The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle's Second Sherlock Holmes Short Story Collection
Dec 27, 2008
Created by Scottish author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, Sherlock Holmes was a brilliant London-based consulting detective, famous for his intellectual prowess and powers of deductive reasoning.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the second of Conan Doyle’s short story collections and features eleven mysterious tales:
Silver Blaze
Sherlock Holmes must investigate the disappearance of the champion race horse Silver Blaze on the evening before an important race and the apparent murder of Silver Blaze’s trainer, John Straker.
The Yellow Face
Grant Munro fears that his wife is deceiving him. She had been married before in the USA but, after her husband and child died, moved to England where she met Munro. They had a very happy marriage until his wife asked him for money and begged him never to ask why. Munro has repeatedly followed his wife to a cottage near their house and wants Sherlock Holmes to discover what she is up to.
The Stockbroker’s Clerk
Hall Pycroft fears that he has been duped into accepting a job with the Franco-Midland Hardware Company and, in doing so, failing to take up a promising sounding job with the respected firm of Mawson & Williams. With Holmes’ help, Pycroft wants to learn the truth about his employment.
The ‘Gloria Scott’
During his university days, Sherlock Holmes visited the house of his friend, Victor Trevor, and disconcerts Trevor’s father with his deductions about the man’s past.
The Musgrave Ritual
Reginald Musgrave seeks Holmes’ help with locating two missing members of his domestic staff, maid Rachel Howells and butler Richard Brunton. The two disappeared after Musgrave sacked Brunton for reading a secret family document containing details of the ‘Musgrave Ritual’.
The Reigate Puzzle
After a burglary at the Acton estate where nothing particularly valuable is taken and later, after the coachman at the nearby Cunningham estate is murdered, Sherlock Holmes becomes entangled in a hand dispute between the Acton family and the Cunninghams.
The Crooked Man
When Colonel James Barclay is murdered, his wife Nancy is the prime suspect. Although friends had believed the Barclays to be a happy couple, they had observed that the Colonel seemed fonder of his wife than she did of him. The couple had been heard arguing by their servants and, after a scream, the servants broke down the door to the locked room that the Barclays were in and found the Colonel dead and his wife unconscious.
The Resident Patient
Doctor Trevelyan was set up in medical practice by Mr Blessington and, by way of payment, Blessington receives three quarters of Trevelyan’s income. The arrangement had worked well until news of a local burglary caused Blessington to become extremely paranoid. After an odd encounter with a Russian patient and his son, Trevelyan seeks the advice of Sherlock Holmes.
The Greek Interpreter
Mr Melas, a Greek interpreter, is kidnapped and forced to translate as his kidnappers try to force another man they are holding prisoner sign over some property to them. After his work was done, Melas was warned not to tell anyone what had happened to him and was released. Fearing for the other captive, Melas turned to Mycroft Holmes for help.
The Naval Treaty
An important naval treaty has been stolen from the office of Percy Phelps, an old friend of Doctor Watson. Driven to despair by the theft and with his health severely damaged, Phelps has been in bed at his sister’s house for two months. Watson asks Holmes to assist his friend.
The Final Problem
Sherlock Holmes escapes three murder attempts in a single day after a visit from Professor Moriarty, who had warned Holmes to cease pursuing him or face the consequences. Holmes had been tracking Moriarty and his confederates for months and was near to completing his case against them. In order to continue with his case, Holmes and Watson leave for the continent and an eventual showdown with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was followed by the third of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short story collections, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
ISBN 978-0755334391, Headline Review, 2006, £4.99, pp 304
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