The sherlock holmes book

AL
IONS

250 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

Conan Doyle Conan Doyle Conan Doyle’s The stories later
publishes The New publishes Danger! mother, Mary, dies. collected in The
and Other Stories; Case Book of
Revelation, and His son, Kingsley, Sherlock Holmes
declares his belief dies, partly as a result begin to appear in
in spiritualism. The Strand Magazine.
of war wounds.

1918 DEC 1918 1921 OCT 1921

NOV 1918 FEB 1919 MAY 1921 1922

Britain and Conan Doyle’s Conan Doyle presents Conan Doyle
Germany sign brother, Innes, Holmes on stage again publishes
the armistice dies, as a result of in a play, The Crown
pneumonia contracted The Poems
that ends during the war. Diamond, which of Arthur
World War I. opens in Bristol. Conan Doyle.

IN THIS CHAPTER F our years after the exploits displays a range of more negative
which were recounted in emotions, including fear and anger;
COLLECTION the collection His Last Bow, he is also cynical and vengeful, and
The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes returned one last shows he is capable of misjudging
Sherlock Holmes, 1927 time in 1927’s The Case Book of a situation, and even of succumbing
The Mazarin Stone Sherlock Holmes. These 12 stories, to defeat, as shown by the dispatch
The Problem of Thor Bridge which were written during the box full of unsolved cases seen
The Creeping Man last decade of Conan Doyle’s life, in “The Problem of Thor Bridge.”
The Sussex Vampire begin in 1921 with “The Mazarin Holmes is also unprepared for the
The Three Garridebs Stone,” an adaptation of Conan brave Kitty Winter, whose actions
The Illustrious Client Doyle’s single-act stage play The shock him in “The Illustrious Client.”
The Three Gables Crown Diamond, and culminated
The Blanched Soldier in “Shoscombe Old Place.” Some critics have argued that
The Lion’s Mane these stories might not all be the
The Retired Colourman To the dark side work of Conan Doyle. They are
The Veiled Lodger Compared with the earlier stories, certainly of varying quality, and
Shoscombe Old Place those in the Case Book are darker, often bleaker than his earlier tales,
more violent, and tougher in theme, featuring themes such as mutilation
perhaps a reflection of what Conan (“The Illustrious Client” and “The
Doyle called the “feverish days” in Veiled Lodger”) and even suicide
which they were written, and the (“The Problem of Thor Bridge”).
widespread disillusionment in the In the climax of the violent tale
aftermath of World War I. Holmes “The Three Garridebs,” Watson
even gets shot.

Pursuing his interest Conan Doyle publishes Conan Doyle INTRODUCTION 251
in spiritualism, the last Professor publishes The
Conan Doyle Challenger novel, Case Book of Conan Doyle
publishes The The Land of Mist. Sherlock Holmes. dies on July 7,
Coming of
the Fairies. at age 71.

SEP 1922 1926 1927 JUL 1930
1924
1926 JUL 1929 AUG 1930

Conan Doyle Conan Doyle Conan Doyle The Last
publishes his publishes publishes The Resource
autobiography, Maracot Deep appears in
Memories and The History and Other Stories. Liberty
Adventures. of Spiritualism. magazine.

Two sides of the coin remarkable that, for all the strength complex moral and practical
Although Conan Doyle had accepted of Conan Doyle’s own beliefs in the dilemmas of the early 20th century.
a knighthood in 1902, Holmes paranormal, Holmes’s remained as
modestly turns one down in “The resolutely rational as ever—in In the preface to this final
Three Garridebs.” There are further particular, “The Sussex Vampire” collection of stories, Conan Doyle
divergences between the beliefs of demonstrates the detective’s total bids farewell to Holmes, adding
the writer and his creation in these rejection of supernatural theories: his hope that he and Watson might,
years: Conan Doyle’s interest in “No ghosts need apply.” for a time, find a corner in that
spiritualism and clairvoyance were “fantastic limbo for the children of
reaching their zenith. This was a A changing world imagination.” In the decades that
result, in part, of the deaths of his Apart from “The Lion’s Mane,” followed, the creation that Conan
beloved son during World War I, and which is set in 1907, none of the Doyle regarded as “a lower stratum
Conan Doyle’s brother, soon after, of action in the Case Book stories takes of literary achievement” went on to
pneumonia caught during the war. place any later than 1903—long define the archetype of the brilliant
before the 1914 setting of “His Last but eccentric detective so common
By this time, Conan Doyle had Bow,” in which Holmes explicitly in modern crime fiction. Today,
become a fierce devotee of “the comments on the “changing age.” Holmes’s popularity is undimmed,
Spiritist conclusion,” regularly taking Perhaps Conan Doyle preferred to and the character continues to
part in séances and experiments keep the detective firmly rooted in evolve, taking forms that his creator
with telepathy. His 1922 book The the late Victorian and Edwardian could never have imagined. All
Coming of the Fairies defended two era of his prime, sensing that even around the world, an ever-growing
young girls who claimed to have a skill set as uniquely effective as network of Holmesians are still held
photographed fairies (years later, his might not be up to solving the spellbound by his adventures, on
they admitted their fraudulence). It is both the page and the screen. ■

252

THIS MAN HAS
COME FOR HIS OWN
PURPOSE BUT HE
MAY STAY FOR MINE

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MAZARIN STONE (1921)

IN CONTEXT T his story is based on Conan Cantlemere with retrieving a stolen
Doyle’s short one-act play Crown diamond worth £100,000,
TYPE The Crown Diamond (see a figure one hundred times more
Short story box), which was itself partially than the Countess of Morcar’s
derived from his earlier story “The stone in “The Adventure of the
FIRST PUBLICATION Adventure of the Empty House” Blue Carbuncle” (pp.82–3). Holmes
UK: October 1921 (pp.162–67), accounting for the knows who the thieves are but
US: November 1921 almost identical plot. It is also not where the stone is, so he has
notable for being one of only two allowed them to remain at large
COLLECTION Holmes stories narrated in the third despite the danger to himself. The
The Case Book of person—alongside “His Last Bow” ringleader, the half-Italian Count
Sherlock Holmes, 1927 (pp.246–47)—and for taking place Negretto Sylvius, is a crack shot,
entirely in Holmes’s sitting room. so Holmes has placed a wax dummy
CHARACTERS of himself behind a curtain at the
Count Negretto Sylvius A glittering prize front window to foil any attempts
Half-Italian nobleman and Holmes has been tasked by to assassinate him. When the count
master criminal. the Prime Minister, the Home turns up at the front door, Holmes
Secretary, and a certain Lord sees a chance to resolve the case and
Sam Merton Dimwitted sends Watson to summon Scotland
boxer; the count’s accomplice. Yard before receiving his visitor.

Billy Holmes’s streetwise You can’t bluff me, A familiar villain
page boy. Count Sylvius… You are Sylvius is a foreign incarnation of
absolute plate-glass. I see to big-game hunter Colonel Sebastian
Lord Cantlemere the very back of your mind. Moran from “The Empty House,”
One of Holmes’s eminent right down to the way Holmes
employers in the case. Sherlock Holmes lectures both men on the parallels
between their form of hunting
and his own. Both villains favor
specially-engineered air rifles:
Moran’s is made by “Von Herder,
the blind German mechanic,” while
Sylvius’s is the work of a similarly
Germanic-sounding gunsmith,

THE ADVENTURE OF THE MAZARIN STONE 253

My old friend here will tell that he has the Mazarin stone on Count Sylvius, as illustrated by
you that I have an impish him—at which point the “dummy” Alfred Gilbert in The Strand Magazine,
habit of practical joking. dramatically springs to life, revolver prepares to attack the dummy but is
in hand. Holmes has switched instead greeted by Holmes’s “cool,
Sherlock Holmes places with the wax figure via a sardonic” voice in the doorway.
secret door, and the violin music
“old Straubenzee.” Admittedly, the was courtesy of a gramophone. play, is hammy. The secret door
count’s preferred quarry is Algerian The thieves have been roundly is also a cliché. The story does,
lions rather than Indian tigers, but outsmarted and are arrested. however, contain the occasional
Moran’s mustache and large nose magnificent line, as when Holmes
have found their way into Sylvius’s In a familiar practical joke, says, “I am a brain, Watson. The
appearance. He also has a “cruel, Holmes then makes fun of the rest of me is a mere appendix.” ■
thin-lipped mouth,” like the wicked supercilious Lord Cantlemere by
Continental aristocrat, Baron Gruner, planting the diamond in his pocket
in the later story “The Adventure of while pretending to help him with
the Illustrious Client” (pp.266–71). his coat, and then mischievously
accuses him of being its “receiver.”
Switch trick In an instant, Lord Cantlemere
Holmes offers to let Sylvius and his switches from saying that he
accomplice, Sam Merton, go free if has never believed in Holmes,
they surrender the stone, and duly to congratulating him on his
withdraws, ostensibly to play the incredible skills: “We are greatly
violin in his bedroom. Thinking your debtors, Mr. Holmes… I
they are alone, Sylvius tells Merton withdraw any reflection I have
made upon your amazing
professional powers.”

Pros and cons
The story recycles plot details
to the extent that it feels like a
pastiche of “The Empty House” by
someone other than Conan Doyle.
It is dialogue-heavy, and much of
the speech, lifted straight from the

The Crown Diamond among Conan Doyle’s papers
after his death was mistaken for
The Crown Diamond: An Evening an undiscovered work.
with Sherlock Holmes debuted at
the Bristol Hippodrome in 1921, Conan Doyle was no stranger
with Dennis Neilson-Terry as to writing for the stage. In 1899,
Holmes, Rex Vernon Taylour as Sherlock Holmes, a collaboration
Watson, and Norman Leyland as with playwright William Gillette
Moran (Taylour was soon replaced (who played Holmes), opened at
by Paul Ashwell due to a scandal the Garrick, and was a huge hit.
involving a barmaid and a stolen Other work included adaptations
watch). The play toured England of his Napoleonic tales, a version
following performances at the of “The Speckled Band,” and
Coliseum in London (pictured). a joint venture with his friend
But as movies replaced such J. M. Barrie on an operetta, Jane
entertainments, the play was Annie, which was dismissed by
so forgotten that a copy found George Bernard Shaw as an
“outburst of tomfoolery.”

254

I CAN DISCOVER
FACTS WATSON
BUT I CANNOT
CHANGE THEM

THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE (1922)

IN CONTEXT T he 50th story in the canon, No match for Holmes
“The Problem of Thor The client is a ruthless American
TYPE Bridge” begins with a gold magnate and former senator
Short story revelation that has haunted avid named Neil Gibson, with a number
Holmesians ever since, as Watson of similarities to the real-life gold
FIRST PUBLICATION mentions the existence of a “travel- king and politician George Hearst
UK: February 1922 worn and battered tin dispatch- (father of the famous newspaper
US: February/March 1922 box” full of Holmes’s untold cases. baron William Randolph Hearst),
But this story gives fans of the which are surely too striking to be
COLLECTION great detective more than just coincidental. Gibson’s wife, a fiery
The Case Book of teasers. Beyond the story itself, and Brazilian (“tropical by birth and
Sherlock Holmes, 1927 the remarkable range of motivations tropical by nature”), has been found
displayed among its cast’s principal shot through the head on a stone
CHARACTERS players, it contains unusually rich bridge over a lake on Gibson’s
Neil Gibson American insights into Holmes’s character, Hampshire estate, Thor Place.
millionaire, gold magnate, prejudices, and even his fallibility. The Gibson children’s governess,
and former senator. Grace Dunbar, who admits that she
A problem without met Mrs. Gibson on the bridge,
Mrs. Gibson a solution may has been arrested. The dead
Neil’s Brazilian wife. woman was found clutching an
interest the student, incriminating note from Miss
Miss Grace Dunbar but can hardly Dunbar, and a fired revolver was
Governess to the Gibsons’ fail to annoy the subsequently discovered in the
two young children. casual reader. governess’s wardrobe.
Dr. Watson
Sergeant Coventry Gibson is an unappealing
Local policeman. character. His own estate manager
calls him “an infernal villain,” and
Watson observes waspishly, “An
Abraham Lincoln keyed to base
uses instead of high ones would
give some idea of the man.” The
millionaire wants Holmes to take
the case in order to clear Miss
Dunbar, but when he lies about

THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE 255

being in love with her, Holmes sends interviews Miss Dunbar in her The make of gun (or guns) owned by
him packing. Used to getting his Winchester jail cell. She swears Holmes and Watson is the subject of
own way, Gibson greets Holmes’s that the assignation at the bridge great Holmesian debate. Some believe
refusal with angry threats, but was proposed in a note from Mrs. that Watson’s revolver, which plays a
Holmes is not remotely flustered, Gibson herself, and that the letter vital role in this story, may have been
responding placidly, “Don’t be noisy, she wrote in response merely either a Webley or an Adams (pictured).
Mr. Gibson.” Holmes’s delightful confirmed the time and place. Miss
immunity to intimidation is one of Dunbar alleges that on arriving at wild fury out in burning and
his most appealing characteristics, the bridge, she was subjected to horrible words.” She claims Mrs.
and it is this same lack of deference a tirade of bile from the jealous Gibson then fled from the bridge.
to status or ego that causes him woman: “Never did I realize till
to needle his royal employer in “A that moment how this poor creature The revolver in Miss Dunbar’s
Scandal in Bohemia” (pp.56–61) hated me… She poured her whole wardrobe turns out to be one of a
and to scoff at Baron Gruner’s pair, but its match can not be found
threats in “The Adventure of the among Gibson’s “formidable array
Illustrious Client” (pp.266–71). of firearms of various shapes and
sizes.” British perceptions of gun-
Eventually Gibson admits that toting Americans have apparently
he previously made unsuccessful not changed a great deal in the
advances toward the charismatic course of the past century, and
governess, which she rebuffed. She Sergeant Coventry’s observation
stayed in his household, however, that “these Americans are readier
because it seems she felt she could with pistols than our folk are” is
exert a positive influence on his echoed elsewhere in the canon in
character. Gibson is plainly under trigger-happy characters such as
her benevolent spell, so Holmes “Killer” Evans in “The Adventure of
takes the case for the sake of the the Three Garridebs” (pp.262–65).
governess rather than her employer.
The breakthrough
A devilish crime The key to the case is a large, fresh
After visiting Thor Place with chip in the bridge’s parapet, a chip
Watson, and inspecting the crime that appears to have come from a ❯❯
scene with the official investigator,
Sergeant Coventry, Holmes then

Crime scene reconstruction

Crime scene analysis and In “A Scandal in Bohemia,”
reconstruction was a relatively however, Holmes warns against
new but rapidly developing twisting facts to suit theories,
discipline during the 40 years and he was not alone in this
Conan Doyle was writing belief. The criminalist Hans
the Holmes stories. Some Gross wrote in 1898 that theories
elements of forensics – such as should be based on empirical
fingerprinting – were already physical evidence rather than
in use by the turn of the 20th testimony, and the criminologist
century, but the Victorians still Edward Oscar Heinrich held the
relied largely on a flawed model belief that investigators needed
of detection, in which theories to find out “what happened,
were based first on testimony where it happened and when
and motive, before corroborative it happened” before they could
physical evidence was sought. hope to find a suspect.

256 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

The revolver was
tied to a length

of string.

Mrs. Gibson’s revolver
body chip in parapet

string

weight As the weight
pulled the revolver

over the bridge,
it chipped the

parapet.

Holmes carefully The revolver
reconstructs the scene of and string disappeared
the crime at Thor Bridge, with into the water beneath
the aid of Watson’s revolver. He
successfully demonstrates how the the bridge.
pistol that killed Mrs. Gibson was
fired, and thereby solves the case.

hard object hitting the stonework by a real German case, reported by The story refers repeatedly to the
with great force. Holmes realizes its the Austrian criminalist Hans Gross difference between a “physical”
significance, and Watson’s trusty in 1896, of a man who killed himself relationship and a “mental” one,
revolver is once more pressed into in just this manner, making it seem with the deep and intense, but
service, as the crucial prop in a to be murder so as not to invalidate chaste, intellectual bond between
crime scene reconstruction. Holmes his life insurance policy, from which Gibson and Miss Dunbar being
ties his gun to a length of string, his family would benefit. somehow more intimate than his
and the other end of the string to a former physical attraction and very
heavy stone, which he dangles over The power of love real marriage to Mrs. Gibson. The
the bridge. Standing where Mrs. Gibson has already admitted that, governess speculates that Mrs.
Gibson’s body was found, he holds having long since fallen out of love Gibson “loved so vividly in a
the gun to his head, then releases with his wife, he began to have physical sense that she could
his grip. As the stone drags the strong feelings for Miss Dunbar. hardly understand the mental,
revolver into the lake, the gun Though there was no impropriety, and even spiritual, tie which held
strikes the parapet, creating a chip he says, “There is no doubt that her husband to me,” while Gibson
identical to the one already there. my wife was bitterly jealous.” Mrs. himself grapples with this concept
Gibson was a passionate, primal when he tries to explain that “there
Holmes has proved that the South American (much like Mrs. is a soul-jealousy that can be as
case is not a murder, but a suicide Ferguson in “The Adventure of frantic as any body-jealousy.”
cunningly contrived to implicate the the Sussex Vampire,” pp.260–61)
unfortunate governess. Although and she was “crazy with hatred” This question of physical versus
the idea may seem fantastical, toward her children’s governess. spiritual love had at one time greatly
Conan Doyle was, in fact, inspired occupied Conan Doyle’s own mind.

THE PROBLEM OF THOR BRIDGE 257

Long before his first wife, Louise Mr. Neil Gibson has learned A multifaceted hero
(“Touie”) died in 1906, Conan Doyle something in that schoolroom In this story, Conan Doyle depicts
had met and fallen in love with a a much more layered Holmes than
beautiful woman, fourteen years of sorrow where our earthly the detached superhero of earlier
his junior, named Jean Leckie. lessons are taught. tales. Indeed, over the course of
He always maintained that their Sherlock Holmes this and the other stories in The
relationship had remained platonic Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, the
until they were married (following and think of his reputation: “If you detective betrays cruder emotions,
Touie’s death), and it is difficult not pull this off every paper in England such as anger, fear, vengefulness,
to read overtones of his own life and America will be booming you. and cynicism, than previously, along
in the complicated love triangle You’ll be the talk of two continents.” with a capacity for misjudgment
of “The Problem of Thor Bridge.” Holmes replies coldly that his fees and even defeat. His injury in “The
Alluding to the relationship with are on a fixed scale, and that he Illustrious Client,” and the dispatch-
Leckie in a letter to his mother, prefers to work anonymously. These box full of unsolved cases mentioned
Conan Doyle wrote, “there is a are rather contrary assertions for a at the beginning of this story both
large side of my life which was man who has, for example, gleefully imbue Holmes with a new and very
unoccupied, but is no longer so.” taken a large fee from the Duke human potential for failure. It may
of Holdernesse in “The Adventure have been that Conan Doyle wanted
Gibson evidently feels the same of the Priory School” (pp.178–83). to give his creation a more complex
way, and he is ultimately offered Possibly he is offended by the character, before consigning him to
a chance at achieving his creator’s assumption that his motivations are that “fantastic limbo for the children
own happiness. The reader is left so crude, or perhaps he simply wants of imagination,” as described in his
wondering whether he and Miss some meaningful sacrifice from preface to the Case Book. ■
Dunbar will now get married, and Gibson. While he enjoys prying
whether she really will help him to riches from tightfisted Old World Holmes strikes the parapet of the
“see past the dollars to something… aristocrats, the American’s money is bridge with his cane, as illustrated
more lasting.” inconsequential to Holmes because here by Alfred Gilbert in The Strand
it is inconsequential to the client. Magazine, and deduces that the chip
A detached professional? was caused by a hard knock from above.
In “The Problem of Thor Bridge” As Holmes explains, “it is the
Holmes’s own behavior is problem itself which attracts me,”
complicated by his attitude but if this desire to reduce human
toward his client, who seems drama to a cerebral conundrum
to offend both his morals and his seems rather cold, it would appear
vanity. When first taking the case, that Holmes is more emotionally
Gibson asks him to name his price invested in the case than he will
admit. He is genuinely sympathetic
Every link is toward Miss Dunbar, and there is
now in its place perceptible irritation in his voice
and the chain when he snaps at Gibson, “Some
of you rich men have to be taught
is complete. that all the world cannot be bribed
Sherlock Holmes into condoning your offences.”

258

WHEN ONE TRIES TO
RISE ABOVE NATURE
ONE IS LIABLE TO
FALL BELOW IT

THE ADVENTURE OF THE CREEPING MAN (1923)

IN CONTEXT S et in 1903, shortly before Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke,
Holmes’s retirement, this and Colin Jeavons star as Holmes,
TYPE story is prefaced with some Watson, and Lestrade, respectively,
Short story interesting reflections from Watson in this scene from the 1991 ITV
about the role he has played in the adaptation of “The Creeping Man.”
FIRST PUBLICATION great detective’s brilliant career;
UK: March 1923 the doctor fully acknowledges that with a number of details about
US: March 1923 his methodical and literal ways Professor Presbury, a 61-year-old
of thinking may be irritating, but widower. The professor has recently
COLLECTION considers that they have acted as fallen passionately in love with a
The Case Book of Sherlock a foil and a stimulant to Holmes’s young woman in her twenties, but
Holmes, 1927 roving imagination. she rejected him because of his age.
Presbury then took a mysterious
CHARACTERS A creepy case trip to Prague, and has been in an
Professor Presbury The client in this case is Trevor uncharacteristically irascible and
Eminent physiologist at Bennett, who is concerned about aggressive mood ever since. His
the University of Camford. his employer, and presents Holmes once-devoted dog is now agitated

Trevor Bennett Professional
assistant, lodger, and future
son-in-law of the professor.

Edith Presbury
Daughter of the professor,
and Bennett’s fiancée.

H. Lowenstein
Prague-based physiologist.

A. Dorak Lowenstein’s
agent in London.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE CREEPING MAN 259

by its master’s presence, attacking In all our adventures I do which confirms that his “wondrous
him twice. Finally, the professor’s not know that I have ever strengthgiving” serum is extracted
terrified daughter has spotted him seen a more strange sight. from a black-faced langur, a kind
in the middle of the night, “creeping” of Himalayan climbing monkey.
around, animal-like, on his hands Dr. Watson Lowenstein has been supplying it
and knees, along the landing. to the professor via a third party in
gown flapping on each side of London, a Mr. A. Dorak. Recklessly,
Brushing aside Watson’s him… like some huge bat….” the professor has attempted to
medical diagnosis of lumbago, He then torments and taunts manipulate nature, halt the aging
Holmes suspects that something his chained wolfhound, until the process, and revive his waning
more interesting is afoot. Bennett animal breaks free and bites his powers. During the course of this
has recorded that every nine days, master’s throat. Bennett manages dangerous experiment, however,
the professor receives a package to calm the dog, and he and Watson he has taken on the characteristics
from a Bohemian dealer in London, dress the professor’s injuries. of an aggressive primate. His own
which he will not let him open. The dog attacked him because its natural
professor’s fits of rage and vigor An unnatural solution instincts alerted it to the danger.
follow the arrival of the package, so Holmes deduces that the professor,
Holmes concludes he is obtaining madly in love and conscious of his The surreal spectacle of the
some sort of drug from Prague. advanced years, has made contact professor’s apelike behavior
with an experimental scientist in prompts Holmes to warn of the
When, following the nine-day Prague, who has been sending him risks of scientific experimentation
cycle, Holmes and Watson travel to samples of a rejuvenating serum. that distorts the “natural order.”
meet the professor at his university, They find a letter with a Prague The story also explores the necessity
he is instantly overcome by an postmark from an H. Lowenstein, of accepting that everything comes
alarmingly violent rage; Holmes to an end—that youth disappears,
also observes that the man’s and the more sedate pleasures of
knuckles are “thick and horny.” old age must be embraced. The
One night, during a clandestine advances of modern science may
observation of the professor’s be enlisted to hold back the tide,
movements, the duo watch in alarm but ultimately everyone shares the
as he squats on all fours, and then, same fate. It is a lesson that Holmes
with amazing agility, scales the must learn too, as he contemplates
ivy that grows on the side of his retiring to what he calls “that little
house. He is a sinister, terrifying farm of my dreams.” ■
apparition, “with his dressing-

Science fiction exhibitions into the unknown,
discovers dinosaurs living deep
In the late 19th and early 20th in the South American rain-
centuries, a number of writers forest, and wrestles with the
were beginning to explore various imminent extinction of the Earth
speculative themes that were to as it is threatened by poisonous
become the preoccupations of ether from outer space.
later science fiction: time travel,
lost worlds, utopianism, and “The Creeping Man”, which
ambitious scientists. The works was, in part, influenced by 1920s
of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and research into the rejuvenating
Edgar Rice Burroughs were to effects of implanting monkey
prove enduringly popular. Conan glands into humans, explores
Doyle himself turned his talents to the consequences of reckless
science fiction, writing a series of scientific experimentation.
stories charting the adventures Presciently, it is also relevant to
of Professor Challenger, who leads 21st-century fears about genetic
mutation and eugenics.

260

THE WORLD IS BIG
ENOUGH FOR US. NO
GHOSTS NEED APPLY

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE (1924)

IN CONTEXT Love and betrayal within the Ferguson family

TYPE imprisons
Short story
Mr. Robert Ferguson Mrs. Ferguson
FIRST PUBLICATION Husband Wife
UK: January 1924
US: January 1924 Jack saves
Son of Mr. Ferguson
COLLECTION Baby
The Case Book of Sherlock Son of Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson
Holmes, 1927
poisons
CHARACTERS
Mr. Robert Ferguson protects
Tea broker and father of two.
I n contrast to Holmes’s usually movement. He was also a prominent
Mrs. Ferguson Peruvian wife logical cases, “The Adventure member of the paranormal Ghost
of Robert, mother of a baby of the Sussex Vampire” contains Club and an avid believer in an
boy, and stepmother to Jack. hints of the supernatural, similar afterlife, telepathy, and even fairies.
to those in “The Adventure of
Jack Robert’s disabled the Creeping Man” (pp.258–59). Spiritualist journey
15-year-old son. A societal shift toward spirituality Conan Doyle’s spiritualism has
had begun in the late 19th century, been attributed to the tragic deaths
Dolores Long-time friend and Charles Darwin’s theory of of his wife and son in the early 20th
and servant of Mrs. Ferguson. evolution had shaken the religious century; however, his interest began
foundations of society. People were years before. “The American’s Tale”
Mrs. Mason Trusted nurse searching for alternative meaning in (1880), a short story about a blood-
to the baby. their lives, and Conan Doyle became sucking plant, reflects his early
a great supporter of the Spiritualist interest in the metaphysical; by

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE 261

1924 when “The Adventure of the that a vampire has not played any The original cover of The Strand
Sussex Vampire” was published, part in this strange case. Indeed, Magazine that first featured “The
his spiritualism had become an he says, “The idea of a vampire was Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.”
obsession. Two years later, Conan to me absurd. Such things do not The short story was first serialized
Doyle published his pivotal work happen in criminal practice in in the publication in January 1924.
The History of Spiritualism. England.” Holmes, as the fictional
standard-bearer for rationalism, attempting to kill his half-brother
A Peruvian vampire? is a clear-minded and reasoned out of jealousy. Mrs. Ferguson saved
In “The Sussex Vampire,” Robert forensic investigator who never her baby’s life by sucking the poison
Ferguson, a tea broker and father of falls for the illogical. from his neck, and beat her stepson
two, asks Sherlock Holmes for help for his wickedness. She did not
because he is convinced that his Once installed at Ferguson’s reveal the reason behind these
new Peruvian wife has been sucking decaying Tudor farmhouse, Holmes events for fear of breaking her
the blood of their baby son. Although engages his powers of observation. husband’s heart.
she is a devoted wife and mother, He notices first that the central room
she was caught in this vampiric act of the house contains a collection of The tension between author
by their nurse, who plucked up the South American artifacts, including and protagonist, spiritualist, and
courage to confide in her master. weapons. The second clue is a lame logician, runs throughout this story,
pet spaniel, which, his inquiries and reflects the wider debate in
Ferguson was in disbelief until reveal, was suddenly semi-paralyzed society about spiritualism and
he saw the baby’s wounded neck by an unknown condition. The rationalism, religion, and science,
and his mother’s bloodied lips. His third clue is Jack’s expression of that was raging at the time.
wife offered no explanation to her intense jealousy and hatred when
husband, but just gazed at him “with he watches Ferguson embrace In an ironic flourish at the end
a sort of wild, despairing look in her his baby son. of the story, Mrs. Ferguson praises
eyes.” She had also, inexplicably, Holmes’s intellect in supernatural
twice beaten her crippled 15-year- Unraveling the mystery terms: “this gentleman… seems
old stepson, Jack—her husband’s Holmes soon announces that to have powers of magic,” she
son from his previous marriage. Ferguson’s wife is entirely innocent declares. It is as though Conan
Ferguson is appalled and beside and that the culprit, is in fact, Jack. Doyle was proving that he could
himself with concern. The boy has taken poisoned darts be true to the nature of his literary
from his stepmother’s collection creation despite his own personal
Holmes and Watson travel to and shot them first at the dog, as convictions regarding ghosts
Ferguson’s Sussex home to confirm a trial run, and later at the baby, and spiritualism. ■
what Holmes has already deduced—

Vampires in the Victorian era

From the ancient world to the hypnotic powers and nocturnal
21st century, people have had a habits pitted evil against the
thirst for tales of blood-sucking good nature of their victims,
vampires. Various supernatural, demonstrating both a fin de
grotesque forms have been siècle decadence and the idea
depicted in world culture, but it of betrayed innocence. At once
was the Victorians who made sinister, inviting, shocking, and
them human, albeit in a Gothic sensuous, Victorian vampires—
style. The most notable example male and female—can be seen
in the literary genre is the 1897 as an articulation of suppressed
novel Dracula, written by Conan homosexual and female sexual
Doyle’s friend Bram Stoker. expression. Maternal and loving,
Mrs. Ferguson certainly doesn’t
Victorian writers and readers appear to fit the archetypal
were fascinated by the pale, Victorian image of a vampire.
often fanged, undead. Their

262

THERE IS SOME
GUILTY SECRET
IN THE ROOM

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBS (1925)

IN CONTEXT I n his introduction to this tale, situation, the depth of Holmes’s
Watson states that the events it affection and respect for his friend
TYPE relates occurred in June 1902— and chronicler is finally revealed.
Short story he can clearly recollect the date
because it was the month in which A mysterious legacy
FIRST PUBLICATION Holmes refused a knighthood “for The story begins with a visit from
US: October 1924 services which may perhaps some John Garrideb—an alert, bright-
UK: January 1925 day be described.” He speculates eyed American who says he is a
about whether the “adventure” that counselor at law from Kansas. He
COLLECTION follows is a comedy or a tragedy. tells an astonishing tale that relates
The Case Book of Sherlock Certainly, the story’s ingenious to his unusual surname; he claims
Holmes, 1927 plotting and flamboyant trickery that he encountered just one other
incorporate some comic elements, Garrideb in his home country—
CHARACTERS but the consequences for the main Alexander Hamilton Garrideb—
John Garrideb American protagonists are far from a laughing a wealthy, elderly man who left a
lawyer from Kansas. matter. For many readers, however, curious will: if John was able to find
this is very much a story about the two other men with their surname,
Nathan Garrideb Reclusive relationship between Holmes and they would each inherit a part of
bachelor and dedicated Watson; in a life-threatening his substantial estate. John left his
collector of antiquities. practice to conduct a search, and
Well, if you can lay he has now found and met with a
Alexander Hamilton your hand upon a Garrideb, Nathan Garrideb in London. In fact,
Garrideb Wealthy, elderly against John’s wishes, Nathan has
American man. there’s money in it. already enlisted Holmes’s help, and
Sherlock Holmes this is the reason for John’s visit.

Holmes is deeply suspicious
of this tale, and of John himself—
the man implies that he is a recent
arrival in London, yet his well-worn
English clothes and smoothed-out
American accent indicate that he
has been in the country for some
time. He is also defensive, quickly
“ruffled” by Holmes, and clearly

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBS 263

This ITV adaptation, “The Mazarin
Stone” (1994), combined that case with
“The Three Garridebs” and starred
Gavan O’Herlihy and Richard Caldicott.

angry that Nathan Garrideb
considered it necessary to involve
the detective. Nathan is easily
located in the London telephone
directory, which, in Holmes’s day,
would have been a relatively small
volume: the first edition was only
published in 1880, 22 years before
this story took place, and listed only
248 names. Watson phones and
makes an appointment to visit him.

Cabinets of curiosities ranging from ancient coins and of agricultural machinery—are
Nathan is a stooping, bearded fossilized bones to cases full of advertised. John suggests that
man of around 60, who lives in moths and butterflies. Studying and Nathan should travel by train to the
a bachelor’s apartment in a small maintaining this eclectic personal city the following day, and explain
street off Edgware Road; Watson museum is his abiding passion, and the situation to the third Garrideb,
notes that it is very close to the he admits that he rarely leaves the who will likely be more receptive to
former site of the Tyburn gallows, house. He is intrigued by the story a “Britisher”; the old man reluctantly
a place of public execution for many of the Garrideb legacy and is so agrees. Before leaving Nathan’s
centuries—an ominous observation enthralled by the prospect of using home, Holmes and Watson obtain
that stirs a sense of danger. Holmes his potential share—$5 million— permission to view his collection
and Watson immediately like and to expand his collection, that he while he is away. Holmes then
trust this Garrideb, finding him does not question its veracity. informs Watson that John himself
“amiable, though eccentric.” He had placed the advertisement as
is an avid collector of curiosities At this point, John Garrideb part of a ruse to get Nathan out
and antiquities, and his home is arrives, brandishing a Birmingham of his apartment; although he does
a veritable storehouse of treasures, newspaper in which the services of not yet know why. ❯❯
one Howard Garrideb—constructor

Victorian collectors When Nathan Garrideb says They became the foundation
he wants to become “the Hans of the British Museum, which
Sloane of my age,” he is referring opened to the public in 1759. By
to British physician Hans Sloane the Victorian era, many of those
(1660–1753; pictured), whose who traveled to the farthest
passion for collecting was ignited corners of the British Empire
when he visited Jamaica and were also dedicated collectors,
brought back some 800 species helping to stock the galleries of
of plants and animals. Sloane’s newly founded institutions such
“cabinet of curiosities” grew over as London’s Victoria & Albert
the years, and embraced objects Museum. However, the appetite
from fields as diverse as botany, for curiosities inevitably led
archaeology, ethnography, natural to clever forgeries, and many
history, and geology. By the time amateur collectors were fooled
of his death, Sloane had acquired by “authentic” treasures that
around 71,000 items, which he had in fact been manufactured
bequeathed to the nation. in Birmingham or Manchester.

264 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

The next day, Holmes conducts And there are still more revelations: You’re not hurt,
some investigations on his own, after consulting the rental agent Watson? For God’s
and returns in a somber mood. He who manages Nathan Garrideb’s sake, say that you
warns Watson that they are up apartment, Holmes learns that the
against a very hard case, and a previous tenant was a tall, dark, are not hurt!
dangerous one, too. He has paid bearded man—a description that Sherlock Holmes
a visit to Inspector Lestrade at matches Rodger Prescott. The fact
Scotland Yard, and has found out that the tenant disappeared accepts the dangers he may face
that the lawyer John Garrideb is, suddenly lends weight to Holmes’s with equanimity. He is determined
in fact, a hardened Chicago-born theory that John Garrideb and to stand by, and support, his friend.
criminal known as “Killer Evans.” Evans are one and the same man.
After murdering three men in the A close confrontation
US and then breaking out of jail, Holmes is now sure that “Killer The pair make their way to the
he headed to London, where he Evans” invented the Garrideb story empty apartment and conceal
has lived for the past ten years and as an elaborate diversion, in order themselves in a closet in the
where, in 1895, he shot and killed to gain access to the former home main room, where they wait. As
a fellow American named Rodger of the man he murdered—but to predicted, Evans arrives and
Prescott over a game of cards. what end he has no idea. There is, breaks into the house. He makes a
The dead man drew his gun first, he says, a guilty secret in the room, beeline for a table in the middle of
so Evans served a relatively light and this makes their imminent visit the room, which he moves to reveal
sentence of just over five years. to Nathan’s museum of curiosities a a trapdoor. Once he has descended
Since his release, he has been much riskier undertaking. Evans is through it, Holmes and Watson
under police watch, but so far, known to carry a gun, so Holmes begin to creep stealthily toward the
he has stayed out of trouble. ensures that he and Watson are both opening. A creaking floorboard
fully armed. As always, the doctor alerts Evans to their presence, who
emerges to find himself confronted
The advertisement, which John The word “plough” is by two pistols. Initially he is both
Garrideb claims to have found in misspelled, in “bad English bewildered and furious, but then he
a local Birmingham newspaper, appears to give himself up: “I guess
contains a number of clues that but good American.” you have been one too many for me,
suggest to Holmes that it was Mr. Holmes. Saw through my game,
written by an American. I suppose, and played me for a
sucker from the first.” But this is
HOWARD GARRIDEB just another diversionary tactic—
CONSTRUCTOR OF moving quickly, Evans manages to
fire two shots from his revolver, one
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY of which grazes Watson’s leg, before
Holmes brings his gun crashing
Binders, reapers, steam and hand plows, down on the man’s head.
drills, harrows, farmer’s carts,
Evans’s elaborate plot is then
buckboards, and all other appliances. revealed. The man is a criminal.
Estimates for Artesian Wells. Beneath the trapdoor is a hidden

Apply Grosvenor Buildings, Aston

“Buckboards” is an “Artesian Wells” are
American term for an open more common in the US

wagon or carriage. than in Britain.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBS 265

room that contains a printing His treasures—the reader is led to Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers
press, and Evans explains that believe—are authentic, acquired Museum, founded in 1884, holds more
the late Rodger Prescott was an from London’s fine art auctioneers than 500,000 objects gathered by
expert counterfeiter—the most Sotheby’s and Christies, and nothing Victorian collector General Pitt Rivers.
accomplished in London. Evans’s gives him greater pleasure than
quarry was the £200,000 in forged studying and cataloging them. that his friend has displayed during
notes concealed in the hidden room. In contrast, “John Garrideb” is their years together. His panic
His story of the Garrideb inheritance nothing but a fake—just a violent, about the potential severity of
is as counterfeit as the forged notes greedy man who has utilized his Watson’s injury, and his heartfelt
that lie beneath their feet. He had intelligence for mere criminal gain. concern for his friend, is very
woven an elaborate web of lies so It seems strangely symbolic that touching, and there is a rare
he could distract the gullible and underneath the lovingly assembled moment of open emotion from
preoccupied collector, whom he collection of an authentic seeker the normally taciturn and cool
dismisses as a “crazy boob of a of knowledge lies the equipment of detective when he turns furiously
bug-hunter,” and claim the wealth a criminal counterfeiter. Sadly, the to Evans and declares, “If you had
that lay just beneath his floorboards. news that his fabulous inheritance killed Watson you would not have
Desperate to secure his freedom, is mere fantasy sends Nathan got out of this room alive.”
Evans offers Holmes a share of the Garrideb into a shock from which
counterfeit booty, but the detective he never recovers, and he ultimately Watson, for his part, is clearly
laughs in his face. Holmes hands ends up living in a nursing home. moved by Holmes’s capacity for
the villain over to the police, and friendship here, saying, “It was
Evans finds himself back in jail for With its examination of truth worth a wound—it was worth
attempted murder. and lies, authenticity and fakery, many wounds—to know the depth
this story is also a tribute to the of loyalty and love which lay behind
Truth, lies, and loyalty enduring friendship between that cold mask… For the one and
Nathan Garrideb’s museum-style Holmes and Watson. For all the only time I caught a glimpse of a
collection is a reflection of his banter and teasing, it is quite clear great heart as well as of a great
single-minded passion for the past, that Holmes feels genuine love for brain. All my years of humble but
and his desire to understand it. Watson and great respect for the single-minded service culminated
unquestioning loyalty and bravery in that moment of revelation.” ■

266 IN CONTEXT

SOME PEOPLE’S TYPE
AFFABILITY IS MORE Short story
DEADLY THAN THE
VIOLENCE OF FIRST PUBLICATION
COARSER SOULS US: November 1924
UK: February 1925
THE ADVENTURE OF THE
ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT (1925) COLLECTION
The Case Book of Sherlock
Holmes, 1927

CHARACTERS
Colonel Sir James Damery
High-society figure acting on
behalf of an anonymous client.

Baron Adelbert Gruner
Austrian aristocrat and
notorious violent womanizer.

Violet de Merville
Baron Gruner’s fiancée.

Shinwell Johnson
Former criminal and
associate of Holmes.

Kitty Winter Shunned
former mistress of the baron.

Sir Leslie Oakshott Surgeon.

O ver ten years have passed
since the events of this
story took place, and
Holmes has finally given Watson
permission to write up the case,
presumably because there is no
longer a need to protect certain
reputations. Watson claims the
case is “in some ways, the supreme
moment of my friend’s career.”
However, readers might not entirely
agree. It does not involve any
particularly extraordinary deductions
on Holmes’s part, and the identity
of the client remains undisclosed.
The plot is also strikingly similar
to the earlier Holmes tale “The
Adventure of Charles Augustus
Milverton” (pp.186–87). Nevertheless,

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 267

“The Adventure of the Illustrious Colonel Sir James Damery, who It is my business to
Client” is a thrilling yarn that blends has requested an audience with follow the details of
high-society glamour with the grit Holmes at Baker Street that day. Continental crime.
of London’s criminal underworld. It Sir James’s name is recognized by Sherlock Holmes
also has one of the most compelling Watson as “a household word in
villains and most horrifically violent society,” and the Carlton Club his fastidiously well-turned-out
endings displayed anywhere in the in Pall Mall, where the note was figure, with top hat, frock coat,
entire Holmes canon. written, was itself a well-known and varnished shoes. Sir James
spot for high-ranking Conservative expresses his satisfaction at
A high-society visitor politicians and socialites in real life. Watson’s presence—a nod to the
Turkish baths were extremely chronicler’s own fame by this point.
popular among the well-to-do These high-society reference
Victorians, and by the late 19th points suggest this case is likely to
century, London was full of them. be one that will require the utmost
As Holmes and Watson enjoy a discretion. Holmes himself notes
smoke in such an establishment that Damery has “a reputation for
on Northumberland Avenue (which arranging delicate matters which
runs between Trafalgar Square and are to be kept out of the papers”—
the Embankment), Holmes takes that is, matters of social propriety.
out a note sent to him by a certain When Sir James arrives at 221B
later that day, Watson describes

The connections of the mystery client An ill-advised match
Sir James then introduces his
friends with Illustrious represented by subject: the infamous Baron Albert
client Gruner, who he claims is the most
dangerous man in Europe. Holmes
General Sir James immediately refers to Gruner as
de Merville Damery “the Austrian murderer”—clearly,
both Holmes and Sir James are in
father of appeals for agreement that (despite an official
help from verdict to the contrary) the baron
almost certainly murdered his
Violet Sherlock ex-wife in Austria, and escaped
de Merville Holmes prosecution only on technical
grounds and due to “the suspicious
engaged to asks for death of a witness.”
assistance from
Sir James then declares that he
Baron former Kitty friends Shinwell is working on behalf of a man who
Gruner mistress of Winter with Johnson wishes to remain anonymous—the
“illustrious client” of the story title.
Holmes is perturbed by this desire
for secrecy and presses Sir James
to reveal the client’s identity, saying
he is unable to commit to the case
without knowing all the details.
Damery remains resolute that he
cannot disclose the client’s name,
but assures Holmes that “his
motives are, to the last degree,
honourable and chivalrous” and ❯❯

268 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

that Holmes will be proud to serve I am accustomed to have society in one story—with the
him. He begs Holmes to listen to all mystery at one end of my “famous” high-society figure of
the facts before making a decision. cases, but to have it at both Sir Damery at one end, and the
shadowy figure of Johnson, with
The baron, who is irresistible ends is too confusing. his contacts in London’s seedy
to women and frequently takes Sherlock Holmes criminal underworld, at the other.
advantage of them, has recently
become engaged to the wealthy the subject. Holmes observes that Watson is not living at 221B at
and attractive Miss Violet de all great criminals have complex this point, but on Queen Anne
Merville, the daughter of a famous minds, citing the famous real-life Street. He meets the detective at
British general. Given the baron’s Victorian villains Charles Peace— Simpson’s-in-the-Strand—a favorite
violent and highly untrustworthy an inventor, violin virtuoso, and dining establishment of Conan
character, the match is sure to end murderer—and “Wainwright,” that Doyle’s in what was then one of
in disaster for Violet. Holmes hears is, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a London’s busiest thoroughfares.
how deeply she has fallen for the talented artist, critic, and poisoner. It is there that Holmes gives a
handsome baron. “To say that she description of the baron, whom
loves him hardly expresses it,” says From the stars to the gutter he had brazenly called upon earlier.
Damery. He says she is “obsessed” Holmes’s first port of call is to Holmes had demanded that the
by Gruner, who has managed to contact his associate Shinwell baron call off the marriage, but
convince her of his innocence in Johnson—an ex-criminal who once Gruner responded with threats,
any wrongdoing to which his name served two jail terms but has since alluding to another former detective
is attached. General de Merville is reformed. In creating this rather who had been horribly crippled after
extremely concerned about the unlikely connection, Conan Doyle inquiring into the baron’s affairs. He
engagement, as is the anonymous outlines the panorama of Victorian also bragged that he has Violet de
client, who has known Violet since Merville in his thrall, and that,
she was very young. should Holmes call on her, she will
not waver in her devotion to him.
After hearing the full story,
Holmes agrees to take on the Johnson tracks down a young
case. He asks whether there is working-class woman named Kitty
any further information he needs Winter, who has suffered at the
to know about the baron, and baron’s hands as one of his many
learns that he is artistic and an former mistresses—although the
avid collector of Chinese pottery reader never finds out precisely
and has even written a book on how. She tells Holmes of a “beastly

Vitriol-throwing Vitriol is better known today
as sulfuric acid. As a common
Various descriptions of skin disinfectant, it was easy to get
conditions in this story foreshadow hold of, and Watson refers to
the baron’s disfigurement as a another vitriol-throwing incident
result of Kitty’s throwing vitriol in “The Adventure of the Blue
in his face. Watson describes Carbuncle” (pp.82–83), but in
Shinwell Johnson as “scorbutic,” reality the crime was actually
or scurvy-ridden, and “leprous,” relatively rare. In a letter to The
while Holmes reports how Violet Times in 1867, one man tells
received Kitty and him “like a how his wife had vitriol thrown
Reverend Abbess receiving two at her, but was saved from harm
rather leprous mendicants.” Later by the quantity of dresses and
on there are newspaper reports petticoats she was wearing. By
that claim Holmes is suffering from the 20th century, regulations on
erysipelas—an infection that often the substance’s sale meant that
manifests itself as a face rash. such attacks became even rarer.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 269

book” in which the baron records show of his typical antipathy for The gentlemen’s dining room
the truth of all his misdeeds. He houses of the wealthy—Holmes at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, where
keeps it in his inner study, secreted describes as “one of those awful Holmes and Watson dined. Women
behind another room containing gray London castles which would were forbidden to use this paneled,
his “Chinese crockery,” as she make a church seem frivolous.” street-level dining room until 1986.
refers to his porcelain collection. Holmes says that when he tried to
Her own down-at-heel status, so dissuade Violet from marrying the the death of his friend Robert Louis
far from that of Violet de Merville, baron, she accused him of being a Stevenson: “I cannot forget the
is further evidence of the baron’s mercenary, a paid agent: as far as shock that it was to me when
indifferent womanizing. “This she is concerned, he is the immoral driving down the Strand in a
man collects women,” Kitty tells one. Even the plain-speaking Kitty hansom cab in 1896 I saw upon a
Holmes, “and takes a pride in his could not convince her, and the yellow evening poster ‘Death of
collection, as some men collect visit was a failure. Stevenson.’ Some-thing seemed
moths or butterflies.” She recalls to have passed out of my world.”
two other murders that the baron A murderous attack
laid claim to while she was his Two days later, Watson is walking Holmes is not in fact dead, but
lover, and also describes to Holmes along the Strand when he sees a he has been violently assaulted in
in detail the location of the baron’s newspaper billboard announcing: an attack that took place that day
“inner study,” where she believes “Murderous attack upon Sherlock on Regent Street. His assailants
his secret book is kept. Holmes.” Both the experience, escaped through the Café Royal—
and Watson’s stunned response, as popular a haunt with writers as
The next evening, at Simpson’s recall a moment in Conan Doyle’s Simpson’s, and, like Simpson’s, still
again, Holmes tells Watson how own life. In his 1924 autobiography, there to this day—into the grimy
he and Kitty visited the de Merville Memories and Adventures, the alleys of Soho, which at that time
residence in upmarket Berkeley author reports how he learned of was still a poor, murky, and very
Square, Mayfair, which—in a overcrowded area. There is another ❯❯

270 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

3 Berkeley Square 6 Glasshouse Street Strand 2
4 Regent Street Agar Street 7
8 St. James’s Square
5 Strand
1 Northumberland Street

Thames River

Throughout the story, 1. Northumberland Street: 4. Regent Street: Holmes is 7. Agar Street: Holmes
Holmes and Watson visit Holmes and Watson visit the attacked outside Café Royal. is treated at Charing Cross
real-life locations, most of Turkish baths. Hospital, located here in
which are concentrated 5. Strand: Watson learns the late 19th century.
in central London. Baker 2. Strand: Holmes and Watson of the attack on Holmes.
Street, where Holmes lives, dine at Simpson’s restaurant. 8. St. James’s Square:
is slightly north of the area 6. Glasshouse Street: Watson studies ancient
shown on the map. 3. Berkeley Square: Holmes’s attackers make Chinese pottery at the
Home of Violet de Merville. their escape. London Library.

Stevenson link here. In Stevenson’s his evil alter ego, Mr. Hyde, uses. book with him. With typical
story Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Stevenson is thought to have based indifference to Watson’s professional
Mr. Hyde (1886), the whole mystery Dr. Jekyll’s house on that of the duties, Holmes tasks him with
turns on Dr. Jekyll’s grand residence eminent 18th-century Scottish learning everything he can about
having an incongruously “sordid” scientist and surgeon John Hunter Chinese pottery in just 24 hours.
back door, leading onto a shadowy (1728–1793), whose own residence He then gives him a priceless Ming
neighborhood—this is the door that in Leicester Square was barely a saucer (provided by the mysterious
stone’s throw from the Café Royal, client), with the request that he try
I have my plans… and would have backed onto the to sell it to the baron. At the time
They’ll come to you same seamy alleyways. Holmes does not explain why, but
it later becomes clear that he needs
for news. Put it Holmes has a nasty head wound Watson to distract the baron so he
on thick, Watson. but will survive, thanks to the care can break into the inner study and
Sherlock Holmes of famous surgeon Leslie Oakshott. find the book. Watson duly begins
However, he asks Watson to greatly to memorize as much information
exaggerate his condition to all the on Chinese pottery as he is able.
press, and tell them he is dying so
that anyone reading the papers will Watson in the lion’s den
think he is off the case. However, Tension increases at the baron’s
when reports appear that the baron luxurious residence as the highly
is soon to be traveling to America suspicious host tests Watson, who
prior to the wedding, Holmes’s hand is posing as Dr. Hill Barton, the
is forced, since he knows that the ceramics expert, with excessively
baron will take the incriminating

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT 271

tricky questions on the Emperor disproportionately vicious. “The The identity of
Shomu and the Northern Wei wages of sin, Watson—the wages of the client
dynasty. Watson keeps his cool, sin!” intones the clearly shaken
but the baron quickly sees through Holmes, in an echo of the Book of Conan Doyle’s trick at the
his bluff, rightly guessing that Romans in the New Testament. end of the tale is masterful:
Holmes has sent him, and is Holmes cuts Watson off
enraged. Just as he is about to Thanks to Watson’s keeping the immediately before he can
attack Watson in fury, the baron baron talking for just long enough, blurt out the name of the
is alerted to a noise from his inner Holmes is now in possession of the “illustrious client” on whose
study. Dashing inside, he finds baron’s “lust diary,” which he stole behalf Sir James Damery has
Holmes, who escapes through a from the inner study. This, Holmes been acting. It may be that
window. Baron Gruner chases him believes, will finally open Violet’s the “armorial bearings” (such
into the garden, but as he follows eyes and put a stop to the marriage. as those pictured, above) on
him Watson sees a woman’s arm He is of the clear opinion that the Damery’s brougham coach,
fly out from a bush and, Gruner baron’s disfigurement alone would which Damery hastily tries
utters “a horrible cry” and falls, likely have the opposite effect as to obscure with his overcoat,
clutching his face. Watson rushes “she would love him the more are in fact the royal coat of
to his aid but finds that his face is as a disfigured martyr.” arms belonging to King
being eaten away by acid. The hand, Edward VII. Certainly, the fact
as it turns out, was Kitty Winter’s: In Holmes’s view, the state of that his driver is “cockaded,”
Holmes had taken her with him being “madly in love” is equivalent that is to say, carries a rosette
to help locate the inner study but, to madness pure and simple, and or similarly vaunted badge on
acting of her own volition, she had indeed this story is peppered with his uniform, suggests an
seized a chance to take revenge on references to women’s irrationality. extremely lofty eminence.
her past lover, and threw a measure Early on, Kitty Winter declared her The bait used for Baron
of vitriol in his face (see box, p.268), willingness to risk death in order Gruner in the form of the
making a mangled mess of the to take revenge, saying it with an Chinese porcelain saucer
baron’s once handsome features. “intensity of hatred,” Watson notes, provides yet more evidence for
“such as woman seldom and man this argument—Holmes says a
The wages of sin never can attain.” And Kitty’s final, full set of such saucers would
Back at 221B, it is clear that Holmes fateful deed plays out that reckless be “worth a king’s ransom.”
and Watson have moral qualms impulsiveness magnificently. Of course, the client might
over the violence dished out to the have been some other eminent
baron. Although he is a multiple The day of judgment and sympathetic friend of
murderer, the acid attack is perhaps Three days later, the marriage General de Merville—but for
between Violet and Baron Gruner all of the debate of Holmesian
It is his moral side, has been called off. Meanwhile, a scholars on the subject, the
not his physical, newspaper reports that Kitty will truth remains unknown.
which we have be brought before the courts for her
to destroy. crime. There is also a nod toward a
degree of benign corruption here:
Sherlock Holmes although Holmes risks prosecution
for burglary, Watson feels sure that
the eminence of their client will
make the law “elastic.”

Even at the end of the story, the
reader never learns the identity of
the client. When Watson realizes
who it is, after seeing the “armorial
bearings” on his carriage, Holmes
silences him: “It is a loyal friend and
a chivalrous gentleman. Let that
now and forever be enough for us.” ■

272

I AM NOT THE LAW
BUT I REPRESENT
JUSTICE SO FAR AS MY
FEEBLE POWERS GO

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GABLES (1926)

IN CONTEXT T his story sees Holmes lock He informs Holmes that he has
horns with one of the few been sent by Barney Stockdale, a
TYPE truly formidable female senior member of the Spencer John
Short story characters in the canon. Unlike gang. But Holmes believes that the
with Irene Adler in “A Scandal in entire gang has been hired by
FIRST PUBLICATION Bohemia” (pp.56–61), Holmes stops another, more formidable person.
US: September 1926 short of expressing admiration for
UK: October 1926 the “masterful” Isadora Klein, yet it A mystery buyer
is clear by the end of the tale that Holmes and Watson travel directly
COLLECTION this “belle dame sans merci” has to visit a new client—Mrs. Mary
The Case Book of at least partially elicited Holmes’s Maberley, a widow living at The
Sherlock Holmes, 1927 sympathies. Certainly he sees fit Three Gables, a house in Harrow
to resolve the matter himself, rather Weald—who needs Holmes’s advice.
CHARACTERS than turn to the law. Her son Douglas, formerly an attaché
Steve Dixie A prize fighter at the embassy in Rome, died
hired to threaten Holmes. An unwelcome visitor recently, and she received a strange
Holmes and Watson are at 221B offer soon afterward. An agent, on
Mrs. Mary Maberley Baker Street when they are accosted behalf of a client, has asked to buy
Elderly widow. by a man described as a “huge her house, its entire contents, and
negro,” Steve Dixie—an aggressive all of her personal effects. Holmes is
Douglas Maberley member of a criminal gang, who instantly suspicious, surmising that
Mrs. Maberley’s late son. warns Holmes not to interfere in the person must want something
any business in Harrow. As it that is hidden inside the house.
Susan turns out, Holmes has indeed been
Servant of Mrs. Maberley. engaged on a case in this very area. The secret in the trunk
Dixie is described by Watson with a During the interview, Holmes
Mr. Sutro casual racism common to the time, unmasks Mrs. Maberley’s servant,
Lawyer to Mrs. Maberley. and Holmes, although under severe Susan, as another gang member.
provocation, is uncharacteristically From this he concludes that the
Isadora Klein offensive to him. Dixie (a historical notorious gang is being employed
South American widow, nickname for America’s southern to threaten the widow, and that the
and former lover of Douglas. states) calls Holmes “Masser,” a instigator must be someone who is
term that was often used by slaves familiar enough with the London
Langdale Pike in the US to address their masters. underworld to employ Spencer John
London gossip-monger.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GABLES 273

She was, of course, the targeting Douglas’s trunk and
celebrated beauty. There was stealing a manuscript. Just one
never a woman to touch her. page of 245 remains, and it is clearly
the end of a lurid story of love and
Sherlock Holmes rejection; strangely, as Holmes
notes, the tale shifts from the third
person narrator to the first person
toward its end. He is edging closer
to solving the mystery, but has
yet to discover who is behind it.

and his henchmen to intimidate The final revelation Isadora Klein, played here by Claudine
Mrs. Maberley. After questioning Holmes consults scurrilous gossip Auger in the Granada TV series, is an
Susan, Holmes suspects that the columnist Langdale Pike, who has exotic and uninhibited femme fatale, yet
instigator may well be a wealthy an unrivaled knowledge of London one whose wiles are wasted on Holmes.
woman, rather than a man. He then society, for information. This leads
notices Douglas’s trunk in the hall, him to the home of Isadora Klein—a the help of the Spencer John
recently arrived from Rome, and beautiful, extremely wealthy South gang to obtain the compromising
concludes it may contain the American widow and sexual manuscript for herself.
desired items, as the intimidation adventuress. He learns that the
began just after his death, when stolen manuscript—now a charred Lesson learned
the trunk arrived. pile of ash in her fireplace—was in Unlike so many of the women
fact Douglas’s account of his doomed Holmes encounters, Isadora is
Surprisingly, Holmes suggests love affair with her. He had become neither vulnerable, in thrall to a
that Mrs. Maberley search the “intolerable” when Isadora declined man, nor in any way dependent. In
trunk rather than investigating it to marry him, and in a heartbroken their final showdown, finding him
himself. For safety, he recommends rage he had decided to write and “immune” to her seductive skills,
that she invite her lawyer, Mr. Sutro, publish his manuscript in order to she is honest about her reasons for
to stay the night. But the house is ruin her. She is now due to marry soliciting the manuscript, claiming
burgled that evening, the thieves a young English lord and knows she had resorted to theft only when
that the story would jeopardize “everything else had failed.” And
Women in gangs her reputation and her quest for while Holmes remains steadfastly
a British title. And so she enlisted disapproving, he clearly feels some
Women played their part in the sympathy for her predicament—
underworld of Victorian London, be equipped with specially perhaps Douglas’s vengeful plan
and Isadora Klein and Susan’s designed clothing with hidden seemed too harsh a punishment
involvement with a gang was pockets, and in a prudish era for ending their love affair. Holmes
not unprecedented. A notorious they were often able to escape extracts a promise from her to
all-female gang, known as the close physical scrutiny. They pay for Mrs. Maberley to travel
Forty Elephants, is thought to eventually became so well around the world (a lifelong dream),
have operated in London from known in London that they were warning Isadora of the dangers of
as early as the 18th century. forced to branch out into other her behavior: “You can’t play with
This gang, headed by a “queen,” towns. In addition to shoplifting, edged tools forever without cutting
was organized into cells and, they worked as housemaids in those dainty hands.” ■
from the 1870s to 1950s, ran an order to rob and blackmail their
ambitious and highly successful employers. The gang protected
shoplifting operation across its territory, and trespassers
London. The women would were dispatched (sometimes
violently); they also enjoyed
the proceeds of their crimes,
throwing glamorous parties.

274

I SEE NO MORE THAN
YOU BUT I HAVE
TRAINED MYSELF TO
NOTICE WHAT I SEE

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLANCHED SOLDIER (1926)

IN CONTEXT T his story is unusual taste by including superficial and
because it is narrated by sensational details, he too must
TYPE Holmes, who explains that make the account entertaining for
Short story Watson—his usual chronicler—has the reader. Holmes makes several
“deserted him for a wife,” leaving references to Watson here: he
FIRST PUBLICATION him to rise to the challenge of applauds his good qualities, and
US: October 1926 writing up a case himself. Holmes comments somewhat sardonically
UK: November 1926 muses on his role as storyteller and that his perpetual ability to be
realizes that, despite criticizing surprised by Holmes’s insights
COLLECTION Watson for pandering to public is one of his greatest strengths.
The Case Book of Sherlock
Holmes, 1927 Like his characters, Emsworth A visit from a soldier
and Dodd, Conan Doyle (above) also The story begins in January 1903,
CHARACTERS served in South Africa during the Boer with Holmes receiving a visit from
James M Dodd Ex-soldier. War, working as a volunteer doctor in a James M Dodd. Holmes instantly
the Langman Field Hospital. recognizes him as an ex-soldier,
Godfrey Emsworth correctly identifying his regiment
Ex-soldier and close friend (Imperial Yeomanry, the Middlesex
of James M Dodd. Corps) in a typical display of
his powers of observation and
Colonel Emsworth deduction. Dodd is suitably
Retired army officer and impressed, confirming that he
Godfrey’s father. has indeed recently returned from
South Africa, where he fought in
Mrs. Emsworth the Boer War (1899–1902).
Godfrey’s mother.
The discovery of gold in the Boer
Ralph and wife Emsworth republic of Transvaal in 1886 made
family’s long-serving butler the area a potential threat to British
and housekeeper, respectively. colonial supremacy in South Africa,
and so Britain sent troops there to
Mr. Kent Godfrey’s physician. defend its interests. Conan Doyle
himself served in South Africa from
Sir James Saunders March to June 1902 as a medical
Eminent dermatologist. officer and was vocal in his defense

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 275

of the British cause there, opposing A house of shadows The Boer War was fought between
the many commentators who Immediately after arriving at Dutch settlers and the British in two
questioned the justness of the war. the remote, rambling old mansion, African states, South African Republic
Dodd was interrogated by Colonel and Orange Free State, over the control
Dodd needs Holmes’s help with Emsworth—an imposing and of gold and diamond mines.
a puzzle concerning the fate of his rather fierce man. Dodd’s request
old army friend Godfrey Emsworth, for clarity on Godfrey’s outright if Godfrey was dead, the
who was wounded in action and whereabouts was met with old man replied, ominously: “I wish
sent home. The pair had written hostility, and the colonel hinted to God he was!” before rushing off.
to each other for a while, but then darkly that, for the family’s sake,
Emsworth fell silent, and Dodd has he should stop interfering. Later, That night in his ground-floor
not heard from him for six months. over dinner, Godfrey’s gentle, bedroom, Dodd gazed out of the
Godfrey’s father, Colonel Emsworth unassuming mother listened window and was astonished to see
(a Crimean War hero), claims that avidly to Dodd’s recollection of his Godfrey’s face—deathly white and
his son is on a round-the-world wartime experiences with her son, ghostly, “as white as cheese”—
voyage and will be away for a year, but the colonel showed no interest pressed to the glass. Godfrey
but Dodd is skeptical about this: and seemed “morose and quickly leapt away from sight,
surely his friend would never have depressed.” Dodd’s suspicions but not before Dodd had detected
embarked on such an adventure were further roused during a “something furtive, something
without telling him? Determined to conversation with Ralph, the guilty” in his demeanor: a stark
root out the truth, Dodd persuaded family’s ancient butler, who contrast to the forthright soldier he
Godfrey’s mother to allow him to referred to his young master in had known in South Africa. Dodd
visit her at the family home, Old the past tense. When Dodd asked pursued his friend into the garden,
Tuxbury Park in Bedford. but he soon became lost in the ❯❯

276 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

darkness. However, Dodd was When you have is dressed in conventional servant’s
certain that he heard the sound eliminated all which garb, but with the unusual addition
of a door closing somewhere in the is impossible, then of a pair of brown leather gloves.
grounds and that Godfrey must whatever remains, He instantly removes them on
have escaped into a hiding place. however improbable, seeing the visitors, but Holmes’s
must be the truth. sharp nose detects a strong “tarry
The following morning, Dodd Sherlock Holmes odour” emanating from them.
spotted a cottage in the garden;
as he approached it, a sharply- later he and Dodd set off to Bedford, At this point, Holmes once
dressed man came out of the door accompanied by an elderly man again muses on his role as narrator,
and locked it behind him. The whom Holmes introduces simply presenting himself as a guileless
pair exchanged pleasantries, but as an old friend. He cross-examines storyteller, in contrast to the more
the man appeared rather guilty. Dodd en route, confirming the artful Watson. Somewhat facetiously
Dodd waited until nightfall before dreadful whiteness of Godfrey’s he states that he has already shown
sneaking back to the cottage. face—a fact that is seemingly of his hand. Watson, he observes,
Peering through a crack in the great significance to Holmes. When would have concealed such
shutter, he saw the same man and they arrive at the house, Holmes significant details in the interests
a second figure, who he was sure immediately observes a second of creating a “meretricious finale.”
was Godfrey. At that moment, a revealing detail: Ralph, the butler,
furious Colonel Emsworth appeared The colonel is furious at their
and promptly threw him out of the arrival, but when Holmes hands him
house for “spying.” This aggressive, a piece of paper on which he has
threatening man, Dodd felt, was the written one word, which we later
source of all the lies and hostility he discover is “leprosy,” he immediately
had encountered. relents. “How do you know?” he
gasps, astonished. “It is my business
The truth is revealed to know things,” Holmes replies.
Holmes is confident he will have
little difficulty in solving this Resignedly, the colonel takes his
“elementary” case, and a few days visitors to the cottage, where they
meet Godfrey, whose handsome
face has been marred by a number

To decipher Least likely Possible Most likely
the most likely
explanation for
why Godfrey
is in hiding,
Holmes uses his
trademark method
of “abductive
reasoning” (see
p.307). He uses
the known facts
to discount what
is improbable and
predict the most
likely outcome.

Crime? Insanity? Disease?
No reported crimes in Lunatics could be kept at Would cause disfigurement
the area, so unlikely. home, so again unlikely.
Theory dismissed. and require segregation.
Theory dismissed. Strong hypothesis.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLANCHED SOLDIER 277

of white patches. He tells how, But why keep it secret? After all, Leprosy
after he was shot in South Africa, at the time a lunatic could legally
he unknowingly sought refuge in be kept at home under supervision. An infectious disease, leprosy
a leper hospital. Back home, the Once again, Holmes found he “could starts by damaging small
marks appeared on his face and he not get the theory to fit the facts.” nerves in the skin’s surface,
concluded he had contracted the leaving discolored patches.
dreadful disease. Surely, Godfrey The third—and the strongest— It can lead to disfigurement
had reasoned, it would be better possibility was that Godfrey had (pictured), severe disability,
to live a life in quarantine with his contracted some kind of disease and blindness if left untreated.
family, two trusted servants, and while in South Africa. At the time, Leprosy has afflicted humans
a personal physician (Kent, the leprosy was rife and so a likely for millennia and was greatly
man Dodd had seen previously candidate, and the associated feared and misunderstood: its
with his friend) rather than endure stigma of leprosy fitted the premise victims were wrongly believed
segregation? Holmes then reveals of a man in hiding. Here, secrecy to be “unclean” and highly
that his mystery companion is the would be paramount—to ensure contagious, and systematically
eminent dermatologist Sir James there would be no interference shunned as outcasts.
Saunders, and suggests that Godfrey from the authorities. Not only
get a second opinion from him. was bleached skin symptomatic In the 19th century, leprosy
of leprosy, but Holmes’s observation was endemic in parts of the
A process of elimination that the butler’s gloves were British Empire, and there was
In the meantime, Holmes explains impregnated with disinfectant concern that colonialists and
to all present that he solved the confirmed his suspicions. soldiers would contract the
case simply by using his trademark disease. Mycobacterium
logical analysis. He identified three At this point, Sir Saunders, leprae, the bacteria that causes
possible explanations for Godfrey’s the dermatologist, returns with the leprosy, was identified in 1873
incarceration in an outbuilding on welcome news that Godfrey does in Norway, but the disease
his father’s estate. The first was not have leprosy, but is suffering remained untreatable until
that he was a criminal in hiding. from “pseudo-leprosy,” or ichthyosis, the mid-20th century. In South
He dismissed this because there a curable skin infection. Godfrey’s Africa, the Leprosy Repression
had been no reports of unsolved mother faints from the shock; with Act of 1892 established
crimes in the area, and it would be luck, her son will be able to live a quarantine sites like the
more logical to send a delinquent normal life, rather than being one Godfrey slept in. Today,
abroad. The second, albeit unlikely, concealed from society. the incidence of leprosy has
possibility was that Godfrey was decreased by 90 percent. It is
insane, and being kept under lock A positive outcome now curable with multidrug
and key by a medical supervisor. This story cleverly misleads the therapy, but it still occurs in
reader at every turn. Dodd’s poorer parts of the world,
He was deadly pale— honest, soldierly account portrays particularly South Asia
never have I seen a sinister place presided over by (especially India) and Brazil.
a man so white. the fearsome colonel. Holmes’s
James M Dodd revelations, however, neatly turn
the tables, and we are presented
with a loving father protecting his
son from the stigma of a deadly
disease he had caught while
fighting for his country.

Some critics have suggested
that leprosy is used metaphorically
in “The Adventure of the Blanched
Soldier,” and that by letting Godfrey
escape such a terrible fate, Conan
Doyle was in fact defending Britain’s
colonial activities in South Africa. ■

278 IN CONTEXT

I AM AN OMNIVOROUS TYPE
READER WITH A Short story
STRANGELY RETENTIVE
MEMORY FOR TRIFLES FIRST PUBLICATION
US: November 1926
THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION’S MANE (1926) UK: December 1926

COLLECTION
The Case Book of
Sherlock Holmes, 1927

CHARACTERS
Harold Stackhurst
Headmaster of The Gables
college, and friend of Holmes.

Fitzroy McPherson
Science master at The Gables.

Ian Murdoch
Mathematics master at The
Gables.

Maud Bellamy
Young local beauty.

Tom and William Bellamy
Maud’s father and brother.

Inspector Bardle
Sussex policeman.

T his is one of Holmes’s final
cases, and one of only two
in the canon to be narrated
by Holmes rather than Watson; the
other being “The Adventure of
the Blanched Soldier” (pp.274–77).
It is also the only story to feature
an elderly Holmes living out his
Sussex retirement.

Conan Doyle wrote this story
hurriedly, almost as if he were
anxious to be done with the
character who had been such an
important, and lucrative, part of
his life for nearly 40 years. However,
the author was pleased with the
end result, and it was one of his
favorite of all the Holmes stories.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION’S MANE 279

The retired detective At 221B Baker Street, Holmes In his retirement on the Sussex
In his introduction, Holmes informs is busy and active: fueled by the coast, Holmes’s lifestyle is different:
the reader that he has retired. The London crime scene, he craves the here he indulges in solitary walks,
man who was so much a part of the most complex of mysteries, and keeps bees, and rejoices in the
bustling metropolis of London has finds solace in the crowded city. countryside he once dreaded.
moved away to lead a quiet life on
the Sussex coast, keeping bees and has a continual witness to the A mysterious death
going for walks. He tells the reader, amazing feats of deduction that This adventure begins in July 1907.
“I had given myself up entirely Holmes pulls off. As Watson is The wind has finally abated after
to that soothing life of Nature astounded, so too is the reader, a severe gale and it is a beautiful
for which I had so often yearned creating a sense of both excitement summer morning. As Holmes takes
during the long years spent amid and anticipation regarding what a morning stroll along the cliff, he
the gloom of London.” This does the detective will do next. However, meets his friend Harold Stackhurst,
not sound like the tireless sleuth because Holmes regards many of headmaster of the local Gables
we have come to know in the his deductions as commonplace college. Despite being a loner by
previous stories. It is perhaps also and self-evident, when we see the nature, Holmes perhaps misses his
surprising to learn that Holmes is sleuthing process from his point comfortable friendship with Watson,
now finding comfort in the quiet, of view, his discoveries no longer and has found another companion.
because in earlier tales, such as seem quite so marvelous or even Holmes tells us that Stackhurst is
“The Adventure of the Copper surprising. Holmes acknowledges the only man who “was on such
Beeches” (pp.98–101), he expresses this, saying in his introduction that terms with me that we could drop
a distinct horror of the countryside, while Watson would make much in on each other in the evenings
fearing the isolation and the feeling of “so wonderful a happening” he, without an invitation,” evoking
that all kinds of criminal activities Holmes, has to tell the tale in his memories of Watson turning up
can take place without anyone “own plain way.” The reader may unannounced at 221B.
finding out. also find Holmes’s narration less
charming than that of the often Shortly after their meeting, the
The missing link baffled Watson. pair spot a young man they know.
Watson seems to have slipped out Wearing only trousers, a coat, ❯❯
of Holmes’s life: “an occasional
week-end visit was the most that
I ever saw of him.” His presence is
sorely missed, and this tale serves
to illustrate the important role
Watson plays in the other stories.
With Watson as narrator, the reader

At this period of my life the
good Watson had passed
almost beyond my ken.

Sherlock Holmes

280 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

Holmes looks into the lagoon,
puzzling over McPherson’s death.
This illustration was included in
the first publication of “The Lion’s
Mane” in The Strand Magazine.

sinister, aloof, strange character,
and tells the reader that Murdoch
had once thrown McPherson’s dog
through a plate glass window in a
fit of temper. Murdoch is clearly
a violent man—possibly with a
grudge against McPherson. The
reader’s interest is piqued.

and some unlaced canvas shoes, notes that “The instrument with Holmes investigates
he staggers up the path and falls which this punishment had been Murdoch is dispatched to summon
down in agony nearby. Holmes and inflicted was clearly flexible,” as the police from nearby Fulworth
Stackhurst rush to help him, but it the markings are curved around the while Holmes begins his
is too late. The young man dies, young man’s shoulders and ribs. investigation. He sees signs that
uttering the words “the Lion’s McPherson had fallen over several
Mane” with his last breath. The dead man is Fitzroy times as he ascended the cliff path.
McPherson, the science master Down on the shore, Holmes sees
As the coat falls from the dead at The Gables college. As Holmes some naked footprints that suggest
man’s bare shoulders, Holmes and and Stackhurst stand over the McPherson had gone into the
Stackhurst see that his back is body, another familiar figure, Ian lagoon in which he was planning to
covered in long, bleeding lines “as Murdoch, the mathematics master swim. However, his towel is folded
though he had been terribly flogged from the same establishment, and dry, so the detective concludes
by a thin wire scourge.” Holmes arrives. Holmes describes him as a that he could not have gone into the
water. There is no one to be seen
nearby and no other clues.

Holmes returns to the body to
find the police have arrived. They
discover a note in McPherson’s
pockets indicating an assignation:
“I will be there, you may be sure—
Maudie.” When the police search
McPherson’s rooms, they find letters
revealing a secret affair with local
Fulworth beauty Maud Bellamy.
It seems unlikely the two would
arrange to meet in such a public
place as the lagoon if they were
trying to keep their affair secret.
It then emerges that some Gables
students would have gone to swim
with McPherson had Murdoch not
held them back in class. Holmes
pointedly asks if it were “mere
chance” that McPherson was alone,
throwing the reader’s suspicion on

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION’S MANE 281

In all my chronicles the the soft freshness of the downlands John George Wood, the author of Out
reader will find no case which in her delicate colouring.” He learns of Doors, wrote several books. He was
that she and McPherson were a parson-naturalist: a clergyman who
brought me so completely engaged, but that they kept it a viewed the study of natural science
to the limit of my powers. secret from both of their families as part of his religious vocation.
to avoid upset. As we learn later,
Even my imagination Murdoch has just told her that her flash, I remembered the thing I
could conceive no fiancé is dead, and she is eager to had so eagerly and vainly grasped.”
offer Holmes any help that she can He reminds the reader how his
solution to the mystery. with the investigation, but can offer brain is like a “crowded box-room”
Sherlock Holmes no real clues. It seems, however, packed full of data, or “out-of-the-
that Murdoch was, and perhaps way knowledge,” that might
Murdoch. Holmes and Stackhurst still is, in love with her. Suspicions one day come in useful. This idea
walk into Fulworth to talk to Maud are settling on the mathematics of the “box-room” (or “brain attic”
Bellamy, but as they approach her master, who, as Holmes notes, has as Holmes also describes it) dates
house, they see Murdoch emerging. taken the earliest opportunity to back to the very first Holmes book
When he rudely refuses to divulge get away by provoking Stackhurst (A Study in Scarlet, pp.36–45), and
what he is doing there, Stackhurst into firing him. He demands that is a key image Conan Doyle uses to
fires him from the school. Murdoch’s rooms are searched. describe Holmes’s way of thinking,
which various psychologists have
Maud’s secret Holmes’s epiphany embraced. Russian-American
Holmes’s admiring description Holmes goes home to ponder the psychologist Maria Konnikova, for
of Maud is more what we would mystery, and news then comes that instance, has adopted the “brain
expect of Watson than the famously McPherson’s faithful Airedale attic” metaphor as a useful way of
indifferent detective, as he notes terrier has been found dead at the understanding how humans store
“her perfect clear-cut face, with all lagoon where his master died, its information, organize knowledge,
little body contorted in agony. and use it to devise strategies for
Ian Murdoch Holmes is at a loss what to think. clearer thinking and “mindfulness.”
There is something nagging at the
The mathematics master, Ian back of his mind, however. He goes In this particular case, however,
Murdoch, is set up as the villain for a walk to the lagoon to clear his the reference to the “brain attic”
of the story. He is described as head, and on his return suddenly merely serves to remind Holmes ❯❯
having “strange outlandish remembers what it was: “Like a
blood”, as well as swarthy
features, coal-black eyes, and a As a rival for Maud’s attention,
ferocious temper. In the Holmes Murdoch is a natural suspect.
tales, Conan Doyle often used However, Maud states clearly
the popular Victorian idea that a that he stepped aside as soon
criminal type can be revealed in as he found out that she had
physical appearance (see p.188). chosen McPherson. And
Here, however, he is using this Stackhurst insists that Murdoch
stereotype to mislead the reader and McPherson had put the
into thinking Murdoch must be incident of the dog behind them
the murderer. and were now firm friends. Yet
Holmes ignores these witness
statements and continues to
suspect Murdoch. It is strange
that Holmes, who is generally
so logical and rational, should
be led astray by prejudice at
this late stage in his career.

282 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

The sting in the tale

Holmes’s source for this story that the severe southwest gale
(Out of Doors) was correct. A giant could have carried it beyond its
jellyfish called the lion’s mane— normal range.
the world’s largest—really does
exist. The biggest specimens have The lion’s mane’s tentacles
a bell up to 10 ft (3 m) wide, with have thousands of stinging
tentacles that can extend 100 ft cells. These contain poisonous
(30 m) or more. The lion’s mane threads that unfold and launch
is found primarily in the North themselves like harpoons into a
Atlantic, and grows especially victim’s body. They leave large
big in cold Arctic waters. Small red welts or ridged zigzag lines
specimens are often seen on the in the skin, along the path of the
south coast of England, but giant jellyfish’s lashing tentacles, just
ones may appear occasionally, as as Holmes describes. These
explained in the story by the fact stings can cause intense pain
or, in very rare cases, death.

to look in his real attic, in which has an alibi, and that the evidence McPherson. After knocking back
he finds a little “chocolate and silver” against him is flimsy. The great several large doses of brandy, he
book, entitled Out of Doors. Written detective also tells him that he finally falls into an unconscious
in 1874, this was in fact a genuine has examined a photograph of stupor. Stackhurst, who had met
publication by a popular Victorian McPherson’s wounds, and teases Murdoch on the cliff and followed
natural history writer at the time, the inspector—and the reader— him in to Holmes’s house, pleads
John George Wood (1827–1889). with possible explanations for their with Holmes to save them from
strange nature. Then, just as he is this apparent curse.
Delayed revelation about to explain the truth of the
Having verified his suspicions by matter to him, Murdoch bursts in Finally, Holmes relents. “We
consulting his book, Holmes has, and delays the revelation further. will see if we cannot deliver this
to all intents and purposes, solved murderer into your hands,” he
the mystery of McPherson’s death. Murdoch is in a bad way. He announces, leading the inspector
But Conan Doyle sustains the is in terrible agony, branded with and Stackhurst down to the lagoon
story a little longer, tantalizing the the same weals on his shoulder as on the shore. As Holmes scans the
reader by introducing a sequence pool below, he yells triumphantly,
of obstacles that prevent Holmes The sufferer’s breathing “Cyanea! Behold the Lion’s Mane!”
from revealing his great solution. would stop for a time, his and in the water all three men spot
face would turn black, and the tentacles and globular body of
First comes Inspector Bardle, then with loud gasps he a giant jellyfish. Holmes spies a
who Holmes describes as “a steady, large boulder above the pool and,
solid, bovine man,” to suggest that would clap his hand to at his call to “end the murderer
he is trustworthy but not especially his heart, while his brow forever,” between the three of them
intelligent. He asks for Holmes’s dropped beads of sweat. they roll the boulder into the pool
opinion as to whether he should to kill the jellyfish.
arrest Murdoch before the suspect Sherlock Holmes
leaves town. The fact that Murdoch A natural killer
is hot-tempered, has argued with It seems there was no murder at
McPherson in the past, is in love all and that McPherson, his dog,
with Maud, and is preparing to and Murdoch were all victims
leave Fulworth—combined with a of a natural hazard—the sting
lack of any other likely suspect—all of the jellyfish Cyanea capillata,
indicate guilt to the inspector. But commonly known as the lion’s
Holmes points out that Murdoch mane. As Holmes shows his

THE ADVENTURE OF THE LION’S MANE 283

I often ventured to chaff you inspector cries. But as Holmes note that Holmes must have failed
gentlemen of the police force, modestly admits, “I was slow at to spot that when McPherson died
the outset—culpably slow,” and his hair was surely still wet, and
but Cyanea capillata very certainly this is a tale that has not that his clothes would certainly
nearly avenged Scotland Yard. shown him at his most perceptive. have been damp had he thrown
them on without drying himself
Sherlock Holmes Holmes assumed from the start first. Also, when Holmes inspected
that McPherson’s death was murder the crime scene he somehow
friends in his book Out of Doors and that there was a human killer, missed the huge jellyfish. But in
when they get home, McPherson possessing a flaying instrument, to spite of these slips, it is ultimately
is not the first to encounter this track down. At first he suspected only Holmes who solves the puzzle.
dangerous giant jellyfish: author Murdoch of being the murderer, but
John George Woods explains how this was based largely on the man’s Without Watson as Holmes’s foil,
he had once had a close encounter appearance and character rather Conan Doyle may have forfeited a
with a lion’s mane and was lucky than fact—the type of red herring little of the detective’s brilliance to
to escape with his life. His book that Watson might have fallen for. the plot. But any fears the reader
warns swimmers who see a tawny- may have that Holmes’s powers are
colored membranous mass that Holmes was misled, he says, by waning with age and retirement
resembles a lion’s mane, “Let him McPherson’s dry towel: it made him can be allayed: his dramatic
beware, for this is the fearful think that the dead man had never undercover work in “His Last Bow”
stinger, Cyanea capillata.” been in the lagoon, and claims that (pp.246–47), set seven years after
had he found him in the water the “The Lion’s Mane,” shows Holmes
The stings of these jellyfish are true cause would have been clear. at the height of his powers. ■
extremely painful, but rarely fatal. However, the observant reader will
However, Conan Doyle is careful to
stress that McPherson had a weak
heart, and so it is entirely plausible
that the stings could kill him, while
Murdoch survives the attack.

Holmes on the wane?
In this story, Conan Doyle has
employed a fascinating, real-life
killer, and Inspector Bardle is full
of admiration for the way Holmes
has gotten to the bottom of the
case. “I had read of you, but I never
believed it. It’s wonderful!” the

Holmes’s Sussex home, like these
coast guard’s cottages, looks across the
channel, taking in a view of the chalk
cliffs. One of Holmes’s pleasures is
walking the cliff path to the beach.

284

WE REACH. WE GRASP.
AND WHAT IS LEFT IN
OUR HANDS AT THE END?
A SHADOW

THE ADVENTURE OF THE
RETIRED COLOURMAN (1927)

IN CONTEXT Intricate web of involvement

TYPE Mr. Barker
Short story
Investigates
FIRST PUBLICATION
US: December 1926 Amberley Approaches Investigates
UK: January 1927 Client Police

COLLECTION Investigates
The Case Book of Approaches
Sherlock Holmes, 1927
Holmes Amberley
CHARACTERS is arrested
Josiah Amberley Retired
colorman (manufacturer A fter a recent first encounter and now the pair have gone missing
of art materials). with a new client, referred with his life savings. Watson is
to him by Scotland Yard, enlisted as Holmes’s proxy and sent
Mrs. Amberley Josiah Holmes is in a melancholy mood. to Amberley’s Lewisham home to
Amberley’s young wife. The client, Josiah Amberley, is the investigate. This is an unusual,
“retired colourman” of the story’s though not unique, procedure for
Dr. Ray Ernest Chess- title, a former manufacturer of art Holmes, who tends to distrust and
playing companion of Josiah. materials and now a pathetic, broken double-check Watson’s investigative
creature, aged beyond his years, his work, as in The Hound of the
Mr. Barker face lined, his posture stooped, and Baskervilles (pp.152–61). The report
Private investigator and his appearance unkempt. Watson writes shows him at his
Holmes’s professional rival. most creative, giving Holmes ample
Amberley claims that his young opportunity to call out his tendency
Mr. JC Elman Vicar wife has been having an affair with to embroider and embellish the facts.
of Little Purlington. his chess partner, Dr. Ray Ernest,

Inspector MacKinnon
Smart young police officer.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMAN 285

Holmes takes charge Burglary has always been Motives and madness
Crucially, Watson observes that an alternative profession Holmes observes that Amberley’s
Amberley is painting a door and had I cared to adopt it… mind was deranged by jealousy, and
passageway in his house with it is probably no coincidence that
a strong-smelling green paint. Sherlock Holmes Amberley used green paint (the
Watson also notices a tall, dark, color associated with jealousy)
mustached man who follows him two join forces, handing over the to mask the smell of gas emanating
when he leaves Amberley’s house. murderer to Inspector MacKinnon from the murder chamber. Holmes
This is enough to engage Holmes’s of Scotland Yard. Holmes instructs sees the extreme cruelty of the
suspicions. Holmes despatches the inspector to look for conclusive murder as a sure sign of madness,
Watson and Amberley on a wild- evidence of the murder around the and suggests that Amberley is more
goose chase to Essex using a false house, including in a disused well, likely to end up in the Broadmoor
telegram purporting to come from and the bodies are duly discovered. asylum than on the gallows.
a vicar named Elman. With them The inspector shows his genuine
out of the way, he establishes that respect for Holmes when he states, This story is lighter and more
Amberley’s alibi for the night of his with admirable understatement, playful in tone than the melancholy
wife’s disappearance (a theater trip) that “it’s as workmanlike a job as of the opening would have the reader
is false. Holmes then breaks into I can remember.” believe. Assigning Watson an
Amberley’s house and discovers, investigative role inevitably leads
behind the freshly painted door, a Amberley’s approach to the to some witty banter between the
sealed chamber with a telltale gas authorities, and latterly Holmes, was two friends, as they contrast their
inlet pipe—a perfect murder room. “Pure swank”—the murderer had abilities. Holmes is depicted at
Amberley lured his wife and her complete confidence that he would his enterprising best as a hyper-
suspected lover into the chamber not be outwitted by either the observant cat burglar, and the
and trapped them there, flooding police or the renowned detective. police are, as usual, left flat-footed.
the room with poisonous gas. Although Holmes has solved the
crime, he does not seek public
Joining forces recognition, and seemingly enjoys
The mysterious dark man spotted reading accounts of the case that
by Watson turns out to be Holmes’s credit the police with solving the
rival, the private investigator Mr. mystery. However, he still suggests,
Barker, who has been hired by in his wry way, that Watson make a
Dr. Ernest’s family. Unusually, the record of the events, saying, “Some
day the true story may be told.” ■

Broadmoor built institution for such cases.
It was self-sufficient, with its
As Holmes suggests, Amberley own farmland and workshops
may plead “not guilty by reason operated by inmates. Men and
of insanity” and be sentenced to women were segregated and
a life of incarceration rather than underwent a routine of work,
hanging. During the 19th century, exercise, and rest. The hospital
there was a growing awareness was managed by a medical
that mentally ill criminals required superintendent and two doctors,
different treatment from common and assisted by a staff of 100
felons, and the Criminal Lunatics non-medical attendants.
Act of 1800 allowed them to be
detained indefinitely. Today, Broadmoor still has
“special hospital” status, but no
The Broadmoor Criminal longer treats women. Men who
Lunatic Asylum, in Crowthorne, are a high risk to themselves,
Berkshire, opened its doors in or to others, are treated at this
1863 and was the first custom- high-security facility.

286

PATIENT SUFFERING
IS IN ITSELF THE
MOST PRECIOUS OF
ALL LESSONS

THE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGER (1927)

IN CONTEXT U nusually for a Holmes Eugenia Ronder, who wears a
story, this tragic tale of permanent veil to hide her facial
TYPE love and revenge hinges deformities. She seems to be
Short story almost entirely on a confession “wasting away” and has been
rather than any detection. Holmes crying out “Murder!” in her sleep.
FIRST PUBLICATION is not the analytical and deductive The landlady has suggested that if
US: January 1927 genius in this case, but a priestlike Eugenia has any secrets to divulge,
UK: February 1927 listener, whose role is simply to she should see a member of the
provide compassion and absolution clergy, the police, or Sherlock
COLLECTION to a spiritually tormented woman. Holmes—and Eugenia chooses
The Case Book of to meet with the latter.
Sherlock Holmes, 1927 A woman with a past
In late 1896, Holmes is approached Holmes tells Watson he
CHARACTERS by a landlady, Mrs. Merrilow, who is remembers reading about the
Eugenia Ronder Former worried about one of her tenants— case of Eugenia. She had worked
circus performer. a peculiarly reclusive woman named for the circus, and married the
lion tamer and proprietor of a
Mr. Ronder Eugenia’s late
husband, a circus showman. The traveling circus

Leonardo Circus strong The first circus in England was American Barnum and Bailey
man and Eugenia’s late lover. started in 1768 by an ex-cavalry Circus, which toured Europe
officer named Philip Astley, and from 1897 to 1902, thrilled its
Mrs. Merrilow Eugenia’s was entirely focused on displays audiences with trick riding,
landlady, who approaches of horsemanship. Increasingly, juggling, and trapeze acts, as
Holmes on her behalf. bands of roving performers well as human freak shows.
roamed from town to town. Another highlight was the
Gradually, tightrope walking, performing elephants, lions,
acrobatics, and clowning were and other exotic creatures (by
introduced, and many circuses then there was an international
advertised their arrival with an trade in wild animals tamed
impressive parade. for circuses). Animals toured
with British circuses until
By the late 19th century, the fairly recently, but today a legal
circus had become a truly great ban on their use is impending.
and magnificent spectacle. The

THE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGER 287

resemble a lion’s claw. One night, No words can describe the
as Ronder went out to feed the lion, framework of a face when
Leonardo felled his rival with a
lacerating blow to the head. the face itself is gone.
Dr. Watson
In accordance with their plan,
Eugenia freed the lion from its cage,
hoping it would be blamed for her
husband’s death. But the beast
leapt at her, sinking its teeth into
her face, and Leonardo ran away in
terror. After Eugenia was rescued,
she kept quiet about Leonardo’s
role in Ronder’s death; despite
his desertion, she still loved him.

A fearless lion-tamer performing A life saved a symbolic one: lies being cast
at L’Hippodrome in Paris in 1891. Eugenia had lost her beauty, her aside to reveal the truth. Ronder
Theatrical and daring performances lover, and her livelihood, and trapped his wife in a cage of his
involving wild animals were typically chose to disappear into obscurity. own devising, for his own pleasure;
among the most popular circus acts. Recently, however, having learned and when the lion destroyed her
of Leonardo’s death, she had felt life, Eugenia crawled like a wounded
traveling “wild beast” show. One an urge to confess. Her testimony animal into her own cage—the
night, seven years previously, the elicits great sympathy from Holmes. sequestered lodging house.
lion had escaped and attacked Astutely sensing that Eugenia is In freeing the lion, Eugenia also
Eugenia, mutilating her face and contemplating suicide, which was liberated her murderous hatred
mauling her husband to death, illegal at the time, he admonishes of her husband, but with terrible,
crushing his head with its claws. her: “Your life is not your own… lifelong consequences.
However, the police investigation Keep your hands off it.” Two days
left many questions unanswered, later, Eugenia sends Holmes a At its heart, this story is about
and Holmes says that he found bottle containing a deadly poison; Eugenia’s entrapment in an abusive
the eventual verdict of “death from the accompanying note indicates marriage. The plight of women who
misadventure” unsatisfactory. that she has chosen to live. were utterly powerless to change
their fates was a theme common
The secret unveiled The story describes both a to many Holmes stories, including
Holmes and Watson arrive at literal act of unveiling—Eugenia “The Adventure of the Abbey
Eugenia’s lodgings, where she revealing her face to Holmes—and Grange” (pp.198–201). ■
reveals her long-held secret. Her
husband had been a violent drunk Triangle of abuse and betrayal
who inflicted physical and emotional
humiliation on her, and was cruel Mr. Ronder Kills Leonardo
toward both human and animal Husband Employs Wife’s lover
members of his troupe.
Betrays Loves
Leonardo, the show’s strong Abuses Betrays
man, was Ronder’s polar opposite—
attractive and confident. Eugenia fell Eugenia Ronder
in love with Leonardo, and soon Wife
they were plotting to rid themselves
of her keeper. The smitten strong
man created an ingenious weapon,
a cudgel with five nails spaced to

288

IT IS ONLY THE
COLOURLESS
UNEVENTFUL CASE
WHICH IS HOPELESS

THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE
OLD PLACE (1927)

IN CONTEXT T he very last of the 56 matter, and other particles such
Sherlock Holmes short as glue, Holmes’s technique
TYPE stories, “The Adventure emphasized the minute study of
Short story of Shoscombe Old Place” was a crime scene to yield tiny clues.
published three years before Conan This method is now the centerpiece
FIRST PUBLICATION Doyle died at the age of 71, and so of modern forensic investigation.
US: March 1927 it is a farewell to Holmes. The
UK: April 1927 story begins by showing the great It is no coincidence that the
detective very much looking to the great real-life visionary of forensic
COLLECTION future as he exhibits his masterful science, Dr. Edmond Locard (1877–
The Case Book of Sherlock grasp of forensic science. As the 1966), came to be known as the
Holmes, 1927 case unfolds, however, Holmes “Sherlock Holmes of France.”
needs his powers of deduction Locard’s cardinal rule was that
CHARACTERS far more than forensic science— “every contact leaves a trace.”
Sir Robert Norberton essentially because there is no Known as “Locard’s exchange
Volatile master of Shoscombe crime scene to speak of. The thrill principle,” this simple statement—
Old Place. of the tale hinges on the potential
for a really nasty crime to have
Lady Beatrice Falder been committed.
Sir Robert’s invalid sister.
Master of forensics Dr. Edmond Locard (1877–1966) was
John Mason Sir Robert’s As the story opens, Holmes, with a pioneering French scientist who
head trainer. the aid of a microscope, identifies established the first police laboratory
minute blobs of glue on a cap found in 1910, although its work was not
Mrs. Norlett Lady Beatrice’s beside a murdered policeman at St. officially recognized until 1912.
maid. Pancras station, a clue that strongly
implicates a picture-frame maker
Mr. Norlett Mrs. Norlett’s who has denied the cap is his.
husband, an actor.
Holmes was at the forefront of
Stephens Sir Robert’s butler. his profession in using forensic
science this way. A pioneer in the
Josiah Barnes Landlord use of trace evidence such as shoe
of the Green Dragon inn. prints, minute marks and scratches,
and traces of blood, mud, organic
Sandy Bain Jockey.

THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE 289

The Derby Day (1856–1858) by William Mason is concerned about other Dragon inn, where the landlord,
Powell Frith depicts a scene Sir Robert recent events, however. Why have Josiah Barnes, warns them about
would have been familiar with. The Sir Robert and his reclusive and Sir Robert. “He’s the sort who
work was so popular that the Royal invalid sister—to whom he has strikes first and speaks afterwards,”
Academy added a rail to control crowds. always been devoted—suddenly he says. Undeterred, they offer
stopped meeting? Why has Sir to take the landlord’s spaniel, once
which might have been made by Robert given away her beloved pet owned by Lady Beatrice, for a walk,
Holmes himself—argues that every spaniel to the landlord of a local and head straight for Shoscombe
criminal brings something to a inn, the Green Dragon? Why does Old Place, timing their arrival to
crime scene, and takes something Sir Robert meet a mysterious coincide with her daily coach
away—however miniscule. person in the haunted family crypt excursion. As the coach slows down
under the old ruined chapel late at by the gate of the estate, Holmes
The facts of the case night? Where did the mummy’s releases the dog. It dashes toward
Shortly after Holmes correctly head and bones that Mason and Sir the coach enthusiastically, then
identifies the blobs of glue, he Robert’s butler, Stephens, found in suddenly starts barking furiously ❯❯
receives a visit from John Mason, the crypt come from? And finally,
the head trainer at Shoscombe Old why was there a charred fragment These are deep waters,
Place, a grand country estate in of human leg bone among the Mr. Mason; deep
Berkshire. Mason is worried about ashes from the central-heating and rather dirty.
the behavior of his master, the furnace in the cellar under Lady
rakish Sir Robert Norberton. A Beatrice’s room? Sherlock Holmes
notorious spendthrift, Sir Robert
is in a deep financial hole. To clear Fishing for clues
his debts, he is relying on his prize With that last grim question,
racehorse, Shoscombe Prince, to Holmes is hooked. Have Sir
win the prestigious upcoming Robert and an as yet unidentified
Epsom Derby at falsely long odds accomplice murdered Lady Beatrice
(he has cleverly misled watching and burned her body? Pretending to
touts with the horse’s much slower be vacationing fishermen, Holmes
half-brother on morning gallops). and Watson check in to the Green

290 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

Sir Robert is a man as he discovers a recently opened It was my duty to bring
of an honourable stock. coffin, the pair hear footsteps, and the facts to light, and
But you do occasionally “a terrible figure, huge in stature there I must leave it.
find a carrion crow among and fierce in manner” appears from As to the morality or
the eagles... He could not the shadows. It is Sir Robert, and decency of your conduct,
fly the country until he he demands to know who they are
had realized his fortune and what they are doing there. it is not for me to
express an opinion.
Sherlock Holmes In a wonderfully Gothic moment, Sherlock Holmes
Holmes flings open the coffin, and
at its occupants—supposedly Lady Sir Robert reels back and cries Shoscombe estate, including the
Beatrice and her maid, Mrs. Norlett. out. The body of Lady Beatrice racehorse, was actually hers, and
But from behind “Lady Beatrice’s” is revealed, “swathed in a sheet would therefore revert to her late
shawls, Watson and Holmes hear a from head to foot, with dreadful, husband’s brother when her death
harsh man’s voice shouting, “Drive witch-like features, all nose and was known. In desperation, Sir
on! Drive on!” As Holmes observes, chin, projecting at one end, the Robert had decided to conceal her
“We have added one card to our dim glazed eyes staring from a death until the race had been run.
hand, Watson, but it needs careful discoloured and crumbling face.”
playing, all the same.” Sir Robert resolves to explain To make room for her body in
his actions, and invites Holmes the old coffin, he and his servant,
Later that evening, the pair visit and Watson to accompany him to Mr. Norlett, the maid’s husband,
the crypt. The bones Mason saw are the house for an explanation so first had to remove the mummified
gone; Holmes speculates they have that they can judge the matter body of an ancestor, and burn
been burned in the furnace, along for themselves. it in the furnace. “There was
with the rest of the skeleton. Just no indignity or irreverence,” he
The truth comes out claims. He then explains that
The role of the coroner He tells them that, about a week Norlett—“a small, rat-faced man
earlier, Lady Beatrice had died of with a disagreeably furtive face,”
The coroner’s role in dropsy. As a result, he faced losing and once an actor—agreed to
investigating the cause of the house, the stables, and all the impersonate Lady Beatrice. They
sudden deaths was established horses—including Shoscombe gave away her spaniel because it
as long ago as 1194, by the Prince—just weeks before the kept yapping at the old well-house
Normans—not out of concern hoped-for Derby win that would pay where they initially hid her body.
for justice, but instead to ensure off all his debts, because the entire
the right taxes were paid. A fine When Holmes calls his conduct
called “Murdrum” (from which made reporting every birth and “inexcusable,” Sir Robert retorts,
the word “murder” comes) was death a legal requirement. There “It is easy to preach. Perhaps you
imposed on any village where were growing concerns, though, would have felt differently if you
a dead body was found, on that it was too easy to get away had been in my position.” Holmes—
the assumption the victim was with murder, especially by a man who on previous occasions
Norman and the killers Anglo- poison, and that inquests were has let killers walk free when he
Saxon. In 1836, the first Births far too costly a way to look into felt their actions were justified—
and Deaths Registration Act suspicious deaths. So in 1887 a is clearly not persuaded, and
new Coroners Act made it declares it a matter for the police.
the coroner’s role to discover the
medical causes of any sudden,
violent, or unnatural death. Lady
Beatrice’s sudden death could
therefore well have come within
the new coroner’s remit.

THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE 291

As Holmes discovers, the reality He lives with his
of Sir Robert’s life at Shoscombe Old elderly, invalid sister,
Place is very different from how it Lady Beatrice Falder, to
first appears. The master of a large
estate and owner of a prize-winning whom he is devoted.
racehorse, he is, in fact, in grave
danger of losing everything. The facade

Sir Robert His racehorse,
Norberton resides in Shoscombe Prince, is due
to win his master £80,000
a grand country
estate in Berkshire. in bets in the Derby.

Sir Robert is deep in Sir Robert buries
debt and threatened his sister’s body in the
vacated coffin, swathed
by bankruptcy.
in a sheet.

The reality

Lady Beatrice is To hide her body,
dead and Sir Robert Sir Robert removes
must conceal her death
until after the Derby. and burns the
mummified remains

of an ancestor.

In Watson’s words, the Shoscombe A career ends a foolish and highly distasteful
Old Place case ends “upon a Watson’s description of the events fraud perpetrated by a desperate,
happier note than Sir Robert’s in the crypt is unusually dramatic, slightly unpleasant landowner—
actions deserved.” Given that the reading like something from a horror a fraud that the man in question
crime turns out to be so minor, story. He describes the appalling also gets away with. It is something
the police take a lenient view and sight of Lady Beatrice’s corpse, of an anticlimactic end to Holmes’s
largely overlook it, simply rapping and the terrifying figure of the career, and perhaps this is just what
Sir Robert on the knuckles for giant Sir Robert, in such Gothic Conan Doyle intended. Watson
failing to register the death of detail that we are led to believe begins the story with the remark,
his sister immediately. Also, something appalling is going to “He is one of those men who have
remarkably, Sir Robert’s creditors happen. Instead, minutes later overshot their true generation,” and
agree to wait until after the race they are all sitting comfortably as refers at the finish of the tale to “a
to be paid. And finally, Sir Robert’s Sir Robert tells a mundane story career which has now outlived its
horse, Shoscombe Prince, wins the about a delay in reporting the death shadows and promises to end in an
Derby, netting his owner £80,000 of an old invalid. honoured old age.” In each instance
in bets, which allows Sir Robert he is talking about Sir Robert, but
to clear all of his debts and set In “Shoscombe Old Place,” the descriptions could equally well
himself up for life. Holmes uncovers not some terrible apply to Holmes himself. ■
murder or dark cruelty, but instead

THE WO
SHERLO
HOLMES

RLD OF
CK

294 THE WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

T he world of Sherlock trains ferried commuters below the the overcrowded eastern districts.
Holmes, like the character city’s streets, wealthier citizens In spite of this, Holmes’s cases
himself, is a unique blend still traveled around the center by feature characters mainly from the
of popular myth and reality. In this horse-drawn hansom cabs. Despite mid- to upper echelons of society,
final chapter, the detective and his the wealth of the empire, the city mirroring Conan Doyle’s audience.
era are explored from a range of was a place of crushing poverty, Conan Doyle drew on social
perspectives, setting the context in although this was never made tensions and prevalent racial,
which Conan Doyle lived, and also apparent in Conan Doyle’s canon. gender, and class stereotypes in
explaining the historical and social order to add fear, excitement, and
changes that influenced not only Difference and tradition zest to his tales. For all of Holmes’s
his life and those of his readers, but London’s population had increased “bohemian” sensibilities, Baker
also that of his most famous creation. from one to six million over the Street is painted as a white, male,
The enduring legacy of Holmes is course of the 19th century. This middle-class world that would
also explored, in all its varied forms. influx of people, ideas, wealth, and sometimes seem bigoted by today’s
cultures created a melting pot of standards. Foreigners are criminals,
Myth, reality, and reason complexity and social change and women are mainly victims or
The setting of late-Victorian (pp.300–05). The sheer scale of the innocent pawns in the stories.
London (pp.296–99) is central to city, the largest in the world at that
Holmes’s world, and is often thought time, generated fears of a lawless Crime and detection
of as a labyrinth of foggy backstreets underclass, mainly squashed into Holmes was, metaphorically, the
in the notorious East End. However, progeny of two men, having been
this popular image is an inaccurate [London] is the biggest inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s
one. Conan Doyle’s London had aggregation of human character C. Auguste Dupin, and
grand new buildings, fashionable life—the most complete Conan Doyle’s former professor
shopping areas, broad gaslit compendium of the world. Joseph Bell. Both of these forebears
thoroughfares, and affluent new excelled in the science of deductive
suburbs. It was also at the heart Henry James reasoning, or ratiocination, which
of a communications revolution, became the very heart of Holmes’s
with grand railroad termini, like Novelist (1843–1916) science of detection (pp.306–09).
Paddington and King’s Cross, The term’s history is explored,
a national telegraph system, from its roots in Greek philosophy,
and a thriving popular press. through to the Enlightenment
ideals of the 17th century, and
Holmes’s London was one on to the importance of Charles
of contrasts. While steaming Darwin’s theories in his On the
locomotives poured in and out of Origin of Species (1859).
the great stations, and underground

INTRODUCTION 295

Ratiocination was central to the writers such as Agatha Christie, There are also countless and varied
burgeoning science of crime P. D. James, and Ruth Rendell. Today, literary appropriations of Holmes
deduction (pp.310–15), which crime fiction (notably Scandinavian) (pp.340–43), from the early parodies,
Conan Doyle reflected in the canon, is as popular as ever, and many of through to the sustained creation
as the concepts of forensics and today’s authors have taken of the canon’s many “untold cases,”
criminology became established inspiration from Holmes’s legacy. along with complete reimaginings
terms. Holmes’s own contributions and the current trend for “fan fiction”.
to the realm of forensic science, Fame and legacy
with his monographs on tobacco An important aspect of Holmes Conan Doyle also wrote many
ash, typewriters, tattoos, and many is how popular the character and novels and stories beyond the
other subjects, can be seen as part his adventures were, and how Holmes canon (pp.344–45). Here,
of a wider, pioneering spirit in the quickly they captured the public’s his penchant for historical fiction,
development of crime fighting. imagination. Conan Doyle’s first religious and political commentary,
Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet and spiritualist speculation—the
The taste for crime (1887), may initially have gone “better things” that led him to
The success of Holmes compared unnoticed when first published, temporarily kill off his most famous
to Conan Doyle’s other characters but his short stories, serialized creation—is clearly demonstrated.
can partly be attributed to the by The Strand Magazine, created Yet Holmes still remains his most
changing society. The growth of the phenomenon that endures to enduring creation; a man who, in
cities and increasing class divisions this day, with fan clubs and societies the words of writer Vincent Starrett,
had led to a fear of crime and a around the world (pp.324–27). “Never lived and so can never die.” ■
hunger for justice, which the
popular press, including the “penny Just as Holmes inspired many Sherlock Holmes is a real
dreadfuls,” was more than happy literary interpretations, he was also character who is above reality;
to encourage. Just as the science an early star of stage and screen
of crime solving was growing at (pp.328–35). Many great actors a person living in a distinct
this time, so too was crime fiction have played the role of Sherlock place and at a distinct period.
(pp.316–23). The roots of the genre Holmes, including Eille Norwood, Richard Lancelyn Green
can be traced back to writers like Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, and
Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Author and Critic (1953–2004)
even Charles Dickens, as well as
to contemporaries of Conan Doyle, A selection of Holmes’s most
including G. K. Chesterton and E. W. important depictions is provided
Hornung. The 20th century saw the (pp.336–39)—from his early stage
rise of hard-boiled detective fiction, appearance in William Gillette’s
and the dominance of female crime 1899 play, Sherlock Holmes, to the
latest movie release, Mr. Holmes
(2015), starring Sir Ian McKellan.

296

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO
A RAMBLE THROUGH
LONDON?

THE VICTORIAN WORLD

F or many modern readers, Holmes in context and much of the interwar period,
the stories of Sherlock It is misleading to classify Holmes and witnessed a number of seismic
Holmes seem to provide and his creator as only “Victorians”: cultural, economic, political, and
a quintessential fictional depiction while many of the stories are set in technological developments, many
of Victorian Britain. The detective the 1880s and 1890s—toward the of which make an appearance in
dresses as a late 19th-century end of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837– the stories. As a result, Holmes and
English gentleman; he travels in 1901)—over half were written in the Watson’s “Victorian” world is very
horse-drawn hansom cabs through early 20th century, and are imbued different from the one portrayed
streets illuminated by gaslight; and with a more modern perspective. in other novels of the era, such as
his clients are often (but not always) Dickens’s classic tale A Christmas
moneyed members of the Victorian Conan Doyle was born in 1859 Carol, published almost 50 years
middle class, whose prosperity and and died in 1930, so 42 years of earlier in 1843. Holmes’s own
status had increased as a result of his life were spent as one of Queen Christmas outing, “The Adventure
industrialization and the expansion Victoria’s subjects, during a period of the Blue Carbuncle” (pp.82–3),
of Britain’s imperial power. However, of great innovation, expansion, and is set in a far more cosmopolitan
this is only half the story. rapid change. He also lived through London than that of Dickens’s day.
the Edwardian era, World War I,

The London Fog Conan Doyle’s descriptions of thousands of coal fires, and they
the notorious fogs that afflicted posed a health hazard for many
London during the 19th century Londoners. At their worst, they
are not as frequent or as florid caused a huge number of deaths;
as those of Charles Dickens or most of the victims were those
Robert Louis Stevenson, but when with respiratory problems, the
Watson remarks in “The Five very young, and the elderly.
Orange Pips” (pp.74–9) that “the However, a more commonplace
sun was shining with a subdued nuisance was the floating smuts
brightness through the dim veil of soot, which soiled clothes and
which hangs over the great city,” soft furnishings alike. When, in
perhaps he is implying that their “The Norwood Builder” (pp.168–
presence is a given. The thick, 69), John McFarlane dresses in
yellowish-brown “pea soupers” a “light summer overcoat” on a
were a toxic combination of blisteringly hot day, he is most
pollution from heavy industry, likely attempting to protect his
meteorological peculiarities, and clothes from the dirt in the air.

THE VICTORIAN WORLD 297

Conan Doyle’s life coincided with the
zenith of the British Empire during the
reign of Victoria (pictured), and Holmes
represents, and offers an alternative to,
Victorian and imperial values.

By the time Conan Doyle was born, Urbanization and suburbia notice: as he and Holmes travel
many of the events and individuals Despite his frequent forays into across London in “The Adventure
that have come to characterize the leafy counties that surround of the Six Napoleons” (pp.188–89)—
the Victorian age were already old London (and occasionally farther from super-rich Kensington in the
news: the Great Exhibition of 1851 afield), Holmes is a creature of the west to impoverished Stepney in
had come and gone, the Crimean great metropolis, one of millions the East End—he watches as the
War (1853–1856) was over, and the drawn to what Watson famously scenery turns from chic and sleek
engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel describes in the first novel, A Study to wretchedly sordid and deprived.
(1806–1859), who had revolutionized in Scarlet (pp.36–45), as “that great
the way in which trade and travel cesspool into which all the loungers In the late 1800s, those who
were conducted, was nearing death. and idlers of the Empire are could afford to began to migrate
irresistibly drained.” During the to the relative peace of London’s
From a literary perspective, 1800s, the proportion of the British new suburbs—a trend that is noted
Conan Doyle’s birth date was closer population living in cities rose from in The Sign of Four (pp.46–55) as
to that of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896) 20 percent to almost 80 percent, Holmes and Watson’s cab races
and Ernest Hemingway (1899), two and by Holmes’s time, London was away from Baker Street in the city’s
of the most influential American the most populous city on Earth. center, past “interminable lines of
novelists of the early 20th century, new, staring brick buildings—the
than it was to that of Alfred The Industrial Revolution and monster tentacles which the giant
Tennyson (1809), Elizabeth Gaskell the subsequent rise in urbanization city was throwing out into the
(1810), and Charles Dickens (1812), brought prosperity to many, but country.” This is also reflected in
three giants of Victorian writing; also buried countless others in the appearance of suburbs as
and the last Holmes story was crushing poverty. The working poor locations in the stories, including
published in 1927—almost 90 years rarely appear in the Holmes stories, the South London areas of Norwood
after Victoria came to the throne. but the striking effect that their (site of Jonas Oldacre’s home in
living conditions have on the city’s “The Adventure of the Norwood
[Holmes] began his character does not escape Watson’s Builder” (pp.168–69) and of Conan ❯❯
adventures in the very
heart of the later Victorian
era, carried it through the
all-too-short reign of
Edward, and has managed
to hold his own little niche
even in these feverish days.
Arthur Conan Doyle

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes

298 THE WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Hansom cabs were famously safe,
navigating street corners and traffic with
ease. Holmes had other dangers in mind
when he advised taking “neither the first
nor the second which may present itself.”

Doyle’s London home); Brixton
(home to Scotland Yard inspector
Stanley Hopkins, who appears
in several cases); and Streatham
(home of the banker Alexander
Holder in “The Adventure of the
Beryl Coronet,” pp.96–7).

Mass transit The Metropolitan Railway—the trains out of London Bridge, Euston,
The trend for suburban living gave first of several subterranean train Paddington, Victoria, Waterloo,
rise to a modern phenomenon: the lines that would later become the Charing Cross, and King’s Cross,
commuter. In “The Red-Headed London Underground—opened in traveling as far north as the Peak
League” (pp.62–7) Holmes and 1863, although when Watson and District in Derbyshire, as well as
Watson both observe “one of the Holmes took it from Baker Street to southwest to Devon and Cornwall.
main arteries which conveyed the Aldersgate (modern-day Barbican)
traffic of the City to the north and in “The Red-Headed League,” it Perhaps the most frequent
west,” and the doctor remarks on would still have been hauled by Holmesian mode of transportation,
the “immense stream of commerce steam engines. Above ground, too, though, was the iconic hansom
flowing in a double tide inward the city’s inhabitants had seen an cab. Pulled by a single horse, and
and outward, while the footpaths explosion in rail travel (almost all of with the driver sitting high up on a
were black with the hurrying London’s modern-day mainline rail sprung seat behind his passengers,
swarm of pedestrians.” stations opened during the 19th these two-seater carriages were
century). Holmes made excellent ubiquitous, fast, and fairly cheap.
The emergence of the daily use of the network: various train They were first patented in the
commute from home to work was companies ran different lines and 1830s, and thousands of them plied
a direct result of the development stations, and the detective caught the London streets until motorized
of London’s transportation system taxis began to appear in the first
in the Victorian era. In the early
1800s, people had to live close to
their place of work, but by Holmes’s
time the city was crisscrossed by an
extensive transportation network
of omnibuses, boats, and trains.

Numerous events, 1860 1876 Invention
technological Horse-drawn of the telephone.
milestones, and trams appear
inventions of historic on London’s
significance took streets.
place in Britain
within Holmes’s 1854 1855 1863 World’s first
presumed lifetime. Possible First daily underground
birth date newspaper, train line opens
of Holmes. The Daily in London. 1880 The first
Telegraph, British homes are
is published. lit by electricity.