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    His Last Bow
    His Last Bow
    His Last Bow
    Ebook245 pages4 hours

    His Last Bow

    By Arthur Conan Doyle

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    About this ebook

    Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his colleague Doctor John Watson return in His Last Bow, the second-last Sherlock Holmes anthology published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The adventures featured in this collection were written in the years before the First World War, except for the last story, “His Last Bow,” which details Holmes’ own experience during the conflict.

    Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories have been adapted numerous times, including the 2009 and 2011 movies starring Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr., and the popular television shows Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, and the BBC’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

    HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 29, 2014
    ISBN9781443434560
    Author

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most famous for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes and long-suffering sidekick Dr Watson. Conan Doyle was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

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    Reviews for His Last Bow

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    • 3/5
      (Three-and-a-half stars, really...)

      Conan Doyle's penultimate collection of Holmes short stories really shows the central elements of his work so well: bracing atmospheres, a delightful central pairing, and an eye for acts of murderous legerdemain on the one hand; stilted dialogue, lack of suspects, and often one-dimensional characters on the other.

      All of the stories here are very enjoyable, although I'd probably rank none of them on my list of "Top Ten". Wisteria Lodge, which opens the collection, is almost a novella and certainly has a lot in common - thematically and structurally - with the early novels. The Red Circle and Lady Frances Carfax also offer nothing new in terms of ideas. However, all three stories have an expertly-rendered atmosphere, and play well along the relationship of Holmes and Watson. The Devil's Foot does the same, although it has the added benefit of a truly unsettling mystery set-up. It's easy to see from these stories that, by this point, Conan Doyle knows his strengths lie in the Holmes/Watson pairing and the unsettling atmospheres, and he jumps at the chance to provide those.

      As with all his works, the dialogue can sometimes be stilted. Not so much with the main characters, or the recurring police inspectors, but with the guest characters, who often lack strong voices (although I'm sure some fans will ascribe this to errors on Doctor Watson's part, and not on the author's?). And interestingly (or unfortunately?) most of the stories have very few suspects - indeed, sometimes we only seem to meet one person connected to the deceased in any detail, which may give the game away. In fact, the question tends to be not "whodunnit?" but "howdunnit?". But perhaps this is fair enough, since the overall emphasis is often on the implausibility or seeming incomprehensibility of the case, rather than the nature of the crime itself.

      The Bruce-Partington Plans is an intriguing story, a fusion of spy and detective work which - although, again, means the revelation of the culprit is relatively unimportant - has a fun, pulpy sense of 'the chase'. It allows Holmes and Watson to work as a wonderful team, with a cameo by Holmes' evasive brother Mycroft. The Dying Detective's plot twists will fool no one, but if you've read all the rest of the stories to date, there's plenty to enjoy in a story that so feeds off the relationship of our two heroes.

      And finally there is the title story, His Last Bow. I'm not sure if it was written genuinely as a finale, but it certainly is chronologically. This is a disappointment in some ways, since our heroes feature in it only for a short time. But there's a true sense of separation and loss at the end which affected me a little. Unfortunately, the story itself isn't very good: the dialogue is arch, the villain zero-dimensional, and the actions of our heroes at the end (especially given it is set just days before WWI breaks out) would probably not be advised by the Home Office.

      In closing: this is not a collection for Holmes newcomers. But it's certainly a vital part of the canon, and well worth a look.
    • 5/5
      This should have been the last Sherlock Holmes story Conan Doyle wrote; being set on the very eve of the First World War (and written in 1917), it has a world-weary and seemingly significantly older Holmes and Watson foiling the plans of a German agent Von Bork to steal vital military and other technical data, and feels in all respects like the end of an era, including being written in the third person, unlike the earlier stories. In fact Conan Doyle published a further twelve stories throughout the last decade of his life, the 1920s, collected together as The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, stories widely seen as considerably inferior to the earlier stories and novellas featuring the Great Detective. This one is a real masterpiece with a strong impact on the reader.
    • 5/5
      A nice mystery. An older Sherlock reflects on the past.
    • 3/5
      A fairly typical novel of Sherlock Holmes. Each part is as interesting as the last and it brings about the typical fanfare. The book was decent.3 stars.
    • 4/5
      I really do enjoy these short works better than the full novels. Every one of them was quite good.
    • 4/5
      OK, so this isn't as excellent a collection as The Adventures but there are still some funny moments, fine writing and good mysteries. It's flaw is perhaps that it repeats some elements from earlier stories. The Devil's Foot is particularly good, as is The Bruce-Partington Plans with the body on the Underground tracks.
    • 4/5
      To set what I will say below into perspective: I love Sherlock Holmes. So most likely my thoughts will not be shared by some of you. Yet, to everyone who is not sure whether to read stories about the famous detective, just try a few of the stories and see how you like them. While His Last Bow is not a good point to start when you want to start right at the beginning, it gives a good impression of what Holmes stories are all about. If you are already familiar with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, this volume of stories is quite likely something you will enjoy.His Last Bow is another of many story colletions centered around detective Sherlock Holmes and his work. As it is a collection of stories I will refrain from going into detail for each one. While His Last Bow features many great stories, "The Dying Detective" is the one I liked best. On the outset, Watson is called to Holmes' rooms at 221b Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes apparently lies on his deathbed as the title of the story suggests. He seems to be terribly sick and is hardly able to speak. After refusing to be treated by Watson, he sends the latter to find Mr. Culverton Smith, who is not a doctor but very experienced with tropical diseases. As the narrative goes on and Smith arrives in Baker Street it slowly becomes clear that Holmes is actually perfectly healthy and that he just pretends to be deadly ill in order to get a confession out of Culverton Smith who murdered his own nephew.Even if it were just for the sake of "The Dying Detective", this volume is highly recommendable to readers of good detective fiction. It is on the whole a good collection of stories, each of its own worth reading. One might think to get bored by a volume of on the outside similar detective stories but this is actually not the case. The stories each have their own little twist that sets them apart from the rest. I think one of the strong points of this volume is that the stories are not overdone and, being rather short, very much to the point.On the whole, four stars.
    • 4/5
      "I followed you."(Holmes)"I saw no one."(Dr. Sterndale)"That is what you may expect to see when I follow you." (Holmes)This is the fourth out of the five short story collections with the famous detective from Baker Street. It contains eight stories - my favorites were "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", and specially "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" - Watson refers to it as the strangest case Holmes ever handled. A lot of vintage Holmes and Watson in this collection - two severed ears, stolen plans for a secret submarine, a vanished lady, madness and hallucinations, Holmes on his deathbed - or so it seems.The final story "His Last Bow" is not classic Holmes as it is a patriotic spy story written during WW1 - featuring Holmes as an under cover agent. Again Arthur Conan Doyle tries to say goodbye to the detective - the last page has yet another finality to it as Holmes and Watson are going to retire: Holmes to Watson: “Stand with me here upon the terrace, for it may be the last quiet talk that we shall ever have.”Well, it didn't work - Doyle wrote yet another 12 stories that are in the final collection "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" - looking forward to that one.
    • 4/5
      I prefer these longer stories over the earlier ones, but I like the character development in the earliest books the best. More Holmes and Watson is always a good thing.
    • 3/5
      The reading by Tom Whitworth was hard to follow because the character's voices were too similar.

    Book preview

    His Last Bow - Arthur Conan Doyle

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    His Last Bow

    Arthur Conan Doyle

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    CONTENTS

    Preface

    The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge

    Chapter I—The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles

    Chapter II—The Tiger of San Pedro

    The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

    The Adventure of the Red Circle

    The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

    The Adventure of the Dying Detective

    The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

    The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot

    His Last Bow: An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes

    About the Author

    About the Series

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    Preface

    The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between philosophy and agriculture. During this period of rest he has refused the most princely offers to take up various cases, having determined that his retirement was a permanent one. The approach of the German war caused him, however, to lay his remarkable combination of intellectual and practical activity at the disposal of the government, with historical results which are recounted in His Last Bow. Several previous experiences which have lain long in my portfolio have been added to His Last Bow so as to complete the volume.

    John H. Watson, M. D.

    The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge

    Chapter I

    The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles

    I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy day towards the end of March in the year 1892. Holmes had received a telegram while we sat at our lunch, and he had scribbled a reply. He made no remark, but the matter remained in his thoughts, for he stood in front of the fire afterwards with a thoughtful face, smoking his pipe, and casting an occasional glance at the message. Suddenly he turned upon me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

    I suppose, Watson, we must look upon you as a man of letters, said he. How do you define the word ‘grotesque’?

    Strange—remarkable, I suggested.

    He shook his head at my definition.

    There is surely something more than that, said he; some underlying suggestion of the tragic and the terrible. If you cast your mind back to some of those narratives with which you have afflicted a long-suffering public, you will recognize how often the grotesque has deepened into the criminal. Think of that little affair of the red-headed men. That was grotesque enough in the outset, and yet it ended in a desperate attempt at robbery. Or, again, there was that most grotesque affair of the five orange pips, which led straight to a murderous conspiracy. The word puts me on the alert.

    Have you it there? I asked.

    He read the telegram aloud.

    "Have just had most incredible and grotesque experience. May I consult you?

    —"Scott Eccles,

    Post Office, Charing Cross

    Man or woman? I asked.

    Oh, man, of course. No woman would ever send a reply-paid telegram. She would have come.

    Will you see him?

    My dear Watson, you know how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers. My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built. Life is commonplace, the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world. Can you ask me, then, whether I am ready to look into any new problem, however trivial it may prove? But here, unless I am mistaken, is our client.

    A measured step was heard upon the stairs, and a moment later a stout, tall, gray-whiskered and solemnly respectable person was ushered into the room. His life history was written in his heavy features and pompous manner. From his spats to his gold-rimmed spectacles he was a Conservative, a churchman, a good citizen, orthodox and conventional to the last degree. But some amazing experience had disturbed his native composure and left its traces in his bristling hair, his flushed, angry cheeks, and his flurried, excited manner. He plunged instantly into his business.

    I have had a most singular and unpleasant experience, Mr. Holmes, said he. Never in my life have I been placed in such a situation. It is most improper—most outrageous. I must insist upon some explanation. He swelled and puffed in his anger.

    Pray sit down, Mr. Scott Eccles, said Holmes in a soothing voice. May I ask, in the first place, why you came to me at all?

    Well, sir, it did not appear to be a matter which concerned the police, and yet, when you have heard the facts, you must admit that I could not leave it where it was. Private detectives are a class with whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard your name—

    Quite so. But, in the second place, why did you not come at once?

    Holmes glanced at his watch.

    It is a quarter-past two, he said. Your telegram was dispatched about one. But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking.

    Our client smoothed down his unbrushed hair and felt his unshaven chin.

    You are right, Mr. Holmes. I never gave a thought to my toilet. I was only too glad to get out of such a house. But I have been running round making inquiries before I came to you. I went to the house agents, you know, and they said that Mr. Garcia’s rent was paid up all right and that everything was in order at Wisteria Lodge.

    Come, come, sir, said Holmes, laughing. You are like my friend, Dr. Watson, who has a bad habit of telling his stories wrong end foremost. Please arrange your thoughts and let me know, in their due sequence, exactly what those events are which have sent you out unbrushed and unkempt, with dress boots and waistcoat buttoned awry, in search of advice and assistance.

    Our client looked down with a rueful face at his own unconventional appearance.

    I’m sure it must look very bad, Mr. Holmes, and I am not aware that in my whole life such a thing has ever happened before. But I will tell you the whole queer business, and when I have done so you will admit, I am sure, that there has been enough to excuse me.

    But his narrative was nipped in the bud. There was a bustle outside, and Mrs. Hudson opened the door to usher in two robust and official-looking individuals, one of whom was well known to us as Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard, an energetic, gallant, and, within his limitations, a capable officer. He shook hands with Holmes and introduced his comrade as Inspector Baynes, of the Surrey Constabulary.

    We are hunting together, Mr. Holmes, and our trail lay in this direction. He turned his bulldog eyes upon our visitor. Are you Mr. John Scott Eccles, of Popham House, Lee?

    I am.

    We have been following you about all the morning.

    You traced him through the telegram, no doubt, said Holmes.

    Exactly, Mr. Holmes. We picked up the scent at Charing Cross Post Office and came on here.

    But why do you follow me? What do you want?

    We wish a statement, Mr. Scott Eccles, as to the events which led up to the death last night of Mr. Aloysius Garcia, of Wisteria Lodge, near Esher.

    Our client had sat up with staring eyes and every tinge of colour struck from his astonished face.

    Dead? Did you say he was dead?

    Yes, sir, he is dead.

    But how? An accident?

    Murder, if ever there was one upon earth.

    Good God! This is awful! You don’t mean—you don’t mean that I am suspected?

    A letter of yours was found in the dead man’s pocket, and we know by it that you had planned to pass last night at his house.

    So I did.

    Oh, you did, did you?

    Out came the official notebook.

    Wait a bit, Gregson, said Sherlock Holmes. All you desire is a plain statement, is it not?

    And it is my duty to warn Mr. Scott Eccles that it may be used against him.

    Mr. Eccles was going to tell us about it when you entered the room. I think, Watson, a brandy and soda would do him no harm. Now, sir, I suggest that you take no notice of this addition to your audience, and that you proceed with your narrative exactly as you would have done had you never been interrupted.

    Our visitor had gulped off the brandy and the colour had returned to his face. With a dubious glance at the inspector’s notebook, he plunged at once into his extraordinary statement.

    I am a bachelor, said he, "and being of a sociable turn I cultivate a large number of friends. Among these are the family of a retired brewer called Melville, living at Abermarle Mansion, Kensington. It was at his table that I met some weeks ago a young fellow named Garcia. He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in some way with the embassy. He spoke perfect English, was pleasing in his manners, and as good-looking a man as ever I saw in my life.

    "In some way we struck up quite a friendship, this young fellow and I. He seemed to take a fancy to me from the first, and within two days of our meeting he came to see me at Lee. One thing led to another, and it ended in his inviting me out to spend a few days at his house, Wisteria Lodge, between Esher and Oxshott. Yesterday evening I went to Esher to fulfil this engagement.

    "He had described his household to me before I went there. He lived with a faithful servant, a countryman of his own, who looked after all his needs. This fellow could speak English and did his housekeeping for him. Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an excellent dinner. I remember that he remarked what a queer household it was to find in the heart of Surrey, and that I agreed with him, though it has proved a good deal queerer than I thought.

    "I drove to the place—about two miles on the south side of Esher. The house was a fair-sized one, standing back from the road, with a curving drive which was banked with high evergreen shrubs. It was an old, tumbledown building in a crazy state of disrepair. When the trap pulled up on the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and weather-stained door, I had doubts as to my wisdom in visiting a man whom I knew so slightly. He opened the door himself, however, and greeted me with a great show of cordiality. I was handed over to the manservant, a melancholy, swarthy individual, who led the way, my bag in his hand, to my bedroom. The whole place was depressing. Our dinner was tête-à-tête, and though my host did his best to be entertaining, his thoughts seemed to continually wander, and he talked so vaguely and wildly that I could hardly understand him. He continually drummed his fingers on the table, gnawed his nails, and gave other signs of nervous impatience. The dinner itself was neither well served nor well cooked, and the gloomy presence of the taciturn servant did not help to enliven us. I can assure you that many times in the course of the evening I wished that I could invent some excuse which would take me back to Lee.

    "One thing comes back to my memory which may have a bearing upon the business that you two gentlemen are investigating. I thought nothing of it at the time. Near the end of dinner a note was handed in by the servant. I noticed that after my host had read it he seemed even more distrait and strange than before. He gave up all pretence at conversation and sat, smoking endless cigarettes, lost in his own thoughts, but he made no remark as to the contents. About eleven I was glad to go to bed. Some time later Garcia looked in at my door—the room was dark at the time—and asked me if I had rung. I said that I had not. He apologized for having disturbed me so late, saying that it was nearly one o’clock. I dropped off after this and slept soundly all night.

    And now I come to the amazing part of my tale. When I woke it was broad daylight. I glanced at my watch, and the time was nearly nine. I had particularly asked to be called at eight, so I was very much astonished at this forgetfulness. I sprang up and rang for the servant. There was no response. I rang again and again, with the same result. Then I came to the conclusion that the bell was out of order. I huddled on my clothes and hurried downstairs in an exceedingly bad temper to order some hot water. You can imagine my surprise when I found that there was no one there. I shouted in the hall. There was no answer. Then I ran from room to room. All were deserted. My host had shown me which was his bedroom the night before, so I knocked at the door. No reply. I turned the handle and walked in. The room was empty, and the bed had never been slept in. He had gone with the rest. The foreign host, the foreign footman, the foreign cook, all had vanished in the night! That was the end of my visit to Wisteria Lodge.

    Sherlock Holmes was rubbing his hands and chuckling as he added this bizarre incident to his collection of strange episodes.

    Your experience is, so far as I know, perfectly unique, said he. May I ask, sir, what you did then?

    I was furious. My first idea was that I had been the victim of some absurd practical joke. I packed my things, banged the hall door behind me, and set off for Esher, with my bag in my hand. I called at Allan Brothers,’ the chief land agents in the village, and found that it was from this firm that the villa had been rented. It struck me that the whole proceeding could hardly be for the purpose of making a fool of me, and that the main object must be to get out of the rent. It is late in March, so quarter-day is at hand. But this theory would not work. The agent was obliged to me for my warning, but told me that the rent had been paid in advance. Then I made my way to town and called at the Spanish embassy. The man was unknown there. After this I went to see Melville, at whose house I had first met Garcia, but I found that he really knew rather less about him than I did. Finally when I got your reply to my wire I came out to you, since I gather that you are a person who gives advice in difficult cases. But now, Mr. Inspector, I understand, from what you said when you entered the room, that you can carry the story on, and that some tragedy had occurred. I can assure you that every word I have said is the truth, and that, outside of what I have told you, I know absolutely nothing about the fate of this man. My only desire is to help the law in every possible way.

    I am sure of it, Mr. Scott Eccles—I am sure of it, said Inspector Gregson in a very amiable tone. I am bound to say that everything which you have said agrees very closely with the facts as they have come to our notice. For example, there was that note which arrived during dinner. Did you chance to observe what became of it?

    Yes, I did. Garcia rolled it up and threw it into the fire.

    What do you say to that, Mr. Baynes?

    The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow. With a slow smile he drew a folded and discoloured scrap of paper from his pocket.

    It was a dog-grate, Mr. Holmes, and he overpitched it. I picked this out unburned from the back of it.

    Holmes smiled his appreciation.

    You must have examined the house very carefully to find a single pellet of paper.

    I did, Mr. Holmes. It’s my way. Shall I read it, Mr. Gregson?

    The Londoner nodded.

    "The note is written upon ordinary cream-laid paper without watermark. It is a quarter-sheet. The paper is cut off in two snips with a short-bladed scissors. It has been folded over three times and sealed with purple wax, put on hurriedly and pressed down with some flat oval object. It is addressed to Mr. Garcia, Wisteria Lodge. It says:

    "Our own colours, green and white. Green open, white shut. Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize. Godspeed.

    —D.

    It is a woman’s writing, done with a sharp-pointed pen, but the address is either done with another pen or by someone else. It is thicker and bolder, as you see.

    A very remarkable note, said Holmes, glancing it over. I must compliment you, Mr. Baynes, upon your attention to detail in your examination of it. A few trifling points might perhaps be added. The oval seal is undoubtedly a plain sleeve link—what else is of such a shape? The scissors were bent nail scissors. Short as the two snips are, you can distinctly see the same slight curve in each.

    The country detective chuckled.

    I thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there was a little over, he said. I’m bound to say that I make nothing of the note except that there was something on hand, and that a woman, as usual was at the bottom of it.

    Mr. Scott Eccles had fidgeted in his seat during this conversation.

    I am glad you found the note, since it corroborates my story, said he. But I beg to point out that I have not yet heard what has happened to Mr. Garcia, nor what has become of his household.

    As to Garcia, said Gregson, that is easily answered. He was found dead this morning upon Oxshott Common, nearly a mile from his home. His head had been smashed to pulp by heavy blows of a sandbag or some such instrument, which had crushed rather than wounded. It is a lonely corner, and there is no house within a quarter of a mile of the spot. He had apparently been struck down first from behind, but his assailant had gone on beating him long after he was dead. It was a most furious assault. There are no footsteps nor any clue to the criminals.

    Robbed?

    No, there was no attempt at robbery.

    This is very painful—very painful and terrible, said Mr. Scott Eccles in a querulous voice, but it is really uncommonly hard on me. I had nothing to do with my host going off upon a nocturnal excursion and meeting so sad an end. How do I come to be mixed up with the case?

    Very simply, sir, Inspector Baynes answered. The only document found in the pocket of the deceased was a letter from you saying that you would be with him on the night of his death. It was the envelope of this letter which gave us the dead man’s name and address. It was after nine this morning when we reached his house and found neither you nor anyone else inside it. I wired to Mr. Gregson to run you down in London while I examined Wisteria Lodge. Then I came into town, joined Mr. Gregson, and here we are.

    I think now, said Gregson, rising, "we had best put this matter into an official shape. You will come round with us to the

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