Thursday, October 23, 2014

Book Review: "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" (Doyle, 1897)

“Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”

--Sherlock Holmes, “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange



Leigh: *Rummages through boxes. Clears away dust. Comedic coughing ensues.*

There it is! 

Hey, did you know we have a blog? I know, I was as surprised as you are! But here it is! We do! We have a blog! And I've even been told it's about Sherlock Holmes so...We should probably talk about that. Right. Yeah.

The latest adventure of the World's Greatest Detective that we're looking at is the Adventure of Abbey Grange. It starts off with Holmes saying one of his most famous lines, telling Watson he sucks, and leaving London for Downton Abbey. 

Holmes tells Watson, not for the first time, that he over sensationalizes the stories and adds too many romantic details and doesn't stick to the facts of the mystery at hand. So Watson, after having his feelings obviously hurt, says, "FINE! YOU write your own damn stories then!" And Holmes responds, "FINE! I WILL." And that is the end of that. I don't know if it's me just wanting more interpersonal drama between the detective and his biographer, but I wish this had been brought up more or even again. Watson is an important part of the duo but Holmes often times just pushes him to the side and only talks to him when he's retelling what he did when trying to figure out a mystery. 

When the duo finally arrive at Downton Abbey, the mystery isn't actually a mystery. The lady of the house's husband is killed and she says that it was a group of well known robbers who have been burgling houses all across the country. She provides numerous details that all point to the fact that this is true and that she didn't make it up at all. 

"You're right. The murderer is definitely not someone in the house."