THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS NEW YORK THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Random House edition published 1952 POCKET BOOK edition published July, 1976 The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes—with the exception of one story, which was published in Life Magazine —appeared in Collier's Magazine, which originally published some of the Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This POCKET BOOK edition Includes every word contained in the original, higher-priced edition. It is printed from brand-new plates made from completely reset, clear, easy-to-read type. POCKET BOOK editions are published by POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., A GULF+WESTERN COMPANY 630 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10020. Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries, ISBN: 0-671-80604-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 54-5387. This POCKET BOOK edition is published by arrangement with Random House, Inc. Copyright, 1952, 1953, 1954, by Adrian Conan Doyle. All lights reserved. This book, or portions thereof, may not be reproduced by any means without permission of the original publisher: Random House, Inc., 201 East 50th Street, New York, New York 10022. Printed in the U.S.A. Excerpt from the Cover Flaps … The footsteps of a client are heard once again upon the stairs of 221 B Baker Street. The world’s greatest detective is back at work, miraculously returned to life in a collection of authentic adventures that have never appeared in a Sherlock Holmes book written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This series might be called "The Unrecorded Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes," since the stories are based on cases referred to in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original works but never before reported by Dr. Watson. Now under the authorship of Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr, Dr. Watson has been persuaded to describe fully the amazing adventures that were only briefly mentioned in the earlier tales. The authors have carefully reconstructed the world of Sherlock Holmes, whose headquarters was his rooms at 221 B Baker Street. Their stories are the inspired results of years of meticulous research, of creative imagination, and of scrupulous attention to the minute details that characterized all the efforts of the world’s most famous detective. The twelve stories in The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes derive from the unsolved cases to which Dr. Watson alludes in the original fifty-six stories and four novels. The plots are new, but these stories are painstaking reproductions of the originals, in construction as well as in texture. And now, once again, "the game’s afoot…" About the authors Adrian Conan Doyle, the youngest son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his literary executor, worked on the stories in this book using the very desk on which his father wrote. John Dickson Carr was one of America’s most celebrated mystery writers, the author of forty-six novels (including The Three Coffins and Till Death Do Us Part) — and of twenty-four more under the pen name of Carter Dickson. CONTENTS ALWAYS HOLMES By Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEVEN CLOCKS THE ADVENTURE OF THE GOLD HUNTER THE ADVENTURE OF THE WAX GAMBLERS THE ADVENTURE OF THE HIGHGATE MIRACLE THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLACK BARONET THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEALED ROOM By Adrian Conan Doyle THE ADVENTURE OF FOULKES RATH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ABBAS RUBY THE ADVENTURE OF THE DARK ANGELS THE ADVENTURE OF THE TWO WOMEN THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEPTFORD HORROR THE ADVENTURE OF THE RED WIDOW ALWAYS HOLMES It is fairly certain that no reader of the Strand Magazine in 1887 could have guessed that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, then making their debut in that British magazine, would soon become the world's most famous characters of fiction. It is, however, quite certain that their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had no inkling of it at that time nor many years later when he decided to do away with Holmes by having him pushed off a cliff at the Reichenbach Falls. This incident created such repercussions that public clamor forced Conan Doyle to bring his hero right back to life and to the familiar surroundings of his lodgings at 221 B Baker Street. In view of Holmes's immense popularity it is not surprising that in the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions his name has not only become a household word, but also that of a man thought to have lived. Actually, the invention of Holmes is much less an invention than some people think. The chivalry of Holmes, his penetrating mind, his erudition, his physical feats and his entire character are really and truly those of the genius who created him. Sir Arthur in real life, as Holmes in fiction, came to the rescue of people convicted for crimes they did not commit and he used the very logic and deductive reasoning that enabled Holmes to solve the problems of his clients. Sir Arthur, like Holmes, was a man of unusual physical strength who would undoubtedly have been a great boxer had he pursued that endeavor rather than being first a doctor, then a writer. Even Holmes's background, to a certain extent, parallels that of the man who created him. Though his ancestors were of the Irish landed gentry, Sir Arthur's grandmother, like Holmes's was of French extraction. His grandfather, John Doyle, was the most brilliant political cartoonist of the early 1800's. His uncle Richard ("Dicky") Doyle drew the cover for Punch which is still used. His uncle Henry Doyle was the director of the National Gallery of Ireland. His uncle James the compiler of The Chronicle of England. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his immediate forbears are the only family in Great Britain to have given in the space of three generations five separate members to the record of achievement, The National Biography. And yet, despite his distinguished ancestry, despite his celebrated historical novels, and despite his glorious Boer War record, Conan Doyle is best known to the world for having created Sherlock Holmes. Since 1887, books of Sherlock Holmes have been translated into every known language and have never been out of print. Holmes has been the hero of fifteen different legitimate stage plays, more than one thousand radio dramatizations, and he is now making his television debut in America, having already appeared on television in England. Some of the investigative methods created for Holmes by Sir Arthur were shortly thereafter adopted by Scotland Yard, the French Sûreté and police forces of many other nations. Holmes has even become the cult of many societies and the object of many imitations all of which have failed to catch the spirit of the man about whom Somerset Maugham says, in his recent book, The Vagrant Mood: "No detective stories have had the popularity of Conan Doyle's and because of the invention of Sherlock Holmes I think it may be admitted that none has so well deserved it." It is fortunate for the millions of Holmes's admirers that this new series of stories, The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, comes from the pen of Sir Arthur's youngest son, Adrian Conan Doyle, in collaboration with John Dickson Carr, who is the author of the widely acclaimed Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and has also written many of probably the best contemporary mystery novels. Adrian Conan Doyle, the author of Heaven Has Claws, a personal-experience book about his deep-sea fishing expeditions, was brought up in the tradition of the Victorian era and in close contact with his father. The son, like the father, has a lust for adventure, cherishes relics of the past, and above all has the same sense of chivalry that so completely characterized his father—or should we say Holmes? Adrian Conan Doyle uses the very desk on which his father wrote. He is surrounded by the same objects that his father handled, and he has in every way endeavored to recreate each particle of atmosphere that formed Sir Arthur's environment. The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes are based on the unsolved cases to which Watson refers in the original fifty-six short stories and four novels. Sherlockians will find added interest in the quotations which appear at the end of each story. Here are the references to the unsolved cases of Sherlock Holmes as they appeared in the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and which the present authors used as their points of departure for the twelve cases which follow. The plots are new, but the stories are painstaking reproductions of the originals, in construction as well as in texture. Conan Doyle and Carr wrote together "The Adventure of the Seven Clocks" and "The Adventure of the Gold Hunter." "The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers" and "The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle" were written almost entirely by Carr. "The Adventure of the Black Baronet" and "The Adventure of the Sealed Room" were written almost entirely by Conan Doyle. The last six stories were conceived and written by Adrian Conan Doyle after John Dickson Carr suffered a brief illness. The Exploits were inspired by the single desire of producing stories of the "old vintage"; of recreating those moments of true delight when the approaching step of a new client tells us that "the game's afoot," or when Holmes unravels his solutions to the astonished questioning of his colleagues, as in these celebrated four lines from "Silver Blaze," when the inspector asks Holmes: "Is there any point to which you wish to draw my attention?" "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Holmes.