New Blog - Almost Holmes

My Holmes, Pons and other mystery fiction posts, as well as thoughts on writing, are going to be over at my new blog, Almost Holmes. I'm keeping this one up and will post some other thoughts. I'm trying to put together a series of posts on little known/unreleased Beach Boys tunes.

Meanwhile, I'll be posting every Monday morning over at Black Gate, bringing Holmes to the finest fantasy blog on the Net. Look for The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes there.

The Case of the Short Lived Holmes

Sy Weintraub, an American best known for a series of Tarzan films, paid a large sum of money to the Doyle Estate for rights to all sixty of the original Holmes stories by Sir Arthur. I’ve read that he was going to make anywhere between six and thirty films in the series. Ian Richardson was cast as Holmes and two films were quickly shot: The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Hound was being filmed when the earth opened up beneath Weintraub’s production.

What we have here is one of the great examples of failing to do your homework. The stories were about to enter into the public domain in England in 1980. Granada Films announced a television series which would adapt all the Holmes stories and be distributed in America as well as England. Weintraub, realizing that he had paid a lot of money for essentially nothing and was going to lose the monopoly on his American market, joined forces with Doyle’s daughter, Dame Jean, and took Granada to court. The argument was that though many of the stories were in the public domain, because Holmes and Watson continued to feature in stories still under copyright protection, the two characters were still under copyright.

The Granada production was put on hold for about two years (which actually let them tighten things up and prepare for filming, resulting in a stronger series). Weintraub settled the matter out of court and put his Holmes series to rest. Richardson said that the settlement was for “an extraordinary sum of money - something like two million pounds - which was enough for Weintraub to cover his costs on both The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and make a profit, too. And so he wrapped the project up.”

A third script, The Prince of Crime, had been written by Charles Pogue but it was consigned to limbo when Weintraub took his money and went home. It did resurface as Hands of a Murderer, starring Edward Woodward as a forgettable Holmes. Completely non-Canonical, it’s a Holmes vs. Moriarty duel. John Hillerman, playing Watson, was well-known from his recently ended stint as Magnum P.I.’s Higgins.

The two Richardson films debuted in the US on Home Box Office in November and December of 1983 and released directly to video the following year in the UK, airing quietly on television a few years later. Neither made any kind of splash, in the Holmes world or out.

Richardson was approached about replacing the ailing Peter Cushing in The Abbot’s Cry, a planned sequel to 1984’s The Masks of Death. However, nothing came of it, the film remained unmade and Richardson never played Holmes again. He did, however, star in the television series, Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes. Richardson played the real-life inspiration for Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell, with Arthur Conan Doyle as his assistant.

To Richardson’s detriment, Weintraub refused to let the actor appear in Amadeus while the legal issues were ongoing. Thus, Jeffrey Jones was given Richardson’s role as Emperor Joseph II.

Had Granada not decided to take advantage of the copyright expiration, Richardson might well have made a dozen or more Holmes movies and be been remembered today as one of the finest portrayers of the great detective. He brought a controlled humor and a playful sense of pawkiness to the role. 

Who knows: with the legal difficulties, Granada might have simply abandoned their project and the world would never have seen Jeremy Brett, who is today regarded by many as the greatest Holmes. It had been over a decade since a Holmes tv series (Peter Cushing in 1968), then two financially sound projects arrived at the same time. Curious incidents, indeed.

Baker Street Essays #5 - The Illustrated Holmes edition

Baker Street Essays #5 is on the web. 'The Illustrated Holmes' (along with 'The Definitive Holmes)was the foundation essay for HolmesOnScreen.com.  If you have any interest in the drawings that accompanied the stories, you're gonna like this one.

Issue Four of Baker Street Essays is Up

After a Sherlock Holmes sabbatical lasting over a year, I've returned to The Game. Aside from enjoying both Elementary and Sherlock on television, I've written a new edition of my free, online Holmes newsletter, Baker Street Essays.

Among the highlights in Issue Four are an original parody of Holmes and Watson and a previously undiscovered letter to The Strand Magazine from Brett, Arthur Morrison's chronicler.

And here's a lost for many years drawing by Sidney Paget, saved from a trash can by his daughter.

Sherlock Holmes Goes to Court

UPDATE - The Economist doesn't seem to think that The Estate has much of chance on this one.

Another lawsuit regarding ownership of Sherlock Holmes.

Sidney Paget is THE Holmes illustrator
from the original run of stories. If I remember
correctly, this picture (in black and white) was
found rolled up in a trash can or something
like that by his daughter. It was published
for the first time in Leslie Klinger's annotated
books

I know the person who claims to own the copyright to Sherlock Holmes (usually referred to in some form as the 'Literary Estate.'). Courts have ruled against her more than once, involving her assertion that she owns the characters, not just the stories. She has no relation to the Doyle family.

If I remember correctly, her then-husband Sheldon Reynolds bought the rights from the Doyle family. Reynolds produced the black and white Holmes tv series starring the under-appreciated Ronald Howard. She got the rights in their divorce. Or so the story goes.

As an FYI, all 60 of the original Holmes tales by Doyle are in the public domain in England. All but the last 10 (collected as the Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) are in the public domain in the US.

CORRECTION

I was mistaken. I assumed this was related to the Literary Estate's claim to the Holmes copyright. This is actually a lawsuit against the Doyle heirs, who are trying to block the publication of the book. It's amazing how many different people are trying to make money off of Conan Doyle's work (including his family). At least authors are producing something. The heirs are just milking the talent of their bloodline.

Arthur Wontner - The First 'Definitive' Sherlock Holmes (Part One)

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Due to the smashing success of the two Guy Ritchie-helmed films, Robert Downey, Jr. is now the face of  Sherlock Holmes to many, if not most, people. He succeeds Jeremy Brett in that role; Brett himself followed Basil Rathbone. We're going to look at a few depictions of the great detective in film and television. We'll start with the first major Holmes star of the "talkies" era: Arthur Wontner.

PART ONE - A Holmes On Every Corner (or Stage..)

In the days before cinema took firm hold of the entertainment seeking public, stage plays were the major source of work for actors of all levels. Arthur Wontner was the last film Holmes before Basil Rathbone laid claim to the role. But as we’ll see below, Wontner’s stage career would directly and indirectly cross paths with many Sherlockian-related performers.

In the late 1890’s, a young Wontner served in Louis Calvert’s theater troupe (the great Eille Norwood was also a member at one time). Both would also perform at different times for Edward Compton. In 1906, Wontner played Raffles (Norwood, John Barrymore), the gentleman thief created by E.W. Hornung, Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother in-law.

Wontner first worked with Lyn Harding (who twice appeared opposite him in films as Professor Moriarty) at the Shakespeare Festival in 1910. In 1912 he played Orsino (Basil Rathbone) in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Also in the cast was Dennis Neilson-Terry (Holmes in Doyle’s play, The Crown Diamond) and Felix Aylmer (Holmes in the 1933 play, The Holmeses of Baker Street).

In 1913, he played Hilary Cutts in The New Sin. Norwood would play the part the very next year.  And in 1916, Wontner portrayed an enduring villain, Peter Pan’s Captain Hook. The role would be shared with two screen Moriarty’s, Ernest Torrence and Harding. That same year, Wontner appeared in the movie, Frailty, which also included Norwood in the cast!

In 1920, Wontner went into management and was involved in several plays. They were not overwhelmingly successful and thankfully for Holmes fans, he returned to the stage. In 1922 he was cast as Detective Anderson in Mary Robert Rinehart’s mystery play, The Bat. This was a hugely successful play based upon her earlier novel, The Circular Staircase. Largely forgotten today, it was one of the most popular plays of its time and Wontner was the male lead.

He continued to appear in the UK and America throughout the twenties; there were always parts available for Arthur Wontner. It is unlikely that New York theatergoers, attending The Captive in September of 1926, realized they were seeing two future great Holmes’ when Wontner and Rathbone shared the same stage! In 1924, Wontner appeared in The Ware Case. His own future Watson, Ian Fleming, would make his film debut in the same story in 1928 (albeit in a different role. Clive Brook later filmed it as well).

In 1930 he played one of history’s greatest villains, Cardinal Richelieu (H.A. Saintsbury, Raymond Massey, Christopher Lee) in The Three Musketeers. Following that play, he was cast as detective Sexton Blake. It was directly from that role that he would go on to play the greatest of all detectives in The Sleeping Cardinal.

In 1934, between Holmes films, he was Pontius Pilate in the play Good Friday. Rathbone would follow in a filmed version the following year. Later that year Wontner played King Louis XI (Rathbone, Saintsbury).

Wontner focused on movies for the rest of his career, with occasional appearances in plays. He filmed Blanche Fury in 1947, appearing with future Holmes Stewart Granger. His last film came in 1955. Three Cases of Murder included Andre Morrell, who would play a non Nigel Bruce-like Watson opposite Peter Cushing.

Clive Brook, Raymond Massey, Robert Rendel and Reginald Owen had all made undistinguished “talkies” featuring Holmes. Brook’s first effort (he made two Holmes films) was the most commercially successful, but beyond a doubt it was Wontner who came closest to the realization of Doyle’s creation.

For Twickenham, it was certainly an inspired choice. As Wontner had said himself, “People had remarked so frequently, ‘You really ought to play Sherlock Holmes. I’ve never seen anyone so like Sidney Paget’s drawings.’” In fact, Wontner was Joseph Simpson’s drawing for The Red Circle come to life. About his casting, Wontner said:

I knew the stories very well. You couldn’t say I was an expert or anything like that, but I liked them very much, and it helped with getting the dialogue right. I found quite a lot of dialogue in the stories that we were able to use…I was keen to see that the dialogue was authentic.

Next up: the first film, The Sleeping Cardinal.

The Sleeping Cardinal was renamed Sherlock Holmes'
Fatal Hour for its American release

Meet Sherlock Holmes - Doyle

I proposed a non-credit course on Sherlock Holmes to the University of Texas when I lived in Austin. It almost came off. So, this is a general overview of Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with some interesting tidbits thrown in. And, we're off.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Ø       His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was an illustrator who spent much of his latter life in mental asylums.

Doyle’s father provided some terrible drawings for the first stand-alone edition of A Study in Scarlet, the first Holmes story.

Ø       Doyle created Sherlock Holmes while waiting for patients at his doctor office. Business was terribly slow.

Ø       Doyle always felt that Holmes was a lesser work and kept him from better things. He believed that his historical fiction was going to be his legacy.

“He keeps me from better things” quote.

Ø      Doyle wrote total of 56 short stories and 4 novels featuring Sherlock Holmes, plus two short parodies. Those 60 stories are referred to as ‘The Canon.’ Holmes stories written by other authors are known as “pastiches” and have been ongoing for over a hundred years.

Ø      He received a knighthood in 1902 for his detailed history of the Boer War.

1902 also happened to be the year that Doyle revived Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Did that play a part in the awarding of the knighthood?

Bob's Books - Sherlock Holmes: In His Own Words and the Words of Those Who Knew Him by Barry Day

There have been many quote books about Sherlock Holmes. Quotable Sherlock and The Complete Guide to Sherlock Holmes are two such offerings with many fine sayings from the Canon. And notables such as Vincent Starrett, William Baring Gould, Michael Hardwick and Michael Pointer have offered up biographies of the world’s first consulting detective. Barry Day approaches these matters in a new way.

 
Sherlock Holmes (In His Own Words and in the Words of Those Who KnewHim) is a book that gives us a non-chronological biography of Holmes and the people around him, through extensive quotes from the original stories. You would be hard pressed to find a page that doesn’t have at least four quotations, and most have more than that. Holmes, his methods, Baker Street, the police and villains, and of course, Watson, are all discussed using Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own words about them all.

It is fun to read speculative biographies of Sherlock Holmes. But Day does not venture into that field. He tells us what is definitively known, and he does it with lines from Holmes, Watson and the rest of the Canon’s cast of characters.

The book also looks great, with over sixty black and white illustrations. There is a plethora of Paget, and we see Frederic Dorr Steele’s work before even the introduction. But George Hutchinson’s depiction of the first meeting between Holmes and Watson is shown. We see Watson and the nefarious Baron Gruner as depicted by Howard Elcock. Original drawings by Charles Doyle (Sir Arthur’s father), D. H. Friston, Walter Paget (Sidney’s brother) and J. Frank Wiles can be found as well. There’s something about reading Doyle’s words with an illustration in the vicinity.

Barry Day’s book is one of the most refreshing I have come across. Combining a biography with a quotation text creates a new look at an old subject. That is no easy task in the world of Sherlockiana. I enjoyed the look and flow of this book.

Bob's Books - The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Peter Haining

A collection of stories, plays and essays about Holmes that are not part of the Canon but certainly make nice supplementary reading. An excellent addition to any Holmes library.  
A few years ago, an article in the Wall Street Journal was about Barnes & Noble’s in-house publishing imprint. They have been reproducing classic works for years and selling them at affordable prices. But they range father afield than that, and my Sherlockian bookshelf includes several of their titles, such as The Sherlock Holmes Companion, The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

This last book is similar to the out of print and often difficult to find Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha by Jack Tracy (also reviewed on this site). Both books include the “almost Sherlock Holmes” stories and plays that don’t fit in the Canon, but are certainly in the neighborhood.

The introduction discusses the pieces that make up the book and you will find some interesting tidbits (much of which was previously in Tracy’s book).

The book starts off nicely with The Truth About Sherlock Holmes, which is an essay by Doyle that appeared in Colliers in 1923. Much of this essay would find its way into Doyle’s own autobiography, Memories and Adventures. It is a very interesting essay and worth reading by all Sherlockians.

The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy’s Household appeared in Boy’s Own Journal in early 1887, after A Study in Scarlet was written, but before the first Holmes novel was published. I would suggest reading this story and amusing yourself by listing the Holmesian overtones. You will find more than one!

Next up is The Field Bazaar, one of Doyle’s two parodies that he wrote about Holmes. It recounts a breakfast conversation between Holmes and Watson and was written as a fundraiser for the student newspaper at Edinburgh University.

Two tales from 1898 follow. The Story of the Man With the Watches and The Story of the Lost Special both feature an unnamed detective and are quite Sherlock Holmes-like in their feel. Either of these books could easily have been written as Holmes adventures, or even transformed into Solar Pons tales. While not Doyle’s best detective stories, they are better than some of the official tales from the Canon. Since they were published after the detective’s supposed death and before his return, was Doyle just “getting some Holmes” out of his system?

Hesketh Pearson was researching a biography of Doyle when he found the outline of an unwritten Holmes story, and a completed Holmes tale, The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted (mentioned below). The outline is included here. It is immediately followed by a completed version of the tale, written by Robert A. Cutter, in 1947. It is titled The Adventure of the Tall Man.

I’m quite a fan of William Gillette’s marvelous play, Sherlock Holmes. However, his adventure into the parody world, the curtain raiser The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes, is not one of my favorites. The novelty of Holmes not uttering a single word is original, but I just don’t find the play very funny.

For The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted, I have included the contents of my review of Tracy’s Apocrypha:

Pearson also discovered an entire previously unknown Sherlock Holmes tale in 1942. The Doyle estate (always quick to try and make a buck) surprisingly enough resisted pressure to publish it. Finally, in 1948, they accepted an offer from Cosmopolitan and it was published. Then the bad news: Arthur Whitaker said that he had written the tale and sent it to Doyle in 1910, hoping it would become a collaboration. Doyle declined and suggested Whitaker rewrite is as non-Holmes tale. Finally, Doyle purchased it for 10 pounds. Doyle set it aside, never using it. Whitaker produced the carbon copy of his typescript, as well as Doyle’s own hand-written letter in which the author had offered to buy the script.
The Doyle Estate refunded some of the money they received for selling the story and Whitaker was paid 150 pounds to be quiet about the affair. He died not long after and the matter was dropped by all parties. Cosmopolitan never admitted the story wasn’t by Doyle, and the Estate had no comments.

Haining’s explanation includes the following quote from Pearson’s description of the story. “The opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master.” Haining also mentions a reference to the story made in John Dickson Carr’s biography of Sir Arthur. Haining speculates that Doyle himself may have contributed somewhat to the tale and that it was not all Whitaker’s work. Regardless, it is an enjoyable Holmes pastiche.

Some Personalia About Sherlock Holmes was written by Doyle and appeared in a 1917 edition of The Strand. Doyle discusses receiving letters written to Holmes and ruminates on true life crimes that the author had some involvement in investigating. One such, involving a man who disappeared, I wrote as a story involving Doyle and William Gillette. It was published as The Case of the Tired Captain in a collection entitled Curious Incidents.

American critic Arthur Guitterman wrote a poem critical of Doyle for having Holmes insult Edgar Allen Poe’s C. August Dupin and Emile Gaboriau’s Monsieur Lecoq, in A Study in Scarlet. It is included here, followed by Doyle’s own poem in response. People were taking the Canon far too seriously long before Sherlockians jumped into the act.

Doyle’s short Holmes play, The Crown Diamond, is next. It is a weak story and quite inferior to his play adaptation of The Speckled Band.

How Watson Learned the Trick is a charming parody written by Doyle for inclusion in the miniature library in a dollhouse made for Queen Anne. I find this to be a greatly underappreciated Holmes piece and is one of my favorites.

On December 15, 1900, A Gaudy Death: Conan Doyle Tells the True Story of Sherlock Holmes’ End appeared in Tit-Bits, a weekly magazine published by the same folks who owned The Strand. Holmes was in that unhappy (for the readers) period after his plunge at the Reichenbach Falls and before his temporary revival in The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is a fine interview in which Doyle discusses how he came up with the idea for Holmes, and why he switched from novels to serial adventures for the detective. He then moves on to explain why he killed off Holmes. “My lower work” (Holmes) “was obscuring my higher” (The White Company) “is as good a summary of his feelings as ever he uttered.

It’s hard for us to imagine a Canon that ended with The Memoirs. A paltry 26 Sherlock Holmes adventures! So imagine the thrill that the discerning reader of this essay experienced at the following sentence from Doyle: “That does not say, however, that because he is dead I should not write about him again if I wanted to.” I get a tingle myself!

The Mystery of Sasassa Valley was Doyle’s first published story and is a tale with a supernatural tinge.
The volume wraps up with My Favourite Sherlock Holmes Adventures, a short piece Doyle wrote for The Strand in 1927. It is a listing of Doyle’s own dozen favorite Holmes tales. He does not include any from The Case-Book, which was about to be published in book form and had not been readily available to most readers. I like to believe that his statement that he would have included The Lion’s Mane and The Illustrious Client on the list if they were eligible was a selling job. I can’t place those two anywhere near the top twelve. In case you haven’t seen the list, The Speckled Band was at number one.

Peter Haining’s book is an outstanding collection that any Holmes fan should enjoy. If you already have Tracy’s Apocrypha, or vice versa, you will find they complement each other and you shouldn’t ignore one because you own the other.

Bob's Books - 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes (Otto Penzler’s Sherlock Holmes Library) - Vincent Starrett

A hit-and-miss collection that has some nice elements but is not one of my favorites.

One of the books in Otto Penzler’s Sherlock Holmes Library, a reissue of eight previously hard to find classics from the earlier age of Sherlockiana, it was originally published in 1940. Unlike The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, which was an original composition, Starrett served as editor of this collection of Sherlockiana, contributing only one piece; a pastiche entitled The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet.

221B contains fifteen essays and a crossword puzzle. It starts off with The Field Bazaar, a scene written by Doyle for the Edinburgh University newspaper. It consists of an episode in which Holmes seemingly reads Watson’s mind, then explains how he did it. One suspects that it was not widely available in 1940.

Was Sherlock Holmes an American?, BSI founder Christopher Morley’s heretical supposition that the world’s first consulting detective was really born on the western side of the Atlantic ocean, follows.
R.K. Leavitt’s Nummi in Arca looks at Holmes’ fiscal situation over the years and is an interesting topic for exploration. Elmer Davis and Jane Nightwork each contribute articles about the role of matrimony in Dr. Watson’s life.

P.M. Stone writes about a reporter’s visit to an aging Holmes in Sussex Interview. I enjoyed this little piece.

Starrett’s The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet is frequently listed near the top of pastiche rankings. I have never understood this. Near the end of the story (which I don’t wish to give away) Holmes explains to the villain how the trail he took between the two houses gave him away. Unless I’m missing something, this leaves a hole that you could drive a truck through and quashes the redeeming qualities of the tale. I can’t imagine how this is considered one of the best non-Doyle Holmes adventures.

Sherlock Holmes in Pictures is a nice reminiscence by the great Frederic Dorr Steele himself and worthy of inclusion in more collections. Edgar Smith’s Appointment in Baker Street is an early dramatis personae from the Canon. Remember; this was long before Holmes encyclopedias by Orlando Park, Jack Tracy and Matthew Bunsen. At 101 pages, it is also far and away the longest piece of the book.

There are a few other chapters as well. There are some good reads in 221B: Studies in Sherlock, but it is a mixed bag and not on the same level as Starrett’s Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

Baker Street Essays - The Veiled Lodger

The ‘Politician’

Sherlockians have speculated on the identity of the mysterious politician referenced in this case. The Veiled Lodger occurred in 1896 and was published in 1927. Presumably the events involving the politician, the lighthouse and the trained cormorant occurred closer to the latter date, rather than the former. Attempts to destroy the documents would likely not have waited over thirty years if they were that damaging.

Who could the politician be? How about Sir Roger Casement? Casement was a close friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and served for many years as the British Consul in Africa and South America.

Casement was openly critical of how native workers were treated in the Congo and his 1903 Report received international attention. As a result, Belgium improved conditions in the Congo in 1908. For his accomplishments, Casement was awarded a knighthood in 1911. He suffered from poor health and that same year he retired from public service and returned to Dublin, the city where he was born.

Casement became a strong supporter of the moment for Irish independence from England and he traveled to New York City, seeking aid for the Irish nationalist movement. World War I broke out and Casement traveled to Berlin in 1914, seeking German aid for Irish independence. Germany’s support was tepid, at best, and Casement became disappointed in the results of his efforts. He feared that an uprising planned in Ireland for Easter, 1916, was doomed to failure. A German submarine returned him to Ireland on April 12 of that year. Twelve days later, he was captured by the British and charged with treason.

The Black Diaries, allegedly written by Casement, surfaced after his arrest and certainly prejudiced his case. The diaries alleged that Casement had sex with young native boys during his diplomatic service.

Doyle argued that Casement’s homosexuality was caused by insanity and the man should be spared, but his efforts failed. Casement was found guilty of treason, stripped of his knighthood and hung on August 3, 1916.

His Last Bow revealed that Holmes was active in aiding the war effort for England. As the Irish-American agent Altamont, he was certainly capable of infiltrating the Irish Nationalist movement on behalf of the Foreign Office. Did Holmes’ actions result in Casement’s ultimate execution?\

Baker Street Essays - The Norwood Builder

Another entry from Baker Street Essays. This one wonders why Jonas Oldacre bothered to add the fake thumbprint so late in the game.

Why the Thumbprint?

Oldacre seemed to have committed as perfect a crime as possible. Holmes is completely stumped and cannot find any clue that would prove Inspector Lestrade wrong and establish McFarlane’s innocence. After a fruitless day of investigation, Holmes says to Watson, “…but unless some lucky chance comes our way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure.”

 

Holmes has all but given up. Lestrade has goaded him and is thoroughly enjoying an extremely rare victory over the famous detective. Holmes is now resorting to Lady Luck to bail him out. That’s how frustrated he is with his own efforts. So why does Oldacre plant the bloody thumb mark (not the entire hand, as the Collier’s cover by Frederic Dorr Steele would have us believe) on the wall?

Yes, it was extra evidence that would point to McFarlane’s guilt. But Oldacre had clearly had planned his actions long before, as evidenced by the money he had secretly funneled to dummy accounts. Having carried everything out properly, did he suddenly feel more was needed? Did he lack patience and begin doubting himself? If he was receiving copies of the newspapers in his hidden room, he must have been pleased with events. If not, then he should have just trusted in his plan. If he had originally intended to include the thumbprint on the wall, surely he would have done so in the beginning. Unless he simply forgot? If so, then truly, the devil is in the details.

The thumbprint is the break Holmes needs and leads to Oldacre’s exposure. It seems, by Holmes’ own admission, Oldacre would have gotten away with his plan and that McFarlane would have been convicted of killing him. If only Jonas Oldacre had left well enough alone and stayed in his room. 

Baker Street Essays - My thoughts on Sherlock Holmes

I realized today I haven't referenced any of my writings about the world's first official consulting detective. I refer, of course, to Sherlock Holmes. I have written extensively about my favorite fictional character: much of it for my defunct website, Sherlock Holmes on Screen. 

My sporadically ongoing Holmes efforts (excluding those in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine) are for my own free, online newsletter, Baker Street Essays (BSE). Click on the link at the bottom of my Solar Pons website. Below is a sample from issue one of BSE. I'm overdue for a fourth issue, but I do enjoy writing about Holmes when the mood strikes.

BLACK PETER: Whither the Missing Securities?

John Neligan’s father had set off with a tin box full of securities that he had taken from his bank. Black Peter Carey sold some of the missing securities in London. After everything has been cleared up, Holmes tells Hopkins to return the tin box to John Neligan, noting that the securities that Peter Carey had sold were lost forever. Can this be taken to imply that the remaining securities were in the tin? If they weren’t, wouldn’t Holmes have commented on them as well? And perhaps contributed something more profound than explaining that the securities already sold are gone?

But if the missing securities were in the tin, how would they become the possession of John Neligan? It would be a strange case of law that granted ownership of stolen securities to the son of their embezzler. Shouldn’t the recovered securities be returned to the banking firm they were taken from?

But perhaps the missing securities weren’t in the tin. Of course, Patrick Cairns would be thoroughly grilled about this since he stole the box and admitted he opened it. In addition, wouldn’t Hopkins wonder about their location? Why wouldn’t Holmes or Watson broach the issue? A thorough search of Black Peter’s cabin would be in order, likewise wherever Patrick Cairns was staying. Did everyone simply assume that they were lost forever?

A third option that we will not explore further here is that Neligan senior sold some of the securities before encountering Peter Carey. Carey sold the remainder; thus, there were no securities left in the tin box. Speculation on this aspect would significantly extend the length of this entry.

So, either the remaining securities were in the tin and John Neligan was going to attempt to restore his father’s name, or: they weren’t in the tin and no one was overtly interested in them. Did Sherlock Holmes have an ulterior motive regarding the missing securities…?