Sherlock Holmes

Locations: 221B Baker Street; 403 Brook Street, London.
Recorded Cases: A Study in Scarlet,The ‘Gloria Scott.’
Unrecorded Case: The 1875 Worthingdon bank robbery.
Holmes: His favourite place is London and he dislikes nature
(but he changes his mind on retirement – see The Lion’s Mane).
Watson:Yearns for a holiday in the New Forest or Southsea, but
hasn’t enough money to go.
Elementary: Deduces Watson’s train of thought on the American
Civil War.
Quotable Quote: (Watson) ‘[Holmes] loved to lie in the very
centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching
out and running through them, responsive to every little
rumour or suspicion of unsolved crime.’
Problems: In certain editions, the month is stated as October
(contradicting the parliament reference), but in others it has
been corrected to August.The introductory scene makes more
sense where it belongs in The Cardboard Box, with ‘close, rainy’
replaced by the original ‘blazing hot’ (see ‘Observations’
below). How did the Worthingdon gang find Blessington? And
why did they pose as Russians?
Observations:When this story appeared in The Memoirs of Sherlock
Holmes, Doyle lifted the ‘mind-reading’ episode from The
Cardboard Box (a tale he considered too sensational for the
anthology) and inserted it here. But when John Murray
S H E R L O C K H O L M E S
• 54 •

---

published the omnibus Sherlock Holmes:The Complete Short Stories
(1928), instead of using the original Strand version of this story,
the ‘mind-reading’ was cut and replaced with two new para-
graphs. Thus there are now three versions of this story: 1) The
original  Strand version; 2) the Memoirs version with added
‘mind-reading’ episode; 3) the ‘new’ Complete Short Stories
version.
It is probably no coincidence that both of Watson’s ideal
holiday destinations are where Doyle had (or will have) homes.
The ship Norah Creina also appears in Robert Louis Stevenson’s
The Wrecker (1891).Watson’s colourful (some might say unkind)
descriptions of obesity are echoed in the next story with regard
to Mycroft Holmes.
Verdict: Similar in feel to The Five Orange Pips (revenge followed
by a shipwreck), this is an intriguing little tale which has a
pleasing whiff of reality about it. 4/5
24) The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
UK: The Strand Magazine (September 1893, SP); USA: Harper’s
Weekly (16 September 1893,WHH)
The Case: A Greek interpreter is coerced into interviewing a
restrained and gagged man…
Characters: Mycroft Holmes, Mr Melas, Paul Kratides, landlady,
Inspector Gregson, Harold Latimer, Sophy Kratides, J Davenport,
Wilson Kemp.
Locations: 221B Baker Street; The Diogenes Club, Pall Mall;
rooms in Pall Mall; Wandsworth Common; ‘The Myrtles’,
Beckenham.
Unrecorded Case: Adams and the Manor House.
Holmes:Watson regards him as a brain without a heart. Is averse
to women and doesn’t usually talk about his family. His ances-
T H E C A N O N
• 55 •

---

tors were country squires, his grandmother possibly the sister
of French painter Emile Jean Vernet (1789–1863). Has
consulted Mycroft many times and his brother has given him
some of his most interesting cases. Has now acquired an intri-
cate knowledge of astronomy (cf. A Study in Scarlet).
Mycroft: Is seven years older than Holmes, has greater observa-
tional powers than him but no energy or ambition. Founder
member of the Diogenes Club, a place for people who are
unsociable and unclubbable – no one is allowed to take notice
of anyone else. Lodges in Pall Mall and audits books for various
government departments in Whitehall. His body is corpulent
but his face is almost as sharp as Holmes’. Takes snuff. Uses
graphology.