“I don’t think you need alarm yourself,” said I. “I have usually found that there was method in his madness.”



“Some folks might say there was madness in his method,” muttered the Inspector.



Having recently read a collection of Father Brown stories, where solutions often depend on mere coincidence and guesswork, and where criminals often go out of their way not only to kill for the strangest of motives but also to come up with the most Byzantine of plans, I cannot disagree more strongly with the In

”I put myself in the man’s place and, having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how I should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this case the matter was simplified by Brunton’s intelligence being quite first-rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it.”

”It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognise, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and which vital.”

”’Oh, if you find your own cases more interesting than mine—’ said Holmes, with some asperity.”

Having recently read a collection of Father Brown stories, where solutions often depend on mere coincidence and guesswork, and where criminals often go out of their way not only to kill for the strangest of motives but also to come up with the most Byzantine of plans, I cannot disagree more strongly with the Inspector: Holmes is a haven of sanity, and so is Watson, and so are the criminals with whom the two have to do. When it comes to good detective fiction that does not have its readers feel duped by phony surprise elements, Sherlock Holmes is more than just a notch above Father Brown., published in 1894 is a collection of 11 short stories. Originally, there was also “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box”, but it was probably the topic of adultery that led to its omission from the first London edition. We often find this story included in the compilationnow. As it is, we have the following stories in this collection:1. The Adventure of Silver Blaze: Holmes and Watson have to clear up the mystery of the disappearance of a famous racehorse, and the death of the horse’s trainer. Holmes cooperates with Inspector Gregory, who is a good observer and a logical thinker but does not have a lot of imagination, as the Baker Street detective puts it. This is easily my favourite story from the whole collection.2. The Adventure of the Yellow Face: What secret does Mr. Grant Munro’s wife hide from her husband? The story is remarkable in that Holmes is able to form a very clear idea of his client just by looking at the pipe he has forgotten in Baker Street, but eventually his theory about the mystery proves wrong – an outcome that does not cause him any grief at all because there are instances when Holmes can feel relief at being wrong.3. The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk: Holmes’s new client seeks his advice about a rather strange job he has accepted. The story bears some similarity with the Adventure of the Red-Headed League from the first collection of short stories, but it is still enjoyable.4. The Adventure of the Gloria Scott: This is actually Holmes’s first case, and strictly speaking, he is more involved in it in the quality of an observer rather than as an investigator. It takes place when young Holmes spends the holidays with his school friend Victor Trevor, whose father is visited by a sinister sailor that makes himself the master of the place in no time, apparently knowing about a dark mystery in old Mr. Trevor’s past. It is this case which makes Holmes consider living by his wits and investigating crimes, for the first time.5. The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual: Another case which predates the friendship between Holmes and Watson and which is told to Watson by his eminent friend. Here we find Holmes a treasure hunter as well as an investigator into the disappearance of his friend Musgrave’s butler.6. The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle: Holmes and Watson try to relax in the countryside, but to Holmes, work is the best form of recreation, and so he jumps at the opportunity of clearing up two mysterious cases of burglary, in one of which the perpetrators killed a servant who came into their way.7. The Adventure of the Crooked Man: Holmes is working on the case of the death of Colonel James Barclay, trying to clear the colonel’s wife Nancy, who was locked in the same room with her husband at the time of his death. A nice locked-room-mystery with a melodramatic background story.8. The Adventure of the Resident Patient: Dr. Percy Trevelyan is a promising doctor but does not have the means to establish his own practice. When old Mr. Blessington offers him to set him up as a practitioner on condition that he pay him two thirds of his income, Trevelyan accepts this business deal, little knowing that one day, his business partner would develop strong symptoms of paranoia.9. The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter: Holmes and Watson try their best to save the lives of Mr. Melos, the eponymous interpreter, and a young Greek who has been lured into captivity. This story is remarkable for the first appearance of Sherlock’s brother Mycroft, who exceeds his younger sibling with regard to the power of ratiocination but who suffers from the lack of energy, preferring to spend his days at the famous Diogenes Club – a club for grumpy gentleman who had rather be left alone.10. The Adventure of the Naval Treaty: An important document, a Naval Treaty between Great Britain and Italy, has disappeared, and Holmes is the only one to be able to retrieve it. This story has a very ironic solution.11. The Final Problem: Holmes’ fight with his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty. Contrary to the hype about Professor Moriarty, I’d say that this was by far the weakest story in the whole collection because there is actually no case looked into by our hero. One can sense the author’s preoccupation with getting rid of his master detective in a way that would satisfy his reading public and thus finding time to write about other subjects. Luckily, Doyle would give in to the public’s demand for more Holmes stories eventually, the next Holmes adventure being the famous, easily the best adventure in the entire series.All in all, this is a very entertaining collection of stories, but then Holmes and Watson are always a safe bank, at least in my books. We are getting more and more background information on Holmes, e.g. we learn that he comes from a family of country squires, or that his grandmother was the sister of the French painter Vernet. What’s more, we meet his brother Mycroft and are told how he came to the decision of dedicating his life to fighting crime.Holmes also lets us in on some of his methods, which indeed may not seem exactly mad but unorthodox, when he says, for instance:At other times, his advice sounds less egotistical:What I like best about Holmes in this collection is that he is a very human investigator: Okay, he shows certain moments of vanity, e.g. here where he has a go at Watson, who suggests that he cannot simply leave his practice alone:But on the whole, Holmes is very respectful towards Watson – I really wonder at the leniency of Mrs. Watson, who never seems to mind her husband spending so much time hunting criminals with his friend, not only neglecting his work as a medical man but also putting his life in danger. Apart from that, Holmes can also make mistakes, like the rest of us, as is shown in the second case in this collection, and he can feel delighted at finding that the truth is less detrimental to his clients than his theory made it out to be. The Reigate Puzzle also has him use Inspector Columbo’s methods, i.e. hiding his own light under a bushel in order to draw his opponents out and make them act carelessly.Yes, one can definitely say that this second collection of short stories makes Holmes seem more human, and it’s good to know that there are three more collections and two novels to follow.