A Scandal In Bohemia:
The king of Germany is getting married. However, his former 'girlfriend', Irene Adler, does not allow such thing to happen. With the fact that she has a photograph in which she and the king are both in the picture, she will be able to blackmail the king just by showing his new wife the photo. The king, who had failed several times in retrieving it, seeks Sherlock Holmes' help to retrieve the photograph.
Holmes start off to think of a plan and asked his assistant, Watson, to help him in part of the act. The act goes like this: Holmes and Watson will disguise themselves as someone else and wait at the door of Irene Adler before she comes home. When she got off her carriage and begins walking towards the door, Holmes pretends to have a headache and falls to the ground. This will result Irene Adler asking her men to carry Holmes into her house. When inside, Holmes will raise his hand and Watson will throw into the house a plumber's rocket and shout "FIRE!!!!!!!!!!". This will result in Irene Adler going to take the photograph and Holmes is there to see it. You see, when there is a fire, women will rush off to take their most precious things first, and in this case, Irene Adler's most precious item is the photograph, which was in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right bell-pull. As soon as she does that, she realized that she had just betrayed herself as Holmes said that it was a false alarm.
Holmes and Watson took their leave and decided to come back tomorrow to retrieve the photograph, when the lady would not be in her house. As soon as they entered, they were surprised to find the place empty. As they open the sliding panel, they found a note and a picture of Irene Adler instead. The note, written by Irene Adler, stated that she was indeed impressed with the way Holmes had planned his act and took her in completely. After Holmes left, she quickly replaced the photograph and wrote the note and together with her new husband, they took a flight to another country. She also stated that the king need not worry about the photograph as she already got a better man than he. So all in all, Holmes sort of 'failed' in this case. The first he ever got outsmarted by another person.
A Case of Identity:
A young lady Miss Mary Sutherland wanted to get married. However, her step-father, Mr Windibank disallowed. At one point of time, Mr Windibank was going to France to work and Miss Mary Sutherland met a handsome young man who claimed his name is Mr Hosmer Angel with a soft voice. The two of them kept meeting and writing letters to each other in the absence of Mr Windibank. One day, the two decided to get married without the knowledge of Mr Windibank. Miss Mary took the first hansom and Mr Angel took the next. When she reached the church, she waited eagerly for the arrival of Mr Angel, but he never appeared. Miss Mary was taken aback and thought that he might have disappeared out of the blue. She seeks Sherlock Holmes help and Holmes asked Miss Mary to lend him the letters Mr Angel typewritten to her.
After observing the letters for a while, Holmes found out that there was a little slurring over of the "e" and a slight defect in the tail of the "r". What's more, there was no signature, only a neat typewritten: Mr Hosmer Angel. To confirm his man, Holmes wrote a letter to Mr Windibank to invite to his place at six the next day. The reply came which was typewritten and the same characteristics were also observed. This obviously proves that Mr Windibank was the person who was pretending to be Mr Hosmer Angel.
Mr Windibank, upon arrival at Holmes' place, soon found out that Holmes was sure he was the man and confessed about his doings. You see, he did not want her step-daughter to be married, so he pretended to go to France and claimed his name as Mr Hosmer Angel.
By getting a strong relationship of being Miss Mary's 'boyfriend', he pretended to proposed to Miss Mary and as soon as she got into the first hansom and he got into second, Mr Windibank dived out of the hansom and ran away, and in the end, pretended to have come back from France. He knew that the disappearance of "Mr Hosmer Angel" would leave a deep impression on Miss Mary, in which she would not go for a better man, and the fact that "Mr Hosmer Angel" would never reappear, Miss Mary would never get married. With this fact, Mr Windibank's wish is complete.
No further action is taken against this. Holmes had accomplished his job but Miss Mary still did not believe that it was Mr Windibank who pretended to be Mr Angel.
The Red-headed League:
A London pawnbroker named Jabez Wilson with "fiery red hair," came to Holmes and Watson. He told them that his young assistant, Vincent Spaulding, some weeks ago had shown him and urged him to respond to a newspaper want-ad offering work to only red-headed male applicants. The next morning, Wilson had waited in a long line of fellow red-headed men, was interviewed and was the only one hired as his hair colour was the exact one they were looking for. He was paid four pounds a week, for several weeks of copying an encyclopedia, but finally one morning a sign on the locked office door showed the words "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED."
Wilson then went to the landlord, who said that he'd never heard of Duncan Ross, the person who formed the league. The landlord did remember the tenant with scarlet hair and gives him a card which directed Wilson to an artificial knee company. With that, he ended the story. Holmes promised that by Monday they would have the case solved. After Wilson left, Holmes decided to go and see Spaulding, whom Holmes noticed has dirty trouser knees. Holmes then tapped on the pavement in front of the pawnbroker's shop and after that, called Inspector Jones and Mr. Merryweather.
The four confront the thieves, John Clay and his helper William Morris who had disguise themselves as Spaulding and Ross, who had contrived the Red-Headed League rigmarole just to keep Wilson out of his shop while they did digging in the basement in order to break into the bank vault next door.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson take a train to Boscombe Valley, in Herefordshire. En route, Holmes reads the news and briefs Watson on their new case. Mr. John Turner, a widower and a major landowner who has a daughter named Alice, lives there with a fellow expatriate from Australia, Mr. Charles McCarthy, a widower who has a son named James. Charles has been found dead near Boscombe Pool. It was reported that he was there to meet someone. Two witnesses testify that they saw Charles walking into the woods followed by James, who was bearing a gun.
Patience Moran, daughter of a lodge keeper, says she saw Charles and James arguing and, when James raised his hand as if to hit his father, she ran to her mother. While telling her mother what she saw, James rushed to their house seeking help. The Morans followed James back to the Pool, where they found his father dead. James was arrested and charged with murder. Alice Turner believes James is innocent and has contacted Lestrade, a Scotland Yard detective who in turn has asked Holmes’ help.
James confirms the testimonies of the witnesses, but explains that he went to the woods to hunt, not to follow his father. He later heard his father calling "Cooee", and he found his father standing by the pool, surprised to see him. They argued, and James decided to return to Hatherley Farm. Shortly thereafter, he heard his father cry out, and returned to find his father lying on the ground. James insists that he tried to help him, but his father died in his arms. James refuses to reveal the cause of their argument, despite the coroner's warning that it could be damaging to his case. James also remembers his father’s last words were something about "a rat", but James is uncertain of the meaning. He also saw a cloak nearby that was gone when he returned later.
Alice meets Holmes, Watson and Lestrade in the hotel; she hopes Holmes has found a way to prove James' innocence. She also believes that she was the subject of the argument between James and his father, for Charles had asked James to marry her but James refused. Alice's father was also against the union. Holmes asks Alice if he could meet her father, but she says his health worsened after the death of Charles, whom he had known since they were in Victoria. Holmes decides to see James. Holmes mistakenly surmises that James knows who killed his father and is only protecting someone. Alice is right about the cause of the argument between James and Charles.
What she does not know is that James loves her and wants to marry her, but could not because he had already married a barmaid before Alice returned from boarding school. This burdens him, but he cannot tell his father about his marriage because he would be thrown out of the house and left unable to support himself. To James’ consolation, when his wife hears of his troubles, she confesses she was already married before they met, and therefore their marriage is invalid.
Holmes, Watson and Lestrade go to Hatherly Farm and examine Charles' and James' boots. They then head to Boscombe Pool, following the track from the courtyard. After examining the ground, Holmes finds evidence of the presence of another man besides Charles and James, whom he believes to be the murderer. The stranger is a tall, limping, left-handed man who smokes cigars. Lestrade is not convinced.
At the hotel, Holmes explains to Watson that "Cooee" is an Australian cry and "a rat", overheard by James, were the last syllables of "Ballarat", a place in Australia. So the person Charles was meeting is someone he knew from Australia. John comes to their room and, realizing that Holmes has deduced the crime, confesses.
In his confession, John explains that he was a member of the Ballarat Gang, a group of robbers in Australia. They robbed a gold convoy in which Charles was the wagon driver, and John spared his life despite knowing that Charles could identify him. The loot made the gang rich, and they moved to England. Resolved to change, John parted ways with his friends. He bought land, married, and then Alice was born. John met Charles again by chance, and Charles threatened to blackmail him. In response John gave Charles Hatherly Farm and money. Eventually this was not enough, and Charles demanded the marriage of James and Alice. Although he likes James, John could not allow Charles eventual control over his family's finances through Alice, and resisted the union. After much pressure, John agreed to meet Charles secretly at the Pool. Seeing Charles and James there arguing, John waited till James left. Then he killed Charles to preserve his freedom and spare his daughter. James heard his father's death cry and returned, but John was able to hide in the woods. He had to return later to retrieve a cloak that he dropped in his haste.
John signs his statement, and Holmes vows to keep it secret unless needed to free James. Holmes' objections are sufficient to acquit James. John dies seven months after the meeting with Holmes and Watson. A brighter future is ahead for James and Alice, free of their fathers' dark past.
The Author + My Reflections:
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer. His detective stories of Sherlock Holmes are highly famous, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. Other books of Sherlock Holmes include The Hound of the Baskervilles and A Study In Scarlet.
Well, I was deeply impressed with how Holmes reasoned his explanations. He noted every detail beautifully and was able to come to a conclusion with a method someone could never master simply. He was always calm, and knew when to take action, a detective no other has ever come across. Good work on the stories Sir Arther!
Now, with so much words, I bet you are getting too bored to read eh? Well, then blame the rules of having to read four books for Sherlock Holmes. Screw this man. Just to wake you up, you can watch this video, or you can knock your own head with a hammer. He he! With that, may more posts come your way!
No comments:
Post a Comment