I remember well the first time I read this story. I was in that first wave of Sherlockian enthusiasm: the one that impels the incipient Sherlockian to run out and buy the Doubleday complete and read it from cover to cover. As I turned my eyes to page 1113, I remember thinking with sadness that […]

This week’s story had two other possible titles: “The Adventure of Shoscombe Abbey” and “The Adventure of the Black Spaniel.” The former suggests the many religious references and symbols (including Holmes’s facetious reference to the “sacred domain” of Sir Robert’s home) and the latter gives star billing to the spaniel in the works who proved […]

Those dangerous Canonical animals are on the loose again! It’s only a flashback, but where was Leon Sterndale or even Sebastian Moran when somebody really needed their services? No, I don’t mean that they should have shot Sahara King, who really can’t be blamed for the attack on Mrs. Ronder. I was thinking that it […]

“Everyone delights to spend a summer holiday, Down beside the side of the silvery sea. I’m no exception to the rule, in fact if I’d my way, I’d reside by the side of the silvery sea.” So sang Basil Rathbone in his disguise as a music hall performer during “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.” And […]

While claiming to observe “a certain reticence and discretion” in his writing, Doctor Watson also told us that he published this story “to dispel once and for all the ugly rumors” about Professor Presbury’s case. We can never know what Watson’s reticence concealed and what rumors his story dispelled, but that doesn’t mean that we […]

The action takes place on a large country estate inhabited by a cruel tyrant from another country. An English governess has charge of the children, there is a secretary named Ferguson, and the household has a connection to Latin America. Could it be “Wisteria Lodge”? Yes it could be, but it’s not. This week’s story […]

If there is such a thing as a guilty pleasure in the Canon, this story is mine. I know it isn’t in the top tier of Watson’s accounts for overall quality, but it’s a favorite with me, and I can still remember where I was when I read its climactic scene for the first time: […]

Some readers may feel cheated that there is in fact no such thing as a Sussex Vampire, but I for one find this adventure to be quite satisfying. It’s wonderful to see how Sherlock Holmes was able to apply his superior logic and wisdom to a problem that was created by strong human emotions and […]

Did you think that Sherlock Holmes was a bit rude and crude in last week’s story, “The Mazarin Stone?” Well, this week the Master picks up right where he left off, and the results are not pretty. Perhaps it would be easier to tolerate his puerile sarcasm towards Steve Dixie and Susan Stockdale if we […]

This week’s story is another of those Casebook wonders; we wonder who wrote it and why! So much of it seems to be a very bad pastiche: a mishmash of other stories and the standard Canonical window-dressing, such as the presence of a page named Billy, a wax dummy to draw the fire of the […]