, it wasn’t until 1891, when
Conan Doyle toyed with the idea Doyle accepted the meager fee of The Strand Magazine began the
of creating a detective story in £25, and in so doing relinquished series of 12 short stories (later
which the protagonist—a character all claims to the copyright. known as The Adventures of
called Sherrinford Holmes—solved Sherlock Holmes) that the character
a crime by deductive reasoning Following the publication of of Holmes really struck a chord with
in the manner of Joseph Bell. In A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle the public. It was Conan Doyle who
Memories and Adventures he turned his attention to historical had approached the Strand in the
observed: “Reading some detective fiction—his first love, inspired first instance: “It had struck me that
by his mother’s stories and his a single character running through

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 17

Knighted for a Marries his “dear The collection “The Coming of the Dies July 7
pamphlet justifying friend” Jean Leckie His Last Bow Fairies” is published, at home in
the Boer War, and for is published in Windlesham,
service in the conflict. on September 18. at the height of his
book form. spiritualism. Surrey.

1902 1907 1917 1922 1930
1906 1912 1918 1924

Louise dies of The Lost World Death of eldest Publishes his autobiography
tuberculosis is published— son Kingsley Memories and Adventures.
the first on October 18.
on July 4. Professor
Challenger
story.

a series, if it only engaged the (1889) and Kingsley (1892), Louise In 1893, he visited Switzerland with
reader, would bind the reader to was diagnosed with tuberculosis; Louise. It was while he was there
that magazine.” And that is exactly her condition declined rapidly, and that he visited the Reichenbach
what happened. Within six months she remained an invalid for the rest Falls and decided that this was a
of the Baker Street detective’s first of her life. In 1894, they left London place that would “make a worthy
appearance in the Strand, in “A and moved into a new house— tomb for poor Sherlock, even if I
Scandal in Bohemia” (pp.56–61), the Undershaw, in Hindhead, Surrey— buried my banking account along
main selling point of the magazine since Conan Doyle believed the air with him.” So in the last story of
was each new Holmes adventure. would be better for Louise’s health. the second collection, The Memoirs
of Sherlock Holmes (1893), he
Marriage and a break Despite the success of the first consigned his hero to the watery
Meanwhile, in 1885, Conan Doyle series of Holmes tales, Conan depths of the Reichenbach Falls,
had married Louise (“Touie”) Doyle quickly became bored locked in the arms of the criminal
Hawkins, the sister of one of his with his creation, and although mastermind Professor Moriarty.
patients. It was a union that was he succumbed to the offer of an
dogged by Louise’s constant ill increased fee for a second series, Ignoring the public howls of
health. In 1891, the couple moved he was determined that this should complaint about his murder of
from Southsea to Tennison Road in be the last. He wanted to spend Holmes, he concentrated on a wide
South Norwood, southeast London, more time writing historical fiction, range of other writing projects,
so Conan Doyle could be closer to which he saw as a more worthy including a tale of Regency life
the literary world. However, after pursuit, and one that would gain (Rodney Stone, 1896), a novel about
giving birth to two children, Mary him greater recognition as a the Napoleonic wars (Uncle Bernac,
serious author. 1897), and many short stories. ❯❯

18 INTRODUCTION As Conan Doyle’s stature as a in appalling conditions and visiting
writer and his wealth both grew, the front; he later wrote up the
Conan Doyle’s favorite he became increasingly involved history of the war and a pamphlet
stories in public life and the literary scene. vindicating the actions of the
Among his distinguished friends British Army.
In 1927, The Strand Magazine and acquaintances was a set of
ran a competition asking its authors who, like Conan Doyle, had It was at the turn of the century
readers to guess which of the created remarkable characters who that Conan Doyle hit upon a plot for
Sherlock Holmes stories were would resonate with the public a new mystery story—The Hound
Conan Doyle’s favorites. long after their deaths: Bram Stoker of the Baskervilles (pp.152–61).
(Dracula); J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan); Constructing the framework of
Conan Doyle announced Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll the story with the aid of his friend,
his choices in a Strand article and Mr. Hyde); and Oscar Wilde journalist Fletcher Robinson, the
titled “How I Made My List.” (Dorian Gray). author realized that he needed a
None of the stories from The central character to play detective,
Case Book of Sherlock Holmes War and a resurrection and so he resurrected Sherlock
were eligible, since it had not Conan Doyle was actively engaged Holmes. The novel was set in
yet been published as a book. in the Boer War (1899–1902), 1889, two years before Holmes
However, he began by listing offering medical assistance at supposedly fell to his death at
“The Lion’s Mane” and “The the Langman Field Hospital in the Reichenbach Falls. It was first
Illustrious Client” as his Bloemfontein in South Africa serialized in the Strand in 1901 and
favorites from that collection. published in book form in 1902. In
Conan Doyle on the way to the US the same year, Conan Doyle was
The conclusive list of his in the 1920s with his second wife given a knighthood in recognition
favorites was as follows: first Jean and their children (from left): of his pamphlet on the Boer War
“The Speckled Band,” “The Lena Jean, Denis, and Adrian. and service at the front—although
Red-Headed League,” and many felt that the honor was more
“The Dancing Men” for their
original plots, followed by
“The Final Problem,” “A
Scandal in Bohemia,” and
“The Empty House”—which
respectively feature “the
only foe who ever really
extended Holmes,” “more
female interest than is usual,”
and “the difficult task of
explaining away the alleged
death of Holmes.”

He then selected “The Five
Orange Pips” and “The Priory
School” for their dramatic
moments, “The Second Stain”
for its “high diplomacy and
intrigue,” and “The Devil’s
Foot,” for being “grim and
new.” With its description
of Holmes’s early life, and “a
historical touch which gives
it a little added distinction,”
“The Musgrave Ritual” was
also given a place on his
favorites list. And finally, he
added “The Reigate Squire,”
in which Holmes “shows
perhaps the most ingenuity.”

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 19

In the 1920s, magician and escape
artist Houdini put on shows to expose
false psychics and mediums. He had
been friendly with Conan Doyle, but
the two men fell out over a séance.

of a thank-you for bringing about
the return of Sherlock Holmes. By
1904, the author succumbed to
the offers of large fees and began
writing more Holmes short stories.

A second marriage On the side of justice that Edalji could not have
Conan Doyle’s relationship with his It was during this period that performed the savage attacks on
wife Louise was a strong friendship Conan Doyle became involved in the animals because of his very
rather than a passionate romance, a personal fight to establish the poor eyesight. (The writer Julian
and it wasn’t until he met Jean innocence of a Parsee, George Barnes, fascinated by the case,
Leckie that he experienced the full Edalji, convicted of horse and cattle recounted the story in his 2005
emotional force of romantic love. maiming in Warwickshire. Using historical novel Arthur & George,
He first encountered this attractive the methods of his detective hero, which was later dramatized and
Scottish woman—14 years his Conan Doyle was able to establish broadcast on television in 2015). ❯❯
junior—in 1897, and fell head over
heels in love with her. He confessed
to his mother how he felt about
Jean and told close friends, too, who
were divided on the subject; Conan
Doyle’s brother-in-law, E. W. Hornung
(the writer of the Raffles detective
stories), was furious at what he
considered to be infidelity. However,
Conan Doyle was not physically
unfaithful to Louise. His strong
personal code of chivalry forbade
him to take his affair with Jean
into the realms of sexual congress.
Nevertheless, the strain must have
placed Conan Doyle upon the
psychological rack. His fondness
and sense of duty to his invalid
wife kept him by her side, while at
the same time his passion for Jean
tormented both his heart and mind.

Louise died in 1906, and Conan
Doyle married Jean a year later.
Shortly after the wedding, they
moved to a new house—Little
Windlesham, in Crowborough,
Sussex. It was a happy marriage,
and Jean bore Conan Doyle three
more children: Denis (1909), Adrian
(1910), and Lena Jean (1912).

20 INTRODUCTION

In addition, there were other causes A man’s soul and reason spiritualism in Australia, the US,
that Conan Doyle took up where are his own and he must go Canada, and South Africa. He was
he felt that injustice had been careful and thorough in testing
wrought. His moral standards whither they beckon. mediums, but there were occasions
prompted him to investigate Arthur Conan Doyle on which he was deceived, and
matters where he believed that his critics seized upon these to
misjudgments had been made. Letter to The Scotsman (October 1900) illustrate what they regarded as
Notably, he campaigned to have his credulity. Certainly, when two
the death penalty lifted from interest in spiritualism, for in young girls claimed to have seen
Roger Casement, a traitor during 1916 he became convinced that and photographed fairies in a
World War I, but he was not he should devote his final years watery dell near their home in
successful. Similarly, he protested to the advancement of this belief. Cottingley, Yorkshire, and Conan
the innocence of Oscar Slater, a It was a decision that was further Doyle (together with Edward
German Jew accused of murder: strengthened by the tragic death of Gardner, a leading Theosophist)
thanks to Conan Doyle’s efforts, his son, Kingsley, who passed away declared them to be genuine, he
Slater was finally released in at the age of 26 after succumbing appeared very gullible.
1927 after serving 18 years of to pneumonia following his
a life sentence. wounding on the Somme in 1918. It was Conan Doyle’s obsession
with spiritualism and his search for
Spiritualism In the last decade of his life, proof of a life beyond death that led
With the outbreak of World War I Conan Doyle gave most of his him into a brief friendship with the
in 1914, Conan Doyle became time and energy to lecturing on magician Harry Houdini, who was
instrumental in forming the local also a spiritualist. The two men
volunteer force—a forerunner of eventually fell out after a séance
the Home Guard—and acted as in which Lady Jean Conan Doyle
a war correspondent, visiting the (Arthur’s wife), acting as a medium,
battlefronts. Perhaps it was the apparently received a written
senseless slaughter of so many message from Houdini’s dead
young lives that revitalized his mother. As the magician’s mother
was a Hungarian Jew and couldn’t
speak or write a word of English,
Houdini denounced the séance as
being false. The magician also later
wrote a mocking article about the
incident, sealing the rift between
the two men.

A fitting end
The spiritualist tours were arduous
and physically draining, and Conan
Doyle’s health suffered as a result.
He was now in his late sixties, but
it appeared that he was making no
allowances for his advancing age.
In 1929, he suffered severe pains in

The “Cottingley Fairies” photos,
faked by two young girls in 1917, fooled
many people—including Conan Doyle—
into believing fairies existed. The girls
cut out illustrations from magazines,
securing them in place with hat pins.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 21

A new Holmes tale? and may have contributed the 20th centuries: as well as detective
story to assist locals in their stories, he wrote poetry, plays,
In 2015 a new Sherlock Holmes fundraising efforts. He was domestic dramas, sea stories,
story was discovered in an attic involved in politics at this historical romances, supernatural
in Selkirk, Scotland. “Sherlock time, and seeking election chillers, medical tales, and various
Homes: Discovering the Border as a Liberal Unionist. spiritualist tracts.
Burghs and, by deduction, the
Brig Bazaar” may have been In the story, Holmes uses However, as well as being a
written by Conan Doyle in 1904 his powers of observation remarkable author, he was also
(though this has not yet been and deduction to predict that a brilliant, energetic, innovative
confirmed), as part of a booklet Watson is about to travel to man with strong personal visions,
of short stories titled Book o’ the Selkirk to open a bazaar to raise attitudes, and ideas—a Victorian
Brig. The booklet was printed money for a bridge. In typical with a 20th-century outlook. His
to raise money to replace a local Holmesian style, the detective passion drove him to pursue a
bridge that had been destroyed announces that although wide range of activities: he ran for
by flooding in 1902. Conan Watson has not told him of parliament (unsuccessfully); he
Doyle regularly visited Selkirk, his plans, his actions “have played cricket for the MCC, once
revealed the bent of your mind.” capturing the wicket of the great
his chest and was diagnosed with W. G. Grace; he promoted cross-
angina. The doctors advised that he By now, Conan Doyle knew he was country skiing in Switzerland; he
cancel all his spiritualist lectures, dying. A few days before his death was one of the first car owners; he
but the author was adamant that he wrote: “The reader will judge had a keen interest in photography
he would not let the public down by that I have had many adventures. and contributed articles on the
failing to honor his engagements. The greatest and most glorious subject to The British Journal of
On his way to the Albert Hall, he awaits me now.” He informed his Photography; and, of course, he was
suffered a violent attack, and from family that he did not wish to pass also a doctor—a title that he prized
then on all physical exertion was away in bed, so they helped him above all others. With so many
forbidden. Some little time later he to a chair where he could look outstanding and fascinating
was discovered lying in the hallway through the window at the Sussex qualities, it is not surprising that
of his home, clutching a single countryside beyond, and he died his most famous literary creation—
white snowdrop in his hand. He there surrounded by his family on Sherlock Holmes—was imbued
had seen the flowers through the the morning of July 7, 1930. His last with a similar kind of brilliance. ■
window and had struggled from his words were to his beloved Jean:
sickbed to take one of the blooms. “You are wonderful.”

My mother’s and father’s He was buried in the garden of
devotion to each other his home at Windlesham, but his
remains were later moved to the
at all times was one of the nearby churchyard at Minstead.
most wonderful things The inscription on his gravestone
I have ever known. is “Steel True, Blade Straight.”
Adrian Conan Doyle
A man of many parts
The New York Times (July 8, 1930) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a
remarkable man in all areas of
his life. His literary output covers
perhaps a wider range than any
other writer of the 19th and early

Conan Doyle’s final resting place
is with his second wife Jean in the
graveyard at the Church of All Saints
in Minstead, Hampshire.

22 S herlock Holmes is the
greatest fictional detective
MY NAME IS of all time; he is a man with
SHERLOCK HOLMES. exceptional powers of observation
IT IS MY BUSINESS and reasoning, a master of disguise
TO KNOW WHAT who is possessed of an uncanny
OTHER PEOPLE ability to establish the truth. He
DON’T KNOW is also an enigma.

SHERLOCK HOLMES The “emotional robot”
Initially, Holmes appears to be
almost two-dimensional—a brilliant
brain and human calculating
machine with no personality or
emotions. Even Conan Doyle said
of him in an interview with The
Bookman in 1892 that “Sherlock is
utterly inhuman, no heart, but with
a beautifully logical intellect.” And
in “The Adventure of the Mazarin
Stone” (pp.252–53) Holmes himself
declares, “I am brain, Watson. The
rest of me is a mere appendix.”

It may possibly have been Conan
Doyle’s intention to create a cold,
robotic character with no human
feelings and the mind of a computer.
If so, he did not succeed—and thank
goodness, since such a character
would not have been very interesting,
let alone inspire the affection, and
often adoration, that Holmes does.
This public fondness is, to some

Such is Holmes’s popularity that a
blue plaque has been erected at 221B
Baker Street. In Conan Doyle’s day,
although Baker Street existed in real
life, the house number 221 did not.

SHERLOCK HOLMES 23

With his tall, gaunt frame, deep-
set eyes, and aquiline nose, Sherlock
Holmes is an instantly recognizable
figure. Here, he features on a collectible
cigarette card of the 1920s.

extent, due to a natural inclination
to fill in the blanks about him in
one’s imagination—an innate
tendency to believe that someone
denying they have any feelings
must be hiding a deep well of
emotion. But it is also because
of the undeniably deep affection
Holmes inspires in others in the
stories—Mrs. Hudson, Inspector
Lestrade (eventually), and
particularly Dr. John Watson.
Watson may find Holmes’s vanity
occasionally irritating, but his
unstinting loyalty and indisputable
fondness—so unmistakable that
some commentators have, with
no real evidence, suggested that
he and Holmes are even lovers—
reinforce the sense that Holmes
is so much more than a brilliant
robot. And every now and then,
Holmes gives fleeting hints that the
loyalty and fondness are returned.

A complex interior the one that makes Holmes with emotions is portrayed (by
Conan Doyle also hints that there so endlessly compelling, is the Benedict Cumberbatch) as a sign
is a complex and deeply feeling suggestion of hidden depths. He of mild autism.
character beneath the cool exterior. may be a person of extraordinary
There is the drug use, which is nobility who sacrifices his own Physical appearance
an escape from boredom. There feelings in order to serve the greater The one unambiguous thing about
is the violin playing—so brilliant good by using his skills in detection. Holmes is his physical appearance,
and yet so strange, which seems Or perhaps he is a man whose which was first brought to life by
an outlet for emotions that cannot sense of inadequacy and interior the Sidney Paget drawings in The
be expressed otherwise. And then pain lead him to bury his feelings Strand Magazine, which presumably
there is the extraordinary river and throw himself into his work. Conan Doyle approved. In these,
of compassion that runs through It is possible that both are true. In Holmes has sharp, angular features
Holmes’s dealings with the many the BBC’s recent television series and is tall and thin, yet wiry and
people, including villains, in his Sherlock, the detective’s difficulty athletic, with reserves of strength ❯❯
cases. On several occasions, Holmes
lets a culprit go free once he feels
that natural justice has been served,
rather than subjecting them to the
full letter of the “official” law. The
picture Conan Doyle creates, and

24 INTRODUCTION

Sidney Paget, the first illustrator
of the Holmes stories in The Strand
Magazine (some of which are shown
here), was largely responsible for
creating the popular image of Holmes.

that enable him to cope remarkably Holmes’s background French artist Vernet—probably
well in any physical tussle (aided Conan Doyle gives away few Charles Horace Vernet (1758–1836)
by his knowledge of the martial details of Holmes’s life, adding as opposed to his father Claude
art baritsu, p.165). Holmes’s tweedy to the enigma. “His Last Bow” Joseph (1714–1789). The only family
attire, cape, and his now famous (pp.246–47), set in 1914, implies member that the reader knows
deerstalker hat—created by Paget that Holmes is 60, meaning he was anything about is Holmes’s elder
in the drawings rather than by born in about 1854. His ancestors brother Mycroft.
Conan Doyle—are as iconic as are “country squires”, and his
his trademark cane and pipe. grandmother the sister of the Holmes claims that he developed
his skills in deduction as an
undergraduate. Commentators have,
therefore, speculated where he went
to university, the writer Dorothy L.
Sayers theorizing that it was Sidney
Sussex College, Cambridge, while
some scholars favour Oxford. There
he had one true friend, Victor Trevor,
who precipitated his involvement in
“The Gloria Scott” case (pp.116–19).
He does not seem to have made any
other friends since, except Watson.
In “The Five Orange Pips” (pp.74–9)
Watson suggests, “Some friend of
yours, perhaps?” and Holmes replies,
“Except yourself I have none.” His
solitariness is lifelong.

In the 1870s, after university,
Holmes moved to London and took
up residence in Montague Street,
near the British Museum. He had
connections at St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital, which allowed him to
conduct his experiments in the labs
there, even though he was neither
student nor staff. He was already
developing his sideline as a
consulting detective, but it was
only after he met Watson in 1881
and moved into 221B with him as
his co-lodger that the business
became all-consuming.

Life with Watson
For eight years, Holmes and Watson
were inseparable, and Watson was
the witness and recorder of most of

SHERLOCK HOLMES 25

I have chosen my own reading public), he reappeared in Inspiration for Holmes
particular profession… I am London in “The Adventure of the Although Holmes’s fame as a
Empty House” (pp.162–67). His detective is unparalleled, he was
the only one in the world. account of his missing three by no means the first fictional sleuth.
Sherlock Holmes years, called the “Great Hiatus” by Edgar Allan Poe, Émile Gaboriau,
Holmes enthusiasts, was scant and and Wilkie Collins had all written
Holmes’s brilliant exploits as a involved hints of gripping adventures about detectives, each of which can
detective—although some were in Tibet, Persia, and Khartoum be seen, to some extent, in Holmes.
kept from Watson. Then, in about before he settled in Montpellier From Poe, Conan Doyle drew upon
1889, Watson fell in love with Mary in southern France, where he the ideas of the “locked room
Morstan and moved away from conducted scientific experiments. mystery” and solving clues by clever
221B Baker Street to set up his own The lack of information has led deduction; from Gaboriau came
medical practice in west London. Holmes enthusiasts to speculate forensic science and crime scene
that he spent at least some of that investigation; and from Collins
The relationship between Watson time doing undercover work for the something of Holmes’s appearance.
and Holmes became more distant British government, via Mycroft.
after Watson’s marriage, and we But when Conan Doyle was
hear less of his cases—until the By the time Holmes returned, asked about his inspiration for
fateful one in “The Final Problem” Watson had been widowed, and Holmes, he didn’t mention any
(pp.142–47), in which Holmes they resumed their relationship, of these fictional figures. Instead,
appeared to meet his death at until Watson again moved out of he referred to the real-life Dr.
Reichenbach Falls on May 4, 1891 221B and Holmes retired to a cottage Joseph Bell (see p.43)—one of his
in a struggle with the archvillain on the south coast near Eastbourne former professors at Edinburgh
Moriarty. Years later, to the total to indulge in the joys of the quiet life University, who was renowned for
amazement of Watson (and the and his passion for beekeeping. But his close observation and powers of
he could not entirely resist the urge deduction. Bell, too, had an interest
to do a little detective work on his in forensic science, and was often
new home territory, as depicted in called as an expert for criminal
“The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” trials. In 1892, Conan Doyle wrote
(pp.278–83), set in 1907, and later to Bell, “It is most certainly to
carried out vital work for the Foreign you that I owe Sherlock Holmes.”
Office in the build-up to World War I But Bell wrote back, “...you are
in “His Last Bow.” After that, at age yourself Sherlock Holmes and
60, Holmes finally vanished. well you know it”. ■

Mycroft Holmes Holmes’s elder brother Mycroft is remarks, Mycroft is “the most
a vibrant element in the Holmes indispensable man in the
canon—although, like Moriarty, country”—“Again and again,
he only appears directly in two his word has decided national
stories. The reader is never told policy.” Mycroft is considered
anything about his early life, by some critics to be the head
except that he is seven years older of the secret service, although
than Sherlock Holmes, and, if this is never specified.
anything, even cleverer. “He has
the tidiest and most orderly brain,” The real-life inspiration for
says Sherlock, “with the greatest Mycroft Holmes may well have
capacity for storing facts, of any been Robert Anderson, whose
man living”. His brilliance has role in government (as head of
given him a place at the heart of the secret service and the CID,
the secret government machinery and a key adviser on government
in Whitehall, and he is a crucial policy in the 1890s) closely
source of intelligence. As Watson corresponds to that of Mycroft
in the stories.

26

I WAS A WHETSTONE
FOR HIS MIND.
I STIMULATED HIM

DR. JOHN WATSON

D r. John Watson is the highly acclaimed biographer of Watson by surprise, the reader
narrator of all but four Dr. Samuel Johnson, diarist, and also feels the thrill of discovery
of the Sherlock Holmes lawyer, is an accolade indeed. when the time comes for Holmes
tales. He is the essential witness to reveal it.
to Holmes’s brilliance, and the A key figure
tireless biographer who records Watson is a simple but ingenious But Watson is so much more
the detective’s deeds and conveys literary device. With Watson than a mere observer. He is the
them to the public in his memoirs. addressing the reader directly, warm-hearted and good-humored
Holmes acknowledges Watson’s the narrative becomes immediate everyman to Holmes’s cool and
considerable skills as a chronicler and engaging. He explains what is high-flown pragmatist. In an early
in the short story “A Scandal in going on and the reader identifies version of A Study in Scarlet
Bohemia” (pp.56–61), when he urges with him, following his ups and (pp.36–45), Conan Doyle gave
Watson to stay and meet his new downs as he witnesses Holmes in Holmes a partner named Ormond
client, saying “I am lost without my action, and experiences bafflement Sacker before settling on the more
Boswell.” This likening of Watson and wonder. And since Holmes’s down-to-earth name of John H
to James Boswell (1740–1795), the arrival at the truth generally takes Watson. Watson is loyal, steadfast,
and utterly dependable. Holmes

The Baker Street household

Holmes and Watson rent their sitting room on the second floor,
Baker Street rooms from the overlooking the street, and
long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Holmes’s bedroom at the back;
Hudson. Although she appears Watson’s room is on the floor
only briefly throughout the canon, above, looking out over the
her affection for the two men is rear yard. In fact, the address
unmistakable. Not only does she never actually existed; at the
put up with Holmes conducting time, Baker Street ended at
chemical experiments, firing a gun number 83. The house that is
indoors, and taking drugs, she also now home to the Sherlock
answers the door at all hours to a Holmes Museum was then in
string of miscellaneous visitors. Upper Baker Street, although it
is very similar to the description
221B Baker Street is a suite in the stories. In 1990, it was
of rooms on the second and third officially given the number 221B.
floors of the house, with the

DR JOHN WATSON 27

Confidante and companion,
Watson (left) talks with Holmes in “The
Stockbroker’s Clerk.” The illustration is
by Sidney Paget from the March 1893
edition of The Strand Magazine.

is sometimes rude to him, and Northumberland Fusiliers and was Personal relationships
Watson, in turn, complains about posted to the Second Afghan War, Watson’s marital status is difficult to
the detective’s egotism, but, as where he was shot at the Battle of establish. The reader learns that he
Holmes asserts in The Hound of the Maiwand in July 1880, in the arm or marries Mary Morstan, the young
Baskervilles (pp.152–61), “there is the leg—the narratives are confusing woman who seeks Holmes’s help
no man better worth having at your on this detail. While recovering in in The Sign of Four (pp.46–55), yet
side when you are in a tight place.” the hospital, he became ill with in “The Adventure of the Empty
typhoid and was sent home with House” (pp.162–67) it seems she has
In “The Adventure of Charles his health “irretrievably ruined”, died. However, in some later tales,
Augustus Milverton” (pp.186–87), and was discharged from the army Watson has a wife, and Holmesians
Lestrade describes his suspect with a meager pension. have often speculated on her
as “a middle-sized, strongly built identity. Fans are also intrigued by
man—square jaw, thick neck, With apparently no family to Watson’s assertion that he has “an
moustache,” and Holmes replies turn to, Watson was left adrift in experience of women which extends
that this sounds like Watson, as London. It was at this low point that over many nations and three separate
indeed it is. Watson is an army- Stamford, Watson’s old friend from continents,” though given that he is
trained crack shot and was once medical school, introduced him to comparing them to Mary when he
athletic, playing for the famous Sherlock Holmes, who was looking first meets her, this is probably just
Blackheath Rugby Club. But he for someone to share his lodgings the hyperbole of a man in love.
also has a war injury and a taste at 221B Baker Street.
for wine and tobacco. Watson is sometimes portrayed
Thereafter, much of Watson’s as dull-witted. Even Conan Doyle
Watson’s past life revolved around Holmes and once called him Holmes’s “rather
In A Study in Scarlet, the reader his escapades. At some point, stupid friend.” However, while he
learns that Watson qualified as a however, Watson moved out of may lag behind in brains, he more
medical doctor at St. Bartholomew’s 221B and became a successful than makes up for it in reliability
Hospital in London in 1878, medical practitioner. Holmes has and integrity. Watson is Holmes’s
suggesting he was born around such respect for Watson’s rock and only friend, and Holmes
1853. After qualifying, he signed up expertise that he keeps him at a makes very clear in “The Dying
as an army surgeon with the 5th distance to stop him from seeing Detective” just how much Watson
through his feigned illness in means to him: “You won’t fail me,”
Good old Watson! “The Adventure of the Dying he says, “You never did fail me.” ■
You are the one Detective” (pp.234–35).
fixed point in
a changing age.
Sherlock Holmes

28

HE SITS MOTIONLESS
LIKE A SPIDER IN THE
CENTRE OF ITS WEB

PROFESSOR JAMES MORIARTY

C onan Doyle created Valley of Fear (pp.212–21)—set on a path toward respectability.
Professor James Moriarty earlier in Holmes’s career—his Naturally brilliant at mathematics
simply to provide a fitting powerful specter seems to haunt the (a subject Conan Doyle hated), at
opponent with whom his hero could later tales. The character of Moriarty the age of 21 he wrote a treatise
grapple during his goodbye to the became established in readers’ on algebra that achieved recognition
world in “The Final Problem” minds, and today we can hardly throughout Europe. He was also
(pp.142–47). Although Moriarty talk of Holmes without mentioning celebrated for his brilliant book
apparently died after his brief, his nemesis—Moriarty is forever on the dynamics of asteroids, which
dramatic encounter with Holmes linked to the great detective’s legacy. Holmes remarks is so advanced
at the Reichenbach Falls in that “no man in the scientific press
Switzerland, and he only appears Holmes’s equal was capable of criticising it.” On
directly in one other story, The The professor’s power to terrify the back of this work, Moriarty
may stem from the fact that he is became a professor of mathematics
a mirror image of Holmes: the man at an English university. But then
the great detective might have unspecified “dark rumours” began
become had he chosen to follow
a sinister path. Moriarty is a spine- The greatest schemer
chilling version of Holmes: both of all time, the organiser of
men have high foreheads and every devilry, the controlling
sharp eyes, but in Moriarty’s case
everything is more drawn and brain of the underworld,
exaggerated. Tall and thin, a brain which might have
with sunken eyes and a protruding made or marred the destiny
chin, his head moves from “side to of nations—that’s the man!
side in curiously reptilian fashion.”
Moriarty came from a privileged Sherlock Holmes
background and received an
excellent education that set him

Released in 1922, the movie Moriarty
(originally titled Sherlock Holmes in
the US) starred German actor Gustav
von Seyffertitz as the brilliant criminal
mastermind Professor Moriarty.

PROFESSOR JAMES MORIARTY 29

to circulate about him, and he Sidney Paget’s illustration of have acquired through theft.
relocated to London to begin Moriarty first appeared in “The It is easy to believe that this is
his criminal career. And what a Final Problem,” which was published Conan Doyle’s reference to Worth’s
career it was. Moriarty became the in the December 1893 edition of temporary “ownership” of Thomas
ultimate mastermind, drawing on The Strand Magazine. Gainsborough’s alluring portrait of
his prodigious intellect to run a vast Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,
crime network, the largest ever seen, was also he who was organizing which he had personally cut from
and yet remain invisible at its heart, the crime. Holmes scholars have its frame in the gallery in which
entirely above suspicion, as the identified various other candidates it was hanging, having reportedly
Professor Moriarty of mathematical who may have provided Conan become smitten with it. ■
celebrity. “Like a spider,” he sat at Doyle with the inspiration for
the center, pulling the strings of this Moriarty, but by far the strongest
criminal web—“the organizer of half is the true-life criminal genius
that is evil and of nearly all that is Adam Worth. Indeed, the similarity
undetected in this great city.” It took in their methods is so marked that
the equal genius of Holmes to finally the US detective William Pinkerton,
trace the threads back to him. head of the famous Pinkerton
Detective Agency, believed that
Brain of the underworld Conan Doyle should pay him
The brilliance of Moriarty’s schemes royalties, as he had told the
means that no one can ever pin author all about Worth during
down the source of his criminal a transatlantic voyage.
gains, whether it is burglary,
extortion, or forgery. Holmes likens There are two major clues that
him to Jonathan Wild, who in the lend weight to this theory. Firstly,
18th century “was a master in “The Final Problem” Moriarty
criminal… the hidden force of the is referred to as the “Napoleon of
London criminals, to whom he sold crime”—a moniker that was coined
his brains and his organization on for Adam Worth. Secondly, in The
a fifteen per cent commission.” Wild Valley of Fear, Holmes reports that
pretended to be a thief-taker, earning the professor has hanging in his
fame and money for the way his study an incredibly valuable, and
network caught criminals—but it famous, painting of a coquettish
young woman that he could only

Adam Worth German-born American super- Worth began his life of crime in
criminal Adam Worth (1848–1902) the US, as a bank robber, before
was dubbed the “Napoleon of moving to London to set up as
crime” by Scotland Yard’s Robert a respectable art collector and
Anderson for his skill in running the head of a criminal syndicate
a major crime network from his involved in robbery and forgery.
home in London. Like Moriarty,
Worth was an expert operator, For years, he outfoxed the
staying at arm’s length from his world’s police by conducting
crimes; unlike Moriarty, however, bloodless, well-executed crimes
he was opposed to the use of without leaving a shred of
violence, and treated the men who incriminating evidence. For
worked for him as family. Indeed, example, there was nothing to
the only reason he finally served link him to his theft of a Thomas
a prison term (for petty crime) was Gainsborough artwork, which
because he got caught while going he carried with him for 25 years
to the aid of one of his gang. before shrewdly negotiating a
$25,000 fee for its return.

30

I AM A PRACTICAL MAN MR.
HOLMES AND WHEN I HAVE
GOT MY EVIDENCE I COME
TO MY CONCLUSIONS

INSPECTOR G. LESTRADE

I nspector G. Lestrade is the else is known about Lestrade, but Fact or fiction?
Scotland Yard detective who he is probably part of the new breed Both Bucket and Cuff were based
appears repeatedly throughout of tenacious professional policemen on the real-life Detective Inspector
the Holmes canon. Many other who made their way up through the Jonathan “Jack” Whicher (1814–
police detectives make a fleeting ranks from humble beginnings— 1881), one of the eight original
appearance, from Inspector Stanley the kind first depicted in fiction members of the Detective Branch
Hopkins in “The Adventure of Black in the form of Inspector Bucket in set up at Scotland Yard in 1842.
Peter” (pp.184–85) to Inspector Charles Dickens’ Bleak House Whicher reached the pinnacle of his
Bardle in “The Adventure of the (1853) and Inspector Cuff in Wilkie fame with the infamous Constance
Lion’s Mane” (pp.278–83), but Collins’ The Moonstone (1868). Kent murder mystery in 1860,
Lestrade is the only persistent
presence. First appearing in A
Study in Scarlet (pp.36–45) in 1887,
Lestrade is still there in “The
Adventure of the Three Garridebs”
(pp.262–65), which Conan Doyle
wrote 37 years later.

Conan Doyle seems to have
gotten Lestrade’s name from a
fellow medical student at Edinburgh,
Joseph Alexandre Lestrade, and the
initial “G” may be an echo of the
Prefect of Police known only as
“G___” in Edgar Allan Poe’s story
The Purloined Letter (1845). Watson
describes the inspector as “a little
sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow”
and later as “a lean, ferret-like man,
furtive and sly-looking.” Very little

Inspector Lestrade arresting
Jim Browner in “The Cardboard
Box,” first published in the UK in
The Strand Magazine (1893).

INSPECTOR G. LESTRADE 31

I really cannot undertake and incompetent, and Shore never The Baker Street
to go about the country caught his man despite years of Irregulars
looking for a left-handed dogged pursuit. Scotland Yard’s
gentleman with a game reputation hit another low in 1888, Despite appearances, Holmes
when they failed to make any rarely works entirely alone.
leg. I should become headway with the appalling Jack In a number of investigations
the laughing-stock of the Ripper murders (p.315). the detective is aided by his
invisible army of helpers—
Scotland Yard. Mutual respect the motley crew of street
Inspector Lestrade Over the years, however, Holmes’s urchins known as the Baker
contemptuous attitude toward Street Irregulars. In A Study
recalled in Kate Summerscale’s Lestrade seems to mellow. At in Scarlet, Watson describes
2009 book The Suspicions of Mr. first, Lestrade doesn’t think much them as “half a dozen of the
Whicher. Readers both of the of Holmes either. So, perhaps dirtiest and most ragged
fictional stories and of the real-life sensing Holmes’s ridicule, he street Arabs that ever I
crime reports at the time got a declares himself to be a practical clapped eyes on,” but Holmes
particular frisson from the way detective who deals in facts—in knows their value, calling
such lowly men probed behind the contrast to the abstract thinking of them “the Baker Street
facade of well-to-do respectability amateurs like Holmes. But as he division of the detective
to lay bare their corruption. Holmes, sees Holmes solve case after case, police force.” Shabby they
of course, has a more aristocratic he comes to admire the detective’s may be, but for the price of
brilliance, and when he first meets methods. Holmes, in turn, begins a shilling a day, they can
Lestrade, he can barely conceal his to respect some of Lestrade’s “go everywhere and hear
low opinion. “[Gregson and] qualities, and allows the inspector everything.” No one but
Lestrade are the best of a bad lot. to take the credit for his deductions. Holmes pays any attention to
They are both quick and energetic, these dirty little children, led
but conventional—shockingly so…” In “The Cardboard Box” by a boy named Wiggins, but
His ridicule soon becomes so (pp.110–11), Holmes admits that in many stories they provide
marked it seems almost snobbery. Lestrade is “tenacious as a bulldog crucial information. Besides
But Conan Doyle may have been when he once understands what he the Irregulars, Holmes picks
drawing inspiration from real life. has to do, and indeed, it is just this various other more humble
tenacity which has brought him members of society to help
A tarnished reputation to the top at Scotland Yard.” And him—from the 14-year-old
By the 1880s, Scotland Yard’s when Holmes comes back from messenger Cartwright, who
reputation, so bright in Whicher’s the dead in “The Adventure of the goes through hotel garbage
day, had been tarnished by the way Empty House” (pp.162–67), he cans in The Hound of the
in which Inspector John Shore and trusts Lestrade enough to let him in Baskervilles, to Billy the
his fellow detectives were given on his secret. Lestrade returns the pageboy in The Valley of Fear.
the runaround by Adam Worth, compliment, saying, “It’s good to
the real-life criminal mastermind see you back in London, sir.” By the
who was one of the inspirations time of “The Adventure of the Six
for Conan Doyle’s Moriarty (p.29). Napoleons” (pp.188–89), it turns out
Worth made Shore look flat-footed that Lestrade regularly drops by at
221B Baker Street with updates and
for advice. Lestrade even admits to
a genuinely touched Holmes that
“... we are very proud of you [down
at Scotland Yard], and if you come
down to-morrow there’s not a man,
from the oldest inspector to the
youngest constable, who wouldn’t
be glad to shake you by the hand.” ■

THE EAR
ADVENT

LY
URES

34 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

Holmes solves Holmes takes rooms Holmes and Watson meet at Queen Victoria
his first case by himself in London’s St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, celebrates her
(see “The Gloria
Scott,” pp.116–19). Montague Street London. They lodge together Golden Jubilee.
(see A Study in at 221B Baker Street (see
A Study in Scarlet, pp.36–45).
Scarlet, pp.36–45).

1874 1877 JAN 1881 JUN 1887

1876–1881 JUL 1880 JUN 1882 DEC 1887

Conan Doyle Conan Doyle Conan Doyle
studies publishes A Study
medicine moves to Southsea
in Scarlet
Event in at Edinburgh to set up a medical (pp.36–45)
the lives University. in Beeton’s
of Holmes Watson is shot and wounded at the practice. He also Christmas Annual.
and Watson
Battle of Maiwand, Afghanistan renounces his

(see A Study in Scarlet, pp.36–45). Catholic faith.

IN THIS CHAPTER S herlock Holmes and Dr. John by Holmes in London. Watson too
Watson first entered into sees himself washed up into the
NOVELS the public consciousness “great cesspool” of the British
A Study in Scarlet, 1887 in 1887, when the novel A Study in Empire, when he arrives in London
The Sign of Four, 1890 Scarlet was published in England after his wounding at the Battle of
in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. Maiwand in Afghanistan.
COLLECTION The story also featured two hapless
The Adventures of inspectors, Gregson and Lestrade of A quickening pace
Sherlock Holmes, 1892 Scotland Yard, along with Holmes’s Conan Doyle moved to London
A Scandal in Bohemia gang of informal assistants, the in March 1891; he had abandoned
The Red-Headed League “Baker Street Irregulars.” It was not his struggling medical practice on
A Case of Identity a great success, but luckily found England’s south coast, and was
The Boscombe Valley Mystery favor with the editor of Lippincott’s planning to set up shop as an
The Five Orange Pips Magazine in the US (who published ophthalmic surgeon. The first four
The Man with the Twisted Lip The Sign of Four three years later). Holmes short stories were written
The Blue Carbuncle during the following month, and
The Speckled Band A common device within the began appearing in the newly
The Engineer’s Thumb canon is established in A Study in founded The Strand Magazine soon
The Noble Bachelor Scarlet when American Jefferson afterward. This time, the sleuth was
The Beryl Coronet Hope scrawls out the word “Rache” an instant success, and nothing
The Copper Beeches (“revenge”) in his own blood, having could have prepared Conan Doyle for
come to England seeking vengeance: the readers’ enthusiasm. Holmes’s
stories that begin in foreign lands popularity also ensured the success
must be unraveled and concluded

INTRODUCTION 35

Watson marries Mary The Sign Holmes and Moriarty The Strand
Morstan, and sets up a of Four appears disappear into the Reichenbach Magazine begins
new medical practice in Lippincott’s publishing Holmes
(see “The Stockbroker’s Magazine. It is Falls. The “Great Hiatus” short stories as
published as a begins (see “The Final
Clerk,” pp.114–15). novel in October. Problem,” pp.142–47). serializations.

JAN 1889 FEB 1890 APR–MAY 1891 JUL 1891

FEB 1889 MAR 1891 MAY 1891 OCT 1892

Conan Doyle Conan Doyle arrives Conan Doyle gives Conan Doyle
publishes Micah in London, by way of up his medical publishes The
Clarke (p.344)—a practice and Adventures
historical novel. Venice, Milan, and of Sherlock
Paris. He lodges at decides to make his
23 Montague Place. living from writing. Holmes.

of the Strand itself, since all of the reveal other elements of his Bringing it all back home
detective’s subsequent outings character, perhaps influenced by A thread of the exotic runs through
appeared there, before being the cult of “aestheticism.” Holmes the early stories, from the Indian
published in book form. Conan displays a type of world-weariness backstory in The Sign of Four and
Doyle was paid £300 for the last six so affected that it is known not as Grimesby Roylott’s Indian “Swamp
stories in The Adventures of “boredom,” but rather by the French Adder” in “The Speckled Band,” to
Sherlock Holmes—dwarfing the £25 term ennui. Yet, conversely, the the penal transportation of British
for which he had sold A Study in second novel brims with the kind of criminals to Australia in “The
Scarlet. And when the Adventures physical action that is absent from Boscombe Valley Mystery,” and
was published as a book in October the first. In fact, Holmes perpetually Elias Openshaw’s exploits in the
1892, the author dedicated it to defies Watson’s preconceptions: a US Civil War in “The Five Orange
Joseph Bell—the Edinburgh medical result of Conan Doyle’s occasional Pips.” There is also a marked sense
professor on whom Holmes had inconsistencies, perhaps, or even of playfulness in these early stories.
been partly based. the detective’s own evasiveness. “The Red-Headed League,” with its
gullible pawnbroker Jabez Wilson,
A complex character Yet for all the variations in his is a case in point, as is the duo’s
Watson’s famous list of Holmes’s character traits, Holmes’s physical brush with European royalty in
intellectual faculties is featured in appearance was set in these early “A Scandal in Bohemia.” In this
A Study in Scarlet; indeed, at this years as Sidney Paget’s drawings story, Holmes’s admiration for the
point, it seems that the detective first appeared alongside the stories “adventuress” Irene Adler also sets
is a pure reasoning machine. in the Strand. Holmes’ image was the tone for the frequent shift of
However, in The Sign of Four, his based on the artist’s brother Walter, sympathies between high-society
cocaine use and violin-playing and completed with the addition of clients and supposed criminals. ■
the famous deerstalker hat.

THERE’S THE SCARLET

THREAD OF

MURDER

RUNNING THROUGH THE

COLOURLESS SKEIN OF LIFE

A STUDY IN SCARLET (1887)



38 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

IN CONTEXT Chapter 1 Chapter 3 Chapter 5
Stamford introduces Watson accompanies Holmes tries to draw out the
TYPE Watson to Holmes murderer with a newspaper
Novel and the two men Holmes to a house
in Brixton where ad about a ring left at the
FIRST PUBLICATION agree to take an American named scene, but is outwitted by
UK: Beeton’s Christmas rooms together. Drebber lies dead. an accomplice disguised
Annual, December 1887 Holmes examines
the scene with a as an old woman.
NOVEL PUBLICATION magnifying glass
Ward, Lock & Co. July 1888 and tape measure.

CHARACTERS PART 1
Stamford Former medical
colleague of Watson’s. Chapter 2 Chapter 4 Chapter 6
Watson studies Holmes sends a Gregson arrests
Inspectors Lestrade telegram to the Drebber’s landlady’s
and Tobias Gregson Holmes, who US police, then son Arthur, but
Scotland Yard policemen. demonstrates interviews the then Lestrade
his remarkable constable who finds Stangerson
Enoch J. Drebber powers of armchair stabbed to death,
Elder of the Mormon church. observation and discovered exonerating Arthur.
the body.
Joseph Stangerson Mormon deduction.
elder, and Drebber’s secretary.
T he year is 1880 and military pair meet inspectors Gregson
Jefferson Hope surgeon Dr. John H. Watson and Lestrade of Scotland Yard at a
Young American. has been discharged from house in Brixton, where a body has
the army after being wounded in been found. Holmes deduces from
Constable John Rance Afghanistan. Back in London and the sour smell on the man’s lips that
Policeman. living on a meager army pension, he has been poisoned. Documents
he is looking for someone to share identify him as Enoch Drebber, a
Wiggins Leader of a gang lodgings with. An old colleague of US citizen, who is traveling with his
of London street urchins. Watson, Stamford, introduces him secretary, Stangerson, and lodging
to Sherlock Holmes (who calls with a Madame Charpentier.
Madame Charpentier himself the world’s only “consulting
Drebber’s landlady. detective”), and the two men take A woman’s wedding ring has
up rooms at 221B Baker Street. been left at the scene, and after
Arthur Charpentier questioning Constable Rance, who
Naval officer, and son of On receiving a request for help found the body, Holmes suspects
Madame Charpentier. from the police, Holmes invites that a drunk seen hanging around
Watson to accompany him. The the house was in fact the murderer
Alice Charpentier Madame
Charpentier’s daughter.

John Ferrier Wanderer
found by Mormons.

Lucy Ferrier John Ferrier’s
daughter.

Brigham Young Real-life
leader of the Mormon church.

A STUDY IN SCARLET 39

Chapter 7 Chapter 2 Chapter 4 Chapter 6
Holmes astounds A few years later, Lucy, her father, Back at Baker Street,
Ferrier is now a and Hope leave
Gregson and successful farmer under cover of the arrested Hope
Lestrade by luring darkness, heading shows no remorse
in the Mormon for Carson City, in avenging Lucy,
the murderer, stronghold of Salt Lake trying in vain to
Jefferson Hope, to escape the grip and recounts in
Baker Street and City, and Lucy falls of the Mormons. brief his adventures
in love with a in London tracking
arresting him. non-Mormon, down his victims.
Jefferson Hope.

PART 2

Chapter 1 Chapter 3 Chapter 5 Chapter 7
Many years earlier in the Utah When the Mormon Stangerson kills Ferrier, and Hope dies before
desert, Mormon pilgrims rescue his trial, Holmes
John Ferrier and his daughter Lucy, leader, Brigham when Lucy is forced to tells Watson how
Young, says that marry Drebber she dies he solved the
on condition they convert Lucy must marry broken-hearted. Drebber
to the Mormon faith. either Drebber and Stangerson are exiled murder, and
or Stangerson, from the faith, and Hope Watson vows
polygamist church hunts them down in Europe. to make the
elders, Ferrier and case public.

his daughter
plan to flee.

returning to claim the ring. Other Learning from the police in the US killed her father and she was forced
evidence suggests to Holmes that that Drebber had sought protection to marry Drebber. The action then
the murderer is a cabbie, although from a man named Jefferson Hope, returns to Baker Street, where Hope
he does not reveal this to Watson. Holmes instructs a gang of street reveals how he forced Drebber to
urchins, known as the “Baker make a choice between two pills;
Gregson arrests the landlady’s Street Irregulars,” to trace a cabbie Drebber would take one while he
son, Arthur Charpentier, who had by that name and lure him to Baker would take the other. Drebber
confronted Drebber over his coarse Street. When Hope arrives, Holmes chose the poisoned pill and died.
behavior toward his sister Alice. arrests him before an astonished Hope accidentally left a keepsake,
Lestrade suspects the secretary Gregson and Lestrade. Lucy’s wedding ring, at the scene.
Stangerson, but finds him stabbed
to death, killed while Arthur was in The second section of the novel Hope dies of a heart condition
custody. A pillbox containing two begins in Salt Lake City, Utah, in before he can be brought to trial. To
pills is found with his body. Back 1847. Here, it is revealed that Hope Watson’s indignation, a newspaper
at 221B, Holmes tests the pills on had been in love with a young report gives all the credit for solving
a sick terrier; the first is harmless, woman called Lucy, who had died the case to Gregson and Lestrade,
but the second kills the dog. of a broken heart after Stangerson and barely mentions Holmes. ■

40 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

T his is where the legend of bloodstains—“the Sherlock Watson was injured at the Battle
Sherlock Holmes begins. Holmes’s test”. The fact that we of Maiwand, July 1880, in the Second
Within the first few pages never hear of this test again in any Anglo-Afghan war. This painting
of his 1887 novel A Study in Scarlet, subsequent Holmes tale is not that shows the British Royal Horse Artillery
Conan Doyle establishes not only important; Conan Doyle is simply saving their guns from the Afghans.
the eccentric and brilliant nature of trying to establish Holmes as the
his hero Holmes, but also the great world’s first forensic detective. assemble them in a rational and
detective’s essential partnership inspired fashion, and reach a
with Watson and his atmospheric Holmes the magician conclusion that makes him seem
vision of Victorian London. The But Holmes’s genius does not end like a magician performing an
relationship between the two men with forensics. On first meeting amazing trick.
and the setting of their adventures Watson, he famously says, “You
both played an essential role in the have been in Afghanistan, I Later, in 221B, Watson picks
success of the many Holmes stories perceive,” revealing his remarkable up a magazine and reads an article
that would follow. powers of observation. Holmes is on “the Science of Deduction and
able to pick out minute details, Analysis” which says, “By a man’s
Before the two future partners finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by
meet, Watson’s friend Stamford You have brought detection his boot, by his trouser-knees,
warns him that his potential fellow as near an exact science as by the callosities of his forefinger
lodger “appears to have a passion and thumb, by his expression,
for definite and exact knowledge,” it ever will be brought by his shirt-cuffs... a man’s calling
and may be a bit too scientific and in this world. is plainly revealed.” When Watson
cold-blooded for his tastes. He tells Dr. Watson dismisses this extract out loud
Watson that Holmes even beats as “ineffable twaddle” and “the
corpses in the dissecting-rooms theory of some armchair lounger,”
with a stick to see how a dead body Holmes reveals that he was the
bruises after death (in mentioning author. He then explains how he
this, Conan Doyle is eager to show knew Watson had recently been
that his sleuth is at the forefront of in Afghanistan.
current developments in criminal
investigation). Holmes claims to Watson is a doctor, and this
have created a new and ground- fact, combined with the details that
breaking process for detecting Holmes observes about his person
and clothing, enables Holmes to

A STUDY IN SCARLET 41

deduce that Watson has recently The most commonplace a tape measure and a magnifying
seen service in war-torn Afghanistan crime is often the most glass in his pocket, and chatters to
that ended in an injury (see below). mysterious, because it himself as he looks for clues.
“The whole train of thought did not presents no new or special
occupy a second,” says Holmes, Holmes is particularly proud of
with typical immodesty. features from which his “brain-attic,” in which he stores
deductions may be drawn. only essential information. As he
Creating a legend explains: “I consider that a man’s
Conan Doyle famously based Sherlock Holmes brain originally is like a little empty
Holmes’s powers of observation on attic, and you have to stock it with
those of his mentor at Edinburgh to flourish in London’s East End— such furniture as you choose…
University’s medical school, Dr. there was nothing more fascinating It is a mistake to think that that
Joseph Bell (see p.43). In the preface than a flamboyant bohemian with little room has elastic walls and
to Sherlock Holmes—The Complete a disregard for convention. can distend to any extent.” When
Long Stories (1929), he later wrote: Holmes declares, to Watson’s
“Having endured a severe course of Conan Doyle imbued his sleuth amazement, that he did not know
training in medical diagnosis, I felt with an array of idiosyncrasies. The that the Earth orbits the sun, he
that if the same austere methods reader learns quickly that Holmes tells Watson: “Now that I do know
of observation and reasoning were plays the violin well, and is a boxer, it I shall do my best to forget it.”
applied to the problems of crime a swordsman, and an expert in
some more scientific system could singlestick (a martial art that uses The armchair detective
be constructed.” a wooden stick). He has written a Holmes explains to Watson that
monograph on cigarette ash, keeps when either the police or the many
For Holmes to appeal to the private detectives in London are
reader, Conan Doyle knew that he stumped by a case, they come to
had to be more than a scientific him, and he puts them on the right
cypher: he had to be enthralling in track, without ever having to leave
his own right. To the hypocritical his armchair. In A Study in Scarlet
society of the time—which covered more than in any of the subsequent
up the legs of a piano for the sake of Holmes stories, this is indeed his
decorum, yet allowed prostitution main role. Even before the start of ❯❯

Holmes observes Dr. Watson and forms a conclusion

Watson is a He has a dark His haggard face He holds his left
medical type face, yet pale clearly shows that arm in a stiff
with the air of a wrists, showing he has undergone and unnatural
military man, that he is deeply
so he must be an hardship and manner, showing
army doctor. tanned. sickness. that it has been

injured.

Watson has been discharged from the army after military service abroad.

42 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

the central case, Watson notes how Watson’s notes on Holmes
a stream of visitors of both sexes,
and all ages and classes (police 1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.
inspectors, “a young girl,” “a Jew 2. Philosophy.—Nil.
pedlar,” “a railway porter,” and 3. Astronomy.—Nil.
an “old white-haired gentleman”), 45p.s.h6wooPi.iBishsloGosaotlntriteftaosriopunoclgasmsoye.egr.—nrt—yeseFo.,arV—feacaaehLlPnrlboyidrolana.etbdht.cKoletoelnirndc..oawhAWmlesf,eteehnbllrbuaouyttdwhplatiirnhmilengekciisetrboeihefvcdlaeopl.adslroTadseuthcohlrltonesiawcnmaanan.tdl,magocapeogirnsuldaspmienlsantc,eisenanhgdcene.sdiffuineproennt
are redirected by private inquiry
agencies to call upon Holmes at 7. Chemistry.—Profound.
221B for help. 89e..vAeSrneyansdtaoemttiaoyni.l—aolAfLceicvtueerrraayttuehr,oerbr.u—otrIumpnemsrypesenttesrmea.taeHdtieci.naptpheeacresnttourkyn.ow
111012... PIHslaaaysnsaetxhgpeoeovrditospliirnnagwcleteislctlai.clkkpnloawyleerd, gbeoxoefr,Barintdishswlaowrd. sman.
When the main case in A Study
in Scarlet does get underway, Holmes Watson’s vital role For a short while, Watson’s study of
travels to the crime scene, where Every genius needs someone more Holmes becomes a kind of hobby—
he investigates enthusiastically. ordinary to illuminate their powers, “this man stimulated my curiosity,”
“As I watched him,” says Watson, and Conan Doyle uses Watson in he notes. But Watson very quickly
“I was irresistibly reminded of this role, defining his character in assumes the role of Holmes’s full-
a pure-blooded, well-trained the first few chapters. A man who fledged assistant in investigating
foxhound as it dashes backwards is in the best of neither health nor the Brixton murder. Presumably it
and forwards through the covert, spirits, Watson is friendless and is for his own interest that Watson
whining in its eagerness, until it has no real purpose in life at the makes detailed notes during the
comes across the lost scent.” But beginning of the story. He says of investigation. However, these
for most of the story, the action himself “how objectless was my jottings come in very handy when
occurs without direct involvement life, and how little there was to he decides to write up the notes
from Holmes, and the culprit is engage my attention.” He fills his to showcase the genius of Holmes
ultimately apprehended in his time closely observing his fellow in bringing the murderer to justice.
Baker Street sitting room. lodger, even to the extent of making It is also this act that seals the
a list called “Sherlock Holmes—his burgeoning relationship between
Conan Doyle had to adjust this limits.” Many of its observations, Holmes and Watson: transforming
approach in later stories, allowing such as that Holmes’s knowledge himself from Holmes’s companion
Holmes to go out and investigate of literature is “nil,” prove in later to his biographer, Watson follows
crime, and be more of a man of stories to be inaccurate. in the footsteps of the celebrated
action, or an “amateur bloodhound,”
as Watson calls him in A Study
in Scarlet. However, he never
fully loses his propensity for
solving crimes from the comfort
of his armchair.

…he was as sensitive
to flattery on the score of
his art as any girl could

be of her beauty.
Dr. Watson

diarist James Boswell, who became Scottish capital. But interspersed A STUDY IN SCARLET 43
the biographer of the famous writer with these fictional locations are
Samuel Johnson a century earlier. real-life London landmarks, some An inspirational
of which still survive. For example, teacher
Holmes’s London in the first pages of the book, Watson
While Conan Doyle recreates the waits for Stamford standing at the In his 1924 autobiography,
streets and gardens of London in Criterion Bar in Piccadilly, which Conan Doyle explained the
A Study in Scarlet, he had not lived exists to this day. inspiration behind Holmes’s
in the city by that point; at the time amazing powers of deduction.
he wrote the story he was residing Forgivable faults “I thought of my old teacher
in Southsea near Portsmouth, It is easy to find fault with A Study Joe Bell…” At Edinburgh
Hampshire. Instead, he must have in Scarlet. The structure is clumsy University’s medical school,
acquired all his knowledge of the and the mystery itself somewhat Dr. Joseph Bell (1837–1911)
English capital from maps and contrived, and the central villain had made Conan Doyle his
gazetteers. The story takes us from Jefferson Hope is a fairly featureless outpatient clerk, who recalled
Baker Street via hansom cabs to character too. Hope lacks any of that Bell “…often learned
just a few well-known London the distinguishing qualities of the more of the patient by a few
areas, such as Brixton, Camberwell, charismatic villains who were to quick glances than I had done
Kennington Park, and Euston. Like cross Holmes’s path in later stories; by my questions.”
Robert Louis Stevenson in Strange Conan Doyle merely uses him as
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a pawn to further his plot. On one occasion, Bell
(1886), Conan Doyle used his own amazed the students gathered
home city, Edinburgh, as a model Another problem with A Study around him by pronouncing
for London. The fictional Lauriston in Scarlet is that Holmes is such that the patient standing
Gardens in Brixton, where the first a brilliant detective that he very before them had served in the
corpse is discovered, was actually quickly sees to the heart of any army, and had been recently
based on Lauriston Place in the case. Because he succeeds in discharged from serving as
solving the murder mystery and a noncommissioned officer
Victorian London was the backdrop apprehending the culprit halfway in a Highland regiment on
for many of the Holmes tales, even through the narrative, there is little Barbados. Bell explained,
before Conan Doyle moved to the city. left for Holmes to do. Conan Doyle “You see, gentlemen, the man
The London settings included fictional then takes the reader on a long was a respectful man but did
places and real landmarks. flashback to the wilds of Utah, not remove his hat. They do
detailing the history of the links not in the army, but he would
between Hope, Drebber, and have learned civilian ways had
Stangerson, and their connection he been long discharged. He
to the Mormon church. As a result, has an air of authority and he
Holmes necessarily disappears is obviously Scottish. As to
from the scene, and only returns Barbados, his complaint is
in the last two short chapters. elephantiasis, which is West
Indian and not British.”
The almost-too-quick genius of
Holmes was a structural problem
that Conan Doyle did not fully
resolve in his later Sherlock Holmes
novels either. He resorted to the
flashback device once again in The
Sign of Four (pp.46–55) and The
Valley of Fear (pp.212–21). And
Holmes is also absent for much
of The Hound of the Baskervilles
(pp.152–61), although Watson is
on hand for the entire story. ❯❯

44 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

There is a mystery about some extensive reading on the
this which stimulates church—so much so that he felt
the imagination; where he could even include the real-life
there is no imagination figure of Brigham Young in his
there is no horror. cast of characters. Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes researched various volumes for his
descriptions of Utah, as he did for
London in the English section of
the book. But he was not sufficiently
careful in his placing of the Rio
Grande, which appears to have
wandered from its usual setting;
“These little things happen,” Conan
Doyle is said to have admitted
when this was pointed out to him.

It may seem strange to the modern Seldom bettered Holmes carefully examines the
reader that Conan Doyle inserted While it is possible to pinpoint word “Rache” written in blood on a
such a long flashback into the numerous holes in the plot of this wall at the murder scene. The way the
middle of a detective story. At the tale if you look hard enough, in the letters have been written gives him vital
time the author believed it would end none of these faults are what clues as to the identity of the killer.
add an exotic appeal to the story, really matters. What remains in the
especially since the Mormons were reader’s mind is the well-defined immediately chastises Gregson for
very much in the news when Conan central character of Holmes. allowing everyone to trample over
Doyle sat down to write this tale. the pathway, destroying potentially
The previous year he had attended This brilliant characterization vital footprint evidence. “If a herd
a meeting of the Portsmouth is most sharply demonstrated in of buffaloes had passed along there
Literary and Scientific Society, the first part of A Study in Scarlet, could not be a greater mess,” he
where the subject of Mormon in which the detective makes a says. Inside the house, Holmes
polygamy had been addressed. By succession of brilliant deductions
the time he was writing A Study in about the corpse in the house in
Scarlet, he had clearly carried out Brixton—a sequence that has rarely
been bettered in crime fiction.
On his arrival at the scene, Holmes

Brigham Young Conan Doyle’s depiction of both
Young and Mormonism may be
The only real-life historical figure harsh, but he was never one to
Conan Doyle used as a character let facts get in the way of a good
in a Holmes story was Brigham story, and at the time it was
Young (1801–77). Born in Vermont, not regarded as particularly
Young became a Methodist in controversial. However, Conan
1823. He joined Joseph Smith’s Doyle was later criticized for
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- defaming the faith, and years
day Saints after reading The Book after his death, Brigham Young’s
of Mormon, and rose to become descendant Levi Edgar Young
its leader. He was called the claimed that Conan Doyle had
“American Moses” after leading privately apologized, saying that
his followers through the desert “he had been misled by writings
to the “promised land” of Utah, of the time about the Church,”
where the Mormons founded their and admitted that he had
headquarters in Salt Lake City. written “a scurrilous book.”

A STUDY IN SCARLET 45

flings himself to the ground with were initially less enthusiastic: The caused barely a ripple with the
his magnifying glass before rattling Cornhill Magazine rejected it as reading public. Having signed
off a list of facts to the dumbfounded reading like a cheap “shilling away the rights to it, Conan Doyle
Watson, Gregson, and Lestrade. dreadful.” In the end, Conan Doyle would never receive another penny
accepted the derisory one-time fee for this, his first Holmes story, even
When Conan Doyle juxtaposes of £25 for it to appear in Beeton’s when it was reprinted in book form
Holmes’s powers with Watson’s Christmas Annual for 1887, which just over a year later. However, A
ordinariness, he makes those indeed cost just a shilling—five Study in Scarlet has remained in
powers seem even more impressive; pence in modern money. To add print ever since, just like every
this effect is then amplified when insult to injury, its magazine debut other Holmes story. ■
Holmes is compared to the two
bungling detectives. In their efforts
to better one another, Lestrade and
Gregson show just how far behind
Holmes they are in terms of both
acumen and perception. Neither of
the two inspectors can explain the
blood spattered around the murder
scene, though Holmes privately
surmises (correctly, it is later
revealed) that the murderer must
have had a nose bleed. Lestrade
boasts to Gregson and Holmes that
the murderer wrote “Rache” on the
wall because he was disturbed
before he could finish spelling the
word “Rachel,” but Holmes bursts
his bubble by pointing out that
Rache is German for “revenge.”

Immortality beckons
In his 1947 essay “Lear, Tolstoy and
the Fool,” George Orwell wrote of
Shakespeare that, like every other
writer, sooner or later he will be
forgotten. If the same applies to
Conan Doyle, it is hard to envision
his most famous creation suffering
the same fate—Sherlock Holmes
now has an identity beyond the
pages of the novels and stories
in which he first appeared.

Conan Doyle had great hopes
for A Study in Scarlet, which it is
believed took him only three weeks
to write. But potential publishers

Beeton’s Christmas Annual was
a paperback magazine produced from
1860 to 1898. Only 10 copies of the
magazine containing the first Holmes
adventure are known to have survived.

I NEVER MAKE

EXCEPTIONS.

AN EXCEPTION DISPROVES

THE RULE

THE SIGN OF FOUR (1890)



48 THE EARLY ADVENTURES

IN CONTEXT Chapter One Chapter Three Chapter Five
Watson rails against Mary shows Holmes Holmes, Watson,
TYPE Holmes’s drug use, a plan of a building on and Thaddeus find
Novel The detective analyzes which a note has been Bartholomew murdered
scribbled about the by a poisoned dart and
FIRST PUBLICATION the story behind “sign of the four,” found the treasure gone.
US: Lippincott’s Monthly Watson’s watch. among her father’s
Magazine, February 1890
papers.
NOVEL PUBLICATION
Spencer Blackett Chapter Two Chapter Four
publishers, October 1890 Mary Morstan asks for Mary’s benefactor,
Holmes’s help in solving Thaddeus Sholto, reveals that
CHARACTERS the twin mysteries of her father is dead and that his
Mary Morstan her missing father and an own late father hid “the Agra
Young governess. anonymous benefactor who treasure,” which his brother
now wants to meet her. Bartholomew has now found.
Captain Morstan
Mary’s father. I t is 1888 and Holmes, with no Mary shows Holmes a paper that
case to occupy him, resorts to she found in her father’s possessions,
Thaddeus Sholto cocaine, to Watson’s dismay. which is marked by four crosses and
English gentleman. But a puzzle for Holmes to solve the words “The sign of the four—
appears with the arrival of Mary Jonathan Small, Mahomet Singh,
Bartholomew Sholto Morstan, the daughter of a former Abdullah Khan, Dost Akbar.”
Thaddeus’s brother. Indian Army officer who vanished
in London 10 years earlier. At the That evening, Holmes, Watson,
McMurdo Pondicherry time, his friend Major Sholto told and Mary go to meet her benefactor,
Lodge porter and gatekeeper. Mary that he had no idea the who turns out to be Thaddeus
captain was in the country. Four Sholto, the major’s son. He explains
Lal Rao Butler at years after Captain Morstan’s that his father confessed on his
Pondicherry Lodge. disappearance, Mary began to deathbed that Captain Morstan
receive an annual, anonymous gift had come to see him the night he
Mrs. Bernstone Housekeeper of a pearl, and now her mysterious disappeared, but died suddenly
at Pondicherry Lodge. benefactor wants to meet her. during an argument, and the major
disposed of the body. The pair of
Major Sholto Thaddeus’s
and Bartholomew’s father.

Jonathan Small Englishman.

Mahomet Singh, Abdullah
Khan, Dost Akbar
Jonathan Small’s associates.

Tonga
Native Andaman islander.

Athelney Jones
Scotland Yard detective.

Mordecai Smith Boat owner.

Mrs. Cecil Forrester
Mary Morstan’s employer.