Sherlockian.Net: His Last Bow

Basic information

Abbreviation (J. F. Christ, 1947): LAST
Word length (C. E. Lauterbach, 1960): 6,126
First published: Strand Magazine, September 1917; Collier's Weekly, September 22, 1917

A note on the title

Subtitled "The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" in the Strand and Collier's; the subtitle became "An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes" when His Last Bow appeared in book form in 1917.

Text available on-line

Links of interest

German Naval Operations, August 1914

International Naval Signals (poster)

Bee Culture

'Sherlock in Chicago', by John McConnell

Redmond's Delicate Question

Earlier in Holmes's career he faced his "Final Problem". "The Second Stain" indicates that a previous story was supposed to be the last memoir of Sherlock Holmes. Later "The Lion's Mane" seems a sort of epilogue; "Shoscombe Old Place" was in fact the last published, but it was replaced with "The Retired Colourman" in book editions. Are these successive curtain calls for Sherlock Holmes merely artifacts of the serial way in which the stories were originally published, or do they have an efect on today's reader also?

"The View Halloa", by Rosemary Michaud

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