In “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”, a young lawyer asks Holmes to clear him of the charge murdering a rich man soon after preparing the man’s will. Inspector Lestrade is convinced of the young attorney’s guilt and believes he has finally bested Holmes, but by the use of forensic science and a bogus house fire, Holmes is able to exonerate the young lawyer while proving he was set-up.
In “The Adventure of the Second Stain”, Watson and Holmes are engaged by the Prime Minister and the European Secretary to help recover a sensitive stolen political document. Tracking the document to a recently murdered spy, Holmes realizes that the European Secretary’s wife actually has the letter. The questions immediately pile up in this tale of international intrigue, blackmail and double-dealing.
In “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons”, someone is destroying small busts of Napoleon Bonaparte. At first merely a nuisance, vandalism quickly turns to murder after one of the statue owners finds a dead man on his doorstep beside a smashed statue. Reasoning his way back to the source of the statues, Holmes determines that there is more to this case than just antipathy towards the great French leader. Can Holmes and Watson solve the mystery before the bust buster strikes again?
In “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, a young woman explains to Holmes that an unknown man has been following her by bicycle on her weekly trips from the house where she works to the railroad station. Having met two friends of her recently-deceased uncle, one of the men, Carruthers, hires her as a governess and later proposes to her. The young woman being already engaged, declines. The other man, Woodley, disturbs her with rude behavior and romantic advances. Holmes connects the clues and...
In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes and Watson come to the aid of Helen Stoner, who has reason to fear her life is being threatened by her abusive stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott. Her sister, who died two years before, spoke of a “speckled band” right before she died in mysterious circumstances. To solve the mystery of the “speckled band”, Holmes and Watson stake out Miss Stoner’s room and make a momentous discovery. The eighth of the twelve stories collected in The...
In “The Adventure of the Three Students”, Holmes and Watson, on a research trip in a university town, are approached by a professor. The professor believes someone has entered his office and seen, and perhaps copied, the examination papers he is to administer the next day. Holmes begins by narrowing down the suspects to three students who live nearby. After studying several innocuous pieces of evidence, he believes he has identified the culprit. All that remains is to elicit the confession.
In The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Inspector Lestrade summons Holmes to a community in Herefordshire, where a local landowner has been murdered outdoors. The deceased's estranged son is strongly implicated. Holmes, employing his trusty magnifying glass quickly determines that a mysterious third man may be responsible for the crime, unraveling a thread involving a secret criminal past, thwarted love, and blackmail. This is the fourth of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
In A Case of Identity Miss Mary Sutherland, a woman with a substantial income is engaged to a quiet Londoner who has recently disappeared. Of the fiancé, Mr. Hosmer Angel, Miss Sutherland only knows that he works in an office in Leadenhall Street. All his letters to her are typewritten, even the signature, and he insists that she write back to him through the local Post Office. The climax of the sad liaison comes when Mr. Angel abandons Miss Sutherland at the altar on their wedding day. Holmes...