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Title: The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes
Series: Sherlock Holmes #3
Author:
Arthur Doyle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Mystery
Pages: 360
Words: 104K
From Wikipedia.org
"A
Scandal in Bohemia" July 1891
The
King of Bohemia engages Holmes to recover an indiscreet photograph
showing him with the renowned beauty, adventuress and opera singer
Irene Adler—the revelation of which would derail his marriage
to a daughter of the King of Scandinavia. In disguise, Holmes
witnesses Adler marry the man she truly loves, then by means of an
elaborate stratagem discovers the photograph's hiding place. But when
Holmes and the king return to retrieve the photo, they find Adler has
fled the country with it, leaving behind a letter for Holmes and a
portrait of herself for the King. The king allows Holmes to retain
the portrait as a souvenir.
"The
Red-Headed League" August 1891
Jabez
Wilson, a pawnbroker, consults Holmes about a job, gained only
because of his red hair, which took him away from his shop for long
periods each day; the job for to simply copy the Encyclopædia
Britannica. After eight weeks, he was suddenly informed that the job
ended. After some investigation at Wilson's shop, Holmes contacts a
police inspector and the manager of a nearby bank. With Watson, they
hide in the bank vault and catch two thieves who had dug a tunnel
from the shop while Wilson was at the decoy copying job.
"A
Case of Identity" September 1891
Against
the wishes of her stepfather, Mary Sutherland has become engaged to
Hosmer Angel. On the morning of their wedding Hosmer elicits a
promise that Mary will remain faithful to him "even if something
quite unforeseen" occurs, then mysteriously disappears en route
to the church. Holmes deduces that Hosmer was Mary's stepfather in
disguise, the charade a bid to keep Mary a spinster and thus maintain
access to her inheritance. Holmes does not reveal the truth to Mary
because "There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and
danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman"; he had
already advised her to put the matter behind her, though she
responded that Hosmer "shall find me ready when he comes back."
At the end, Mary's stepfather escapes and Sherlock Holmes predicts he
will commit more crimes.
"The
Boscombe Valley Mystery" October 1891
Inspector
Lestrade asks for Holmes's help after Charles McCarthy is murdered,
and his son, James, is implicated. McCarthy, and another local
landowner, John Turner, are both Australian expatriates, and Lestrade
was originally engaged by Turner's daughter, Alice, who believes
James is innocent. Holmes interviews James, and then inspects the
scene of the murder, deducing a third man was present. Realising
Holmes has solved the case, Turner confesses to the crime, revealing
that McCarthy was blackmailing him due to Turner's criminal past.
Holmes does not reveal the crime, but secures James's release because
of the presence of a third person at the crime scene.
"The
Five Orange Pips" November 1891
John
Openshaw tells Holmes that in 1883 his uncle died two months after
receiving a letter inscribed "K.K.K." with five orange pips
enclosed, and that in 1885 his father died soon after receiving a
similar letter; now Openshaw himself has received such a letter.
Holmes tells him to do as the letter asks and leave a diary page,
which Holmes deduces is connected to the Ku Klux Klan, on the garden
sundial. Openshaw is killed before he can do so, but Holmes discovers
the killers have been travelling on a sailing ship, and sends the
captain a letter with five orange pips. The ship is lost at sea.
"The
Man with the Twisted Lip" December 1891
Neville
St. Clair, a respectable businessman, has disappeared and his wife
claims she saw him at the upper window of an opium den. Rushing
upstairs to the room she found only a beggar who denied any knowledge
of St. Clair – whose clothes are later found in the room, and his
coat, laden with coins, in the River Thames outside the window. The
beggar is arrested, but a few days later St. Clair's wife receives a
letter from her husband. Holmes concludes, then proves, that the
beggar is actually St. Clair in disguise; he confesses that he has
been leading a double life as a beggar, making more money that way
than in his nominal work.
"The
Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" January 1892
A
"Blue Carbuncle" is stolen from a hotel suite, and a former
felon is soon arrested. However, an acquaintance of Holmes discovers
the carbuncle in the throat of a Christmas goose. Holmes traces the
owner of the goose, but soon determines that he was not the thief by
offering him a replacement goose. The detective continues his search,
first to an inn and then a dealer in Covent Garden. The dealer
refuses to provide Holmes with information about the source of the
goose, but Holmes observes another man trying to find the same
information, and confronts him. The man, the head attendant at the
hotel, confesses to his crime. Holmes allows him to remain free,
arguing that prison could make him a hardened criminal later.
"The
Adventure of the Speckled Band" February 1892
Helen
Stoner worries her stepfather may be trying to kill her after he
contrives to move her to the bedroom where her sister had died two
years earlier, shortly before her wedding. Stoner is herself now
engaged, and Holmes learns that her stepfather's annuity (from the
estate of his wife—Stoner's mother) would be greatly reduced
if either sister married. During a late-night investigation of the
bedroom, Holmes and Watson discover a dummy bell-pull near a
ventilator. As they lie in wait a whistle sounds, then a snake
appears through the ventilator. Holmes attacks the snake with his
riding crop; it retreats to the next room, where it attacks and kills
Stoner's stepfather.
"The
Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" March 1892
An
engineer, Victor Hatherley, attends Dr Watson's surgery after his
thumb is chopped off, and recounts his tale to Watson and Holmes.
Hatherley had been hired for 50 guineas to repair a machine he was
told compressed Fuller's earth into bricks. Hatherley was told to
keep the job confidential, and was transported to the job in a
carriage with frosted glass, to keep the location secret. He was
shown the press, but on closer inspection discovered a "crust of
metallic deposit" on the press, and he suspected it was not
being used for compressing Fuller's earth. He confronted his
employer, who attacked him, and during his escape his thumb is
chopped off. Holmes deduces that the press is being used to produce
counterfeit coins, and works out its location. However, when they
arrive, the house is on fire, and the criminals have escaped.
"The
Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" April 1892
Lord
Robert St. Simon's new American bride, Hatty Doran, has disappeared
almost immediately after the wedding. The servants had prevented an
old love interest of his from forcing her way into the wedding
breakfast, Hatty had been seen in whispered conversation with her
maid, and Inspector Lestrade arrives with the news that Hatty's
wedding dress and ring have been found floating in the Serpentine.
Holmes quickly solves the mystery, locating Hatty at a hotel with a
mysterious, "common-looking" man who had picked up her
dropped bouquet after the ceremony. The man turns out to be Hatty's
husband Frank, whom she had thought dead in America, and who had
managed to locate her only moments before she was to marry Lord St.
Simon. Frank and Hatty had just determined to go to Lord St. Simon in
order to explain the situation when Holmes found them.
"The
Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" May 1892
A
banker asks Holmes to investigate after a "Beryl Coronet"
entrusted to him is damaged at his home. Awakened by noise, he had
found his son, Arthur, holding the damaged coronet. Arthur refuses to
speak, neither admitting guilt nor explaining himself. Footprints in
the snow outside the house tell Holmes that the banker's niece had
conspired with a blackguard to steal the coronet; Arthur had
discovered the crime in progress and the coronet had been damaged
during his struggle to prevent it being stolen. He had refused to
tell his father the truth of the crime because of his love for his
cousin.
"The
Adventure of the Copper Beeches" June 1892
Violet
Hunter consults Holmes after being offered a governess job subject to
a number of unusual conditions, including cutting her hair short. The
wage is extremely high, £120, and she decides to accept the job,
though Holmes tells her to contact him if she needs to. After a
number of strange occurrences, including the discovery of a
sealed-off wing of the house, she does so. Holmes discovers that
someone had been kept prisoner in the wing, but when Holmes, Watson
and Hunter enter, it is empty. They are accused of freeing the
prisoner, who was the daughter of Hunter's employer, who sets his dog
on them, though it attacks him instead. It is revealed that Hunter
had been hired to impersonate her employer's daughter so that her
fiancé would believe she was no longer interested in seeing him, but
the daughter had escaped and the pair later married.
I remembered the gist of almost all the stories from my read in 2009,
so this wasn't a taut read. More comfortable really. Like putting on
a pair of old slippers.
★★★✬☆
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