The Art of Deduction

Review written by John H. Watson

About the Book

Most of the books that I chose, or am asked to review, are pastiches or books by authors who have studied the many adventures Holmes and I had together. Recently there have been a few books looking at specific aspects of Holmes’ ability as the first consulting detective.

The most recent of these is entitled “The Art of Deduction” by Taz Rai and is a detailed analysis of Holmes methods against several well-known text books on logic and deduction.

It is a very well-researched book which quotes frequently and accurately from my stories to present the key skills that anyone wishing to emulate the Great Detective will need to master.

Background

Rai tells me that in writing the book he began to realise the possibilities if the average person could acquire even a modicum of the skill possessed by Holmes. In many of our adventures together the most complicated problem turns out in the end to have an absurdly simple solution. Rai suggests that we can all learn from Holmes and that with the application of a little logic, rationality and observation, we can solve problems in our own lives without resorting to help from others.

Rai wondered as he read my reminiscences if it was possible to deduce and learn to think the way Holmes does. This triggered the idea of writing The Art of Deduction. He read all my stories again plus several books on logic and philosophy. He also conducted a survey to see what Holmes fans wanted and the result is the four parts that comprise his book.

He suggests that although everyone has a vague notion of logic, by reading my stories about Holmes cases, you can begin to understand what its benefits are. He believes it is important to read and understand logic and how Holmes uses logic in his work. If Holmes is thought of as a superhero then his superpower is logic, Rai suggests. He also believes that because we can relate to Holmes as being human also it is  possible for us to attain some measure of his amazing gift. Many exercise in the gym to build muscles, lose weight, etc. and he suggests that the same approach can be applied with logic and deduction in the mind. Holmes is an example of what one can acquire, but to get there is not necessarily understood.

The book is in four parts.

Part One – A Study in Sherlock

The many facets of the personality of Holmes are analysed including the rationality of his approach to a case eschewing emotion, superstition, irrationality, and fallacies. His use of evidence, the scientific method and the acquisition of useful knowledge is discussed. We then look at his methods of abstraction and distraction, his immersion in lengthy chemical experiments, and then his intense concentration. Finally his vices.

The section draws on A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Abbey Grange, The Copper Beeches, The Norwood Builder, Silver Blaze, The Valley of Fear, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Mazarin Stone, The Man with the Twisted Lip and The Yellow Face.

Part Two – A Case in Logic

This looks at the science of logic and Rai suggests that if you read these pages you will be able to infer the possibility of a Niagara or an Atlantic from the knowledge of a single drop of water (as Holmes suggests in A Study in Scarlet). The heading of the one of the sections in Part One – Five Pillows and an Ounce of Shag – would be an appropriate setting for reading this section.

Again Rai draws heavily on the Canon to illustrate the application of logic including A Study in Scarlet, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Copper Beeches, The Yellow Face, The Sign of Four, Silver Blaze, The Norwood Builder, The Boscombe Valley Mystery and His Last Bow.

If you have ever wondered what the difference is between deduction and induction, what categorical propositions, categorical syllogisms, disjunctive syllogisms and the inductive force are then this section should make it all clear!

Part Three – The Observation Ritual

You see but you do not observe must be Holmes most common admonition, of me at least. This section deals with the need for acute and meticulous observation of detail. This is about turning the familiar saying about not being able to see the wood for the trees on its head and carefully observing the trees, branches and leaves before jumping to conclusions about the wood.

In this section he draws on The Norwood Builder, The Blue Carbuncle, The Stockbroker’s Clerk, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Reigate Squire, The Sign of Four, The Golden Pince-Nez, The Dancing Men, The Resident Patient, The Valley of Fear, The Speckled Band, The Yellow Face, and of course, A Study in Scarlet, with the unforgettable “You have been in Afganistan, I perceive”.

Part Four – The Sign of Holmesian Deduction

This section takes two of our cases – The Beryl Coronet and The Musgrave Ritual – and looks at how Holmes brings all his skills to bear on a particular problem.

As with most of our adventures, they follow a common pattern. The client arrives at states the nature of the case. Then there is the initial analysis of the problem from the facts known at that point. This indicates the need for further investigation before the denouement.

Epilogue – Real World Application

The final section gives us a real world example and takes us through the same stages as in Part Four.

In Summary

Even after many years working alongside Holmes on innumerable cases, I still struggle to apply his methods and get the results he can so easily obtain. Perhaps this is a question of innate ability coupled with intense practice. He has dedicated his whole life to it and perhaps that is what gives him the edge.

Nevertheless, this book is a very thorough analysis and maybe, just maybe, the application of the principles as Rai has laid them out may make it possible to emulate Holmes. I would be interested to hear from anyone who gives it a go and achieved some measure of success.

Finally, as you can see from the cases that are listed above (and I may have missed some), the book draws on many of our cases and it may be instructive to pick out those that Rai calls on more than others and read those ones alongside Rai’s book.

About the Author

Taz Rai is a young Business Graduate living in Australia who has given up his day job to focus on his love of writing and on someone he clearly admires. He first read about Holmes when growing up as a child and Holmes’ logical approach appealed to him. He says he doesn’t have a favourite story (his book is full of examples from all over the Canon) as he says each story showcased something new about the character of Holmes.

His favourite Holmes and Watson portrayals are,  predictably in these modern times , Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Their portrayals, particularly Cumberbatch’s thinking or maybe I should say deducing machine, must serve to illustrate how difficult in practice, even with the aid of this book, it would be to emulate Holmes.

The top 10 portrayals of Sherlock Holmes

Many actors have attempted to fill the shoes of Sherlock Holmes, but who pulled off the best portrayal of the Baker Street detective? Here’s Alex’s top 10 list...

It was 125 years ago that a young Scottish physician called Arthur Conan Doyle wrote some stories about a master detective, mainly to amuse himself between appointments at his surgery.

His creation, Sherlock Holmes, loosely based on his mentor, forensic surgeon Joseph Bell, first appeared in the 1887 Beeton’s Christmas Annual, in a story called A Study In Scarlet. The maverick detective has since appeared numerous times in films and on television, portrayed by a cornucopia of eccentric actors from around the world, though chiefly from Britain and America.

The iconic image of deerstalker, pipe and tweed overcoat was a gift to comedians, and consequently, Holmes has been embodied by (amongst many others), Buster Keaton, Peter Cook and John Cleese. More recently, David Mitchell and Robert Webb played both Holmes and Watson in a confusing sketch where the two continually swapped roles. Avengers star Patrick Macnee is also among a handful of actors to have played both Holmes and Watson.

This top ten concentrates on actors who’ve played Sherlock Holmes in drama. There are so many great performances out there, that just bubbling under is Rupert Everett, who appeared with Ian Hart in 2004’s BBC movie, The Case Of The Silk Stocking.

It was no easy task to identify a top ten. I’d welcome your own lists and thoughts. This, then, is my personal choice, so here goes…

10. Ellie Norwood

Norwood played Holmes in 47 silent films, modelling himself on the classic illustration of the detective by Sidney Paget. A true method actor, Norwood studied the role with enormous diligence and brought a wonderful intensity to his portrayal both in film, opposite Hubert Willis as Watson, and on the stage. Although not especially well-known today, Norwood should be remembered as one of the first to establish and embody Sherlock Holmes beyond the pages of Strand magazine.

9. Nicholas Rowe

Nicholas Rowe was the star of the 1985 Steven Spielberg movie Young Sherlock Holmes. The film followed Sherlock’s early life and his first meeting with John Watson as the two were caught up in the first of many exciting mysteries. Rowe was engaging enough and the film has much to recommend it, but the idea of depicting the character’s formative years wasn’t entirely new. Some three years earlier, Guy Henry played a juvenile Holmes in ITV’s Young Sherlock made by Granada television.

8. Tom Baker

A year after leaving Doctor Who, Baker was invited to play Holmes by his former producer Barry Letts. The 1982 BBC television production of The Hound Of The Baskervilles, shown in the Sunday afternoon classic serial slot, was well received. Terence Rigby played Watson in a bluff style, akin to Nigel Bruce. The cast dubbed the production ”the Tom and Terry show”.

Later though, Baker admitted he felt he had “failed” in the role, pointing out his “dry run” for the part, in Doctor Who, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, was far more successful. While not a role he’s immediately associated with, Tom Baker was a memorable Holmes, and the part was a gift for his natural eccentricity and boundless charisma.

7. Arthur Wontner

Arthur Wontner won the role of Holmes having played Sexton Blake, a character seen as a flattering imitation of the Baker Street detective. Wontner earned appreciation from staunch Holmes experts, including Conan Doyle’s wife, for his approach to the role in the film The Sleeping Cardinal, which fused two separate stories: The Empty House and The Final Problem.

He appeared in five films in total between 1931 and 1937. All Wontner’s pictures had alternative titles to the original Conan Doyle. Silver Blaze, for instance, was later retitled Murder At The Baskervilles in an attempt to draw attention away from the successful Basil Rathbone movies. In point of fact, it can be seen as a sequel to that most famous of all Holmes stories.

6. Douglas Wilmer

Douglas Wilmer became the first television Sherlock Holmes when the BBC produced The Speckled Band in 1964 for anthology series, Detective (what took them so long?). He made a further twelve Conan Doyle stories in 1965. Basing his portrayal very much on Basil Rathbone, he played the role with just the right measure of forensic analysis and detached composure. Nigel Stock appeared as Watson, a role he continued to play when Douglas Wilmer handed over the deerstalker to Peter Cushing in 1968.

5. Robert Downey Jr

Over the course of two Guy Ritchie films, Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011), the magnetic personality of Robert Downey Jr has allowed his rather crass, cynical, yet likeable portrayal of the master detective to be enjoyed by cinema-goers across the world.

Supported by Jude Law as a rather dignified Watson, Downey Jr has made the part his own and delights a new generation of fans with his unkempt eccentricity and Tigger-like enthusiasm. It’s fair to say Downey Jr can empathise with Holmes’ mood swings having had something of a rollercoaster career to date. Another film will probably seal his reputation one way or the other, but it would be interesting to see him working for a different director too.

4. Peter Cushing

Although Peter Cushing first portrayed Holmes in the 1959 Hammer version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles, he is perhaps better remembered for the 16-episode, 1968 BBC series, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, when he replaced Douglas Wilmer as the Baker Street sleuth. Even as late as 1984, Cushing appeared as Holmes in the TV movie The Masks Of Death.

With his distinctive, rather bony features, Cushing certainly looked the part, and never gave anything less than a watchable and engrossing performance. Cushing played many iconic characters in his long career, but his take on the great detective is one of his best.

3. Basil Rathbone

Arguably the actor most commonly identified with Sherlock Holmes on film, Sir Basil Rathbone made 14 Sherlock Holmes movies between 1939 and 1946, creating the deerstalker and cape look in the process. Nigel Bruce played Watson in a blustering and bewildered style, which more recently has fallen by the wayside. Rathbone’s performance in the 1939 version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles was a cinematic benchmark for all the actors who followed.

Rathbone played Sherlock over 200 times on radio, and he was the distinctive Holmes during the Second World War, a time when cinema truly was king. His impact is enduring, not least on those who grew up loving the films, whether at the cinema or on television (a special season was transmitted on BBC2 in 1978, which introduced me to the character, and aired again to celebrate the centenary in 1987). Rathbone’s silhouette is iconic, and he is often spoken of as “the doyen of the detective melodrama”.

2. Benedict Cumberbatch

Star of the current BBC series Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch is Holmes for the 21st century.Doctor Who supremo Steven Moffat and  writer and actor Mark Gatiss created a series of stories loosely based on Conan Doyle’s work, but with a distinct modern day slant. As Moffat declared during the 2010 launch of the series, “Holmes is about detection… if that means to hell with the crinolines, then so be it! Other detectives have cases, Holmes has adventures…”

Benedict Cumberbatch is a fast-talking, perceptive, high cheek-boned Holmes, aloof yet prone to incredible social faux pas. Cumberbatch eschews the deerstalker image for a long coat and scarf (though his brief affection for deerstalkers was an occasional joke in series two), and nicotine patches replace the pipe. He is accompanied by the ever-perplexed Martin Freeman as an equally modern, technology-savvy Doctor Watson, who’s often seen blogging his diaries.

The BBC has a major hit with this superb and (at times) controversial 21st century retelling of the adventures of the world’s most famous consulting detective. Even purists are reconsidering things after this series, awash with GPS, texting and on-screen graphics as an integral part of the storytelling. It proves that Conan Doyle can be as relevant in 2012 as he was in the 1890s.

1. Jeremy Brett

The sorely-missed Jeremy Brett was a genuine one-off – an actor of immense skill and intense personality. In 1984 Granada television, fresh from the success of The Jewel In The Crown,produced an equally superb television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Supported first by David Burke and then Edward Hardwicke, both intelligent and thoughtful as Watson, Jeremy Brett made Sherlock Holmes so much his own that any fresh television adaptation would have to approach Conan Doyle’s work from a very different direction.

Brett was bipolar, which heightened his mannered performance as Holmes, making his sudden flashes of manic thought, wit and melancholic malaise truly convincing. Brett filmed 41 of the Conan Doyle stories over a period of ten years. Like Ellie Norwood, Brett became obsessed with character, often taking method acting to the extreme to fully embody the spirit of Holmes. In part, this dedication to intricate character detail contributed to his untimely death in 1995.

Nearly 30 years since he first portrayed the master detective from Baker Street, Jeremy Brett is seen by many as the definitive Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: a complete chronology

At last, the grand finale! Over the course of several previous installments (all linked below), diligent effort and careful reasoning have allowed us to structure a timeline of all 60 cases in the Sherlock Holmes canon, to a degree of precision of at least a month or season and a likely year even for the most ambiguous of them. I have endeavored throughout to honor (rather than contradict) whatever chronological information Watson gave us to work with, and in only one instance (WIST’s reference to 1892) was this flatly impossible. The results illuminate a number of fascinating relationships among the cases as they progress over time.

However, there is more to Watson’s writings than just the chronicled cases (and for that matter, there is more to the life of Holmes and his biographer than just the writings). Watson alludes from time to time to other cases he had recorded in his notes but which for various reasons he never chose to put in print—many of which are mentioned with enough chronological information to allow one to place them in the timeline. (These tantalizing untold tales have inspired many a latter-day author, some of whom claim to have discovered lost notes or manuscripts in Watson’s own hand, and some of whose works ring with a sense of authenticity… but there is no way to prove them authentic, and it would be foolhardy to accept them as legitimate. The Canon is what Dr. Watson allowed to have published under the auspices of his agent, Dr. Conan Doyle, no more and no less. And the sad fact is that the vaults of Cox & Co. Bank at Charing Cross, wherein Watson in his later years preserved the “battered tin dispatch box” that held his papers (as he described in THOR), was destroyed by the London Blitz during World War II. No further reminiscences from Watson’s pen shall ever be forthcoming, so as to unrevealed details all we can do is speculate… which can, however, be fun in its own right.)

This, then, is the entire chronology of the career of Sherlock Holmes, as worked out in earlier installments, supplemented here with additional notes and observations on unchronicled cases and other pertinent matters of historical context:

Title	Abbr.	Date	Notes	Pub.	Book
		1852	John H. Watson is born (date derived from STUD)
		1854	Sherlock Holmes is born (date derived from LAST)
The Gloria Scott	GLOR	Sep, 1874	Holmes’s first case, during the vacation after his second year of college	4/93	Memoirs
The Musgrave Ritual	MUSG	Jul, 1879	Holmes’s third case in London (living in Montague Street)	5/93	Memoirs
		(pre-1881)	Other cases Holmes recalls from “before my biographer had come to glorify me” (per MUSG) include: • the Tarleton murders • the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant • the adventure of the old Russian woman • the singular affair of the aluminum crutch • Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable wife • …as well as the case of Mrs. Farintosh, concerning an opal tiara (mentioned in SPEC)
A Study in Scarlet	STUD	Jul, 1880	Watson is injured in Afghanistan	12/87	Study
	“	Win, 1881	Watson meets Holmes; they take rooms at 221B Baker Street
	“	Mar 4, 1881	Watson’s first case with Holmes begins (the Jefferson Hope case); 1st app. Inspector Lestrade
Resident Patient	RESI	Oct, 1881		8/93	Memoirs
Cardboard Box	CARD	Aug, 1882?		1/93	Memoirs
Yellow Face	YELL	early Spr, 1883?		2/93	Memoirs
Speckled Band	SPEC	e. Apr, 1883	The infamous case of Helen Stoner, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, and the Indian swamp adder	2/92	Adventures
Charles Augustus Milverton	CHAS	Jan, 1886?		4/04	Return
Beryl Coronet	BERY	Feb, 1886?		5/92	Adventures
Second Stain	SECO	Aut, 1886	Holmes is retained by the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to avert a diplomatic crisis	12/04	Return
Reigate Squires	REIG	Apr, 1887	Leading into this case’s country vacation, Holmes’s health has suffered “from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the spring of ’87,” namely  “The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis… an investigation which had extended over two months,” in which he “outmanoeuvred at every point the most accomplished swindler in Europe.”	6/93	Memoirs
Greek Interpreter	GREE	Jun, 1887?	First appearance of Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft Holmes (b. circa 1847)	9/93	Memoirs
Sign of the Four	SIGN	Sep, 1887	Holmes and Watson solve the mystery of the Agra treasure for Mary Morstan, and Watson proposes to her	2/90	Sign
Five Orange Pips	FIVE	l. Sep, 1887	In addition to this (and others fully chronicled), “The year ‘87 furnished us with a long series of cases,” including: • the adventure of the Paradol Chamber • the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse • the loss of the British barque Sophy Anderson • the singular adventures of the Grice Pattersons in the island of Uffa • the Camberwell poisoning case, which Holmes solved “by winding up the dead man’s watch” •… and undated but apparently recent is the case of “Major Prendergast [and] the Tankerville Club scandal,” in which “He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.” One more (noted years later in NORW) is the case of “that terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in ’87.” Moreover, at this point in his career, Holmes admits to having “been beaten four times–three times by men, and once by a woman.” (Given the date, that cannot be a reference to Irene Adler.)	11/91	Adventures
Silver Blaze	SILV	Aut, 1887?		12/92	Memoirs
Noble Bachelor	NOBL	Oct, 1887	Besides this case: • “the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van” was recently on hand but “is quite cleared up now” • Holmes’s “last client of the [romantic] sort” was “The King of Scandinavia”	4/92	Adventures
Valley of Fear	VALL	Jan, 1888	Holmes and Watson come to the aid of John Douglas, formerly a Pinkerton agent in America, hunted by old enemies from the “Scowrers” (a thinly disguised version of the Molly Maguires)… who have tracked him with assistance from Prof. Moriarty (in the chronologically earliest reference to same)	9/14	Valley
		Win, 1888	Dr. Watson married Mary Morstan, and soon purchases a medical practice in the Paddington district (per STOC)
		Win, 1888	Watson reads (in the press) or hears (from Holmes) about, but does not participate in, several cases, including (per SCAN): • the Trepoff murder in Odessa • the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee (in Ceylon) • a delicate mission for the reigning family of Holland • the Darlington substitution scandal • the Arnsworth castle business
A Scandal in Bohemia	SCAN	Mar 20, 1888	Holmes meets (and is outsmarted by) former opera singer Irene Adler, thereafter known to him as “the woman”	7/91	Adventures
Stockbroker’s Clerk	STOC	Jun, 1888		3/93	Memoirs
Naval Treaty	NAVA	Jul, 1888	In addition to this case, the month includes two others that remain unchronicled: • the Adventure of the Tired Captain • the Adventure of the Second Stain (apparently different from the published case of that title, as it implicates “many of the first families in the kingdom,” and involves Holmes with both French and Polish authorities)	10/93	Memoirs
Crooked Man	CROO	Sum, 1888		7/93	Memoirs
A Case of Identity	IDEN	Sep, 1888	Holmes tracks down a wayward suitor for Miss Mary Sutherland. He has also recently been consulted on: • the Dundas separation case …and has “some ten or twelve” other cases on hand, including: • an intricate matter referred to him from Marseilles	9/91	Adventures
		Oct, 1888	Jack the Ripper. Although two earlier killings attributed to this notorious serial killer occurred on Aug 31 and Sep 8, the case exploded in the London press after a double killing on Sep 30, with a letter and postcard sent to the Central News Agency around that same time claiming credit and coining the name. There can be no serious doubt that Sherlock Holmes would have been consulted on so infamous a case, and we may presume he succeeded in solving it, as after one more brutal killing on Nov 9 the Ripper was not heard from again. For reasons of his own, however, Watson chose never to record or even mention this investigation… although we may note that he records no other cases during this time period. Later writers have offered more than one fictionalized account of Holmes’s pursuit of the Ripper, but we shall likely never know the true details.
Boscombe Valley Mystery	BOSC	e. Jun, 1889		10/91	Adventures
Man with the Twisted Lip	TWIS	late Jun, 1889		12/91	Adventures
Engineer’s Thumb	ENGR	Jul, 1889	One of only two cases introduced to Holmes’s attention by Watson himself (pre-Hiatus, at least), the other being: • the case of Colonel Warburton’s madness	3/92	Adventures
Hound of the Baskervilles	HOUN	Oct, 1889	Holmes solves the centuries-old legend of a spectral hound haunting the moors around Baskerville Hall	10/01	Hound
Dying Detective	DYIN	Nov, 1889	Holmes’s practice has prospered such that his rent paid to the beleaguered Mrs. Hudson is “princely” at this point	12/13	Last Bow
Blue Carbuncle	BLUE	Dec 27, 1889		1/92	Adventures
Copper Beeches	COPP	Apr, 1890		6/92	Adventures
Red-Headed League	REDH	Oct, 1890	“I find that in the year 1890 there were only three cases of which I retain any record,” says Watson in FINA. Two are chronicled; the third remains unknown. Another case (technically undated, but unknown to Watson when Holmes mentions it in 1901 (in SUSS), thus quite probably datable to this year) is that of: • Matilda Briggs, “a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared”	8/91	Adventures
		Win, 1890-’91	Per FINA: • “During the winter … and the early spring of 1891, I saw in the papers that [Holmes] had been engaged by the French government upon a matter of supreme importance” • Holmes mentions to Watson a recent case in which he has “been of assistance to the royal family of Scandinavia”
The Final Problem	FINA	Apr 24 – May 4, 1891	Holmes secures evidence to convict Prof. Moriarty’s criminal gang, but the mastermind tracks Holmes and Watson to Switzerland. In a confrontation with his nemesis at the Reichenbach Falls, Holmes seemingly perishes.	12/93	Memoirs

May, 1891 – Apr, 1894 • THE GREAT HIATUS

Having faked his own death to elude pursuit, Holmes travels the world incognito. For two years he explores Tibet as a Norwegian named Sigerson, visiting Lhassa and spending some days with the “head lama.” He passes through Persia, “looks in” at Mecca (difficult though this must have been, if Richard Burton could manage it in disguise then surely Holmes could), and pays a brief visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum (in Sudan), information about which he passes home to the Foreign Office (presumably through his brother Mycroft, who is in on the secret). He then spends some months in Montpellier, France, researching coal-tar derivatives, before returning to London. (Some Sherlockians have speculated that Holmes’s father may have been named Siger, given his choice of pseudonym.)

Meanwhile, even while mourning and memorializing “the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known” (FINA), Watson suffers an additional sad bereavement—presumably the premature death of his wife, Mary, for reasons unknown—and relocates to a small Kensington practice. (Kensington per NORW; all other details per EMPT.) (Some speculate that Mary’s death may have lay beneath Watson’s decision to relate the tale of Holmes’s death and write no more.)

Title	Abbr.	Date	Notes	Pub.	Book
The Empty House	EMPT	e. Apr, 1894	Holmes returns from his self-imposed exile and reintroduces himself to Watson, promptly solving the murder of young Ronald Adair and capturing the killer, Col. Sebastian Moran, the last of Moriarty’s old gang. Watson (per NORW) soon sells his practice and returns to the shared rooms in Baker Street.	10/03	Return
Golden Pince-Nez	GOLD	l. Nov, 1894	Watson decribes “three massive manuscript volumes which contain our work for the year 1894,” most of which sadly remain unchronicled, including: • the repulsive story of the red leech and the terrible death of Crosby, the banker • the Addleton tragedy, and the singular contents of the ancient British barrow • The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case • the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin—an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour	2/04	Return
Wisteria Lodge	WIST	l. Mar, 1895	Before commencing this case (in which he identifies the notorious ex-President Murillo, an exiled Central American despot), Holmes remarks on “how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers.”	9/08	Last Bow
Solitary Cyclist	SOLI	Apr, 1895		1/04	Return
Three Students	3STU	May, 1895	Leading up to this case, “a combination of events, into which I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of our great university towns” (i.e., either Oxford or Cambridge)	6/04	Return
Black Peter	BLAC	e. Jul, 1895	Watson reports that he had “never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year ’95. His increasing fame had brought with it an immense practice.” Shortly before this particular mystery, “a curious and incongruous succession of cases had engaged his attention,” including: • his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca—an inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope • his arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from the East End of London	3/04	Return
Norwood Builder	NORW	Aug, 1895	Other cases mentioned in the “months” since the Return include that of Murillo (WIST, above), and: • the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland	11/03	Return
Bruce-Partington Plans	BRUC	l. Nov, 1895	At the request of his brother Mycroft (making his second and last published appearance), Holmes once again comes to the aid of the government. At this stage in his career, he can refer casually to “Brooks or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who have good reason for taking my life.”	12/08	Last Bow
Veiled Lodger	VEIL	Oct, 1896		2/27	Case-Book
Missing Three-Quarter	MISS	Feb, 1897	Watson remarks that things had been “very slow” preceding this case, and that “For years I had gradually weaned [Holmes] from that drug mania which had threatened once to check his remarkable career, [and] I knew that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this artificial stimulus.” (In fact, no cocaine or other drug use is ever chronicled post-Return.)	8/04	Return
Abbey Grange	ABBE	l. Win, 1897	Holmes willingly subverts the law (not the only time, but one of the most brazen) to excuse the death of an abusive husband and reunite his wife, Lady Brackenstall, with her lost love Captain Crocker	9/04	Return
Devil’s Foot	DEVI	l. Mar, 1897	Watson: “in the spring of the year 1897… Holmes’s iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work,” requiring a rest-vacation in Cornwall at the instruction of “Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount.” It is there that this case arises.	12/10	Last Bow
Retired Colourman	RETI	Sum, 1898	Simultaneous with this case, Holmes is “preoccupied with [the] case of the two Coptic Patriarchs”	1/27	Case-Book
Dancing Men	DANC	l. Jul, 1898		12/03	Return
Problem of Thor Bridge	THOR	e. Oct, 1899	Watson mentions notes of several unsolved cases, which although undatable are worth mentioning for their curiosity value, namely those of: • Mr. James Phillimore, who, stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world • the cutter Alicia, which sailed one spring morning into a small patch of mist from where she never again emerged • Isadora Persano, the well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science	2/22	Case-Book
Six Napoleons	SIXN	Jun, 1900	In May of the previous year, Holmes was consulted about the missing Black Pearl of the Borgias, which he recovers herein. By the time of this case, he has won the unreserved respect of Lestrade and the rest of Scotland Yard, as demonstrated herein. Immediately following these events, Holmes turns to studying “the Conk-Singleton forgery case.”	5/04	Return
Priory School	PRIO	May, 1901	Holmes receives a remarkably large award of £12,000 from Lord Holdernesse at the conclusion of this case	2/04	Return
Lady Frances Carfax	LADY	Sum, 1901	There is a simultaneous case, since Holmes notes, “I cannot possibly leave London while old Abrahams is in such mortal terror of his life.”	12/11	Last Bow
Sussex Vampire	SUSS	Nov, 1901		1/24	Case-Book
Red Circle	REDC	Win, 1902	Holmes’s client in this case mentions that he “arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year… Mr. Fairdale Hobbs.”	3/11	Last Bow
Shoscombe Old Place	SHOS	May, 1902	As this case opens, Holmes is examining evidence from an ongoing one: • “the St. Pancras case [in which] you may remember that a cap was found beside the dead policeman. The accused man denies that it is his. But he is a picture-frame maker who habitually handles glue.” He also mentions to Watson another recent case, in which he: • “ran down that coiner by the zinc and copper filings in the seam of his cuff,” since which Scotland Yard has “begun to realize the importance of the microscope.”	3/27	Case-Book
Three Garridebs	3GAR	l. Jun, 1902	It is in this same month, Watson tells us, “that Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day be described”	10/24	Case-Book
		Sum, 1902	Watson leaves Baker Street for rooms in Queen Anne Street (per ILLU; a prestigious address for doctors in this period), and soon marries again (per BLAN). The details of these events remain unknown.
Illustrious Client	ILLU	Sep 3, 1902		11/24	Case-Book
Blanched Soldier	BLAN	Jan, 1903	Holmes reports that as this case arose, he: • “was clearing up the case which my friend Watson has described as that of the Abbey School, in which the Duke of Greyminster was so deeply involved” (this would appear to be a veiled reference to PRIO, as nothing else comes close; that was almost two years earlier, but perhaps some follow-up work was required) • “had also a commission from the Sultan of Turkey which called for immediate action, as political consequences of the gravest kind might arise from its neglect”	11/26	Case-Book
Three Gables	3GAB	Spr, 1903		10/26	Case-Book
Mazarin Stone	MAZA	Sum, 1903		10/21	Case-Book
Creeping Man	CREE	Sep 6, 1903	“…one of the very last cases handled by Holmes before his retirement from practice.”	3/23	Case-Book
		Aut, 1903	Sherlock Holmes retires. He moves from London to the Sussex Downs, where he takes up the study of beekeeping (as first revealed in SECO in late 1904). His farm is located “five miles from Eastbourne,” according to Watson’s introduction to His Last Bow.
Lion’s Mane	LION	l. Jul, 1907		12/26	Case-Book
His Last Bow	LAST	Aug 2, 1914		9/17	Last Bow

As in past posts, an underscore indicates a case published post-Hiatus yet set in the earlier period, and a question mark signals that the year assigned to a case cannot be certain. While I have alluded to the highlights of some of the more famous adventures, I have endeavored as much as possible to avoid spoiling the details of these tales, to preserve the enjoyment of those who may not yet have read them. (The notes therefore relate primarily to other interpolated cases and noteworthy life events.)

—

Some final observations. Much attention has been paid over the years to Watson’s statement in the opening of VEIL that “Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty-three years, and… during seventeen of these I was allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings.” If Holmes began his practice in 1877 and retired in 1903, then excluding the three years of the Hiatus that makes 23 years of “active practice,” so that fits. However, if Watson joined him in 1881 and worked with him until his retirement, then (again subtracting the Hiatus) that would be 19 years, not 17… which leaves us wondering how to account for two years in which Watson was apparently not “cooperat[ing] with him and… keep[ing] notes of his doings.”

In this context it seems particularly relevant that not a single case in this chronology falls during the years 1884 or ‘85. Other solutions have been proposed, but I believe this is the most plausible location for our “missing years.” Watson’s words in SPEC regarding “notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes”—written in ‘91, in a passage referring to Holmes in past tense—offer additional corroboration that the missing years must be early in the Partnership, thereby helping make sense of what should otherwise be a description of tenyears’ worth of notes, not eight.

Where Watson was during this period remains a matter for speculation. Some commentators point to a long-unpublished early play by Dr. Conan Doyle, Angels of Darkness, which purports to be an account of Dr. John Watson’s adventures in San Francisco in the mid-’80s, during which he woos a young woman named Lucy Ferrier; advocates of an additional marriage seem particularly fond of this solution. However, the general consensus (which seems to me far more likely) is that this was a complete fiction on Doyle’s part, using the name of his friend as a protagonist. Alternatively and more plausibly, it’s possible that Watson (having recovered from his 1880 wound) returned to complete his term of service as an Army surgeon. It’s even possible that he was wounded a second time, thereby explaining later reference to his injured leg (per SIGN, rather than his shoulder, as described in STUD).

At any rate, if Watson had notes of some 70 cases by 1891, he had far more by the end of the Partnership:  in 1904’s SOLI he informs us that “From the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a very busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of any difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years, and there were hundreds of private cases”… and later that same year, in SECO, he refers to “notes of many hundreds of cases to which I have never alluded.” We may therefore conclude without doubt that the sixty chronicled cases of the Canon, and even the others mentioned along the way as noted above, merely scratch the surface of Holmes’s career; but they are all we have. (We can also infer from the first passage that after 1901—and the huge payday in PRIO—Holmes began to wind down his practice in preparation for retirement.)

We may sadly surmise that Watson passed on in early 1927, as the last published case (SHOS) appeared that year in the March issue of The Strand, and the collected Case-Book published later that spring bore a prefatory note from Dr. Conan Doyle, rather than from Watson himself (as in 1917’s Last Bow). Conan Doyle himself likewise passed on in July of 1930. As to Holmes, matters are less clear. William Baring-Gould appears to have been the first to suggest that Holmes’s chemical research into bees’ royal jelly allowed him to distill a serum to slow his aging, a speculation now entertained by many, suggesting that he lived well beyond a typical span and may survive even today (at the robust age of 156). Certainly it is a curious fact that the Times of London has never published an obituary for Holmes, as one would surely expect in the event of the death of so famous a figure.

Confident as I am about the reasoning behind this chronology, and its validity as a framework and reading-order for the known history of Holmes and Watson, there always remain points of ambiguity about which legitimate debate may swirl, and which may never be settled with absolute authority. I welcome comments and input from readers interested in exploring such ambiguities! Surely close analysis and discussion of the available clues, after all, is a worthy tribute to the methods of the Great Detective

James Bond vs Sherlock Holmes vs Doctor Who?

I was thinking about this last night. I was wondering what you thought on which character is better. Please don't tell me which series/book/films were more well written, I was just wondering on a pure character basis, that out of The Doctor, James Bond, and Sherlock Holmes, which character you thought was better. I'll explain my somewhat bizarre comparison. All three of these things have been a huge part of my life, and I think the reason I have been so drawn to each of the characters is because of the leading character
a). They are all quintessentially English
b). They're all funny in some sort of way
c) The Doctor is mad and eccentric, Sherlock Holmes is witty and ridiculously clever, James Bond is suave and charming.

It can be any of the 11 Doctor Who incarnations if you think one is a better character than the other (which doesn't make sense since they are all the same person), and any adaption of Sherlock Holmes (or the books), any James Bond (not including the books because I haven't read them)

IMO, James Bond is the worst of the three characters (although I still love him) because he is fairly one dimensional and quite sexist. And between Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor it's a tough call. I'd prefer to meet the Doctor for the madness and excitement, I think Sherlock Holmes has a sort of upper hand in that he is so god damn clever. The Doctor is clever as well though, but not in your face clever - he's the more eccentric and more exciting of the two. Sherlock Holmes is very different.