Language: English
For this first reading of the full Sherlock Holmes cannon stories, I am reading them in chronological order of publication and thus have to read this present book in a very different order than its laid-out form, which starts with The casebook and followed by His Last bow.
Indeed, the last Bow was published in 1917, comprised of 8 stories from 1908-1913 & 1917. The case book was published 1927 & comprised stories from 1921-27.
Not only this, but I have to read the Last Bow in different order, thus (number in book = number in proper publication order)
2 = 1 The Cardboard box, which I should have read during the Memoirs section, because it was published in 1893, but which in this boxset had decided not to include, for some odd reason, and I hadn't noticed this miss-up. I review this story alone here.
So, this entry shall focus on the following :
1 = 2 Wisteria Lodge
4 = 3 Bruce-Partington Plans
7 = 4 The Devil's Foot
3 = 5 The Red circle
6 = 6 The disappearance of Lady Carfax
5 = 7 The Dying detective
Then, I shall actually swap books to read the Valley of fear novela, serialized in 1914-15 & published in 1915, before I resume the Last Bow with the eponymous story, published in 1917 and which is story # 8 in this book.
After reading and reviewing The Cardboard box, initially published in 1893 and in the Memoirs, I now turn to the normal form of the Last Bow, with its 7 stories.
Wisteria Lodge is set in March of 1892 and was published in May 1908. This short story is longer than most, at about 33 pages, and divided into 2 titled chapters. it describes a grotesque and horrific murder case, on which Holmes and Watson embark after Scott Eccles tells of his singular experience at the Lodge, where he spent the night and found one around upon his late waking the next morning.
This story was adapted in the 1968 BBC tv series but the episode is lost ; in a BBC radio drama, and is episode of Granda's tv show with Brett. This episode omits specific details which are part of the original story - I presume because of their graphic nature and also probably not to depict anything about the Voodoo parts of this story. Watson participates more than the written form, and the ending is changed.
In Bruce-Partington Plans set at the end of November 1895 and published in 1908, missing documents of high national importance unsettles Mycroft Holmes' habits, and during his visit to 221B Baker Street, he and Lestrade explain why Sherlock should drop everything else he's doing, to pursue the investigation of these stolen papers and an evident death connected to them. Although 29 pages long and undivided, this story flows and easy to read in his narrative.
This story was adapted partially or fully 6 times, including for Granada's tv-series, episode 25, aired 27 April 1988.
The Devil's Foot is set in March 1897. Watson recounts the events of that spring, some 13 years after the facts occurred, remember that on strict recommendation by one of his fellow doctors, that Holmes had to take a vacation in Cornwall, to avoid complete mental exhaustion after solving so many crimes. Watson remembers how, instead of resting as prescribed, their slow and relaxing days had been interrupted by a visit with a bizarre and obscure case, where, during one night, a woman seems to have died out of sheer fright, whilst two men who shared a card game with her have been driven out of their mind. Locals believe something unnatural may have occurred, but we know that Holmes and Watson are more practical. Who is right in the cause of death ?
1 BBC radio drama and 2 tv shows and 1 short movie adapted this story. Out of these, I've watched and can say that Granada's tv episode 22, which aired 6 April 1988, adapted this story really well, with verbatim dialogues and only 4 changes, 3 of them minor and 1 slightly more important, have been made.
The text of The Red circle doesn't specify any time frame for the story, and though some tried to date it, it simply cannot be done. The Red circle involves a mysterious lodger who requested a room from a landlady, with very specific rules and half the rent she wanted, leading Holmes and Watson to investigate the possible identity and reason for these odd demands.
1 movie sourced some of its characters in this story, that was seldom adapted ; only 2 BBC radio dramatizations in 1941 & 94, and Granada tv episode 39, aired 28 March 1994, which changed a few key ingredients : a new character, with a whole new story line, that isn't in the original writing ; Changes in Inspectors ; new plots that weren't present either (for the regular story's character) ; changes, at last, in sequence of events. There are simply too many of these small and bigger changes to be a properly well-made adaptation.
The disappearance of Lady Carfax isn't dated either. Here, Holmes sends Watson to Lausanne, to investigate what drove Lady Carfax to take off abruptly and disappear, and to ascertain if she's alive or dead. Meantime, Holmes has to remain in London for another case...
The story was adapted fully or as part of others into movies, a play and BBC radio drama, as well as the not so faithful episode 27 of the Granda tv show, where geographic changes are drastic, placing it entirely in the Lake District of England, where the doctor is on holiday and sees the Lady before her disappearance. There are new characters in this episode, whilst ones from the short story are taken out ; nationalities and circumstances are changed, all in all, 13 changes including the ending. That episode had aired 21 February 1991.
46th story, The Dying detective first published in 1913's Strand magazine and later in 1917's Last bow, is set in November 1890 sees Watson fetched by Mrs Hudson - Holmes' landlady - to come check on his friend Holmes who haven't been eating for 3 days, during which he lay ill in bed. Despite this, somehow, he manages to lead an investigation, right from his own bed at 221B Baker Street. The date can be ascertained from the texts announcing both November, and "second year of Watson's marriage", which we found in other stories to be 1889.
This story has an implied, untold story prior to the investigation that Holmes is conducting from his bed, and has been told in the expanded Granada tv episode 37, where a familial link is changed, but the story is faithful, despite this expansion.
At this point for chronological order of publication, I direct you to the 47th story, the Valley of Fear.
Are you back? I now move to the 48th story, closing this book with an eponymous title: His Last Bow. It was first published in the Strand magazine, like most of his stories, with illustrations by Alfred Gilbert, in September 1917. The following month, it was included in the first edition of the book of the same name, His Last Bow, sometimes with the addition Some reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes.
As for the story, it has two variants : His Last Bow: the war service of Sherlock Holmes" (particularly in the Strand), or His Last Bow: an epilogue of Sherlock Holmes".
Both titles are justifiable.
An epilogue, as it seems the last story Doyle may have intended, in yet another attempt to stop telling of his famous detective but which he'd resume in 1921. Sherlock & Watson are around 60 years of age at that point, and Holmes had been semi-retired. After the end of it, he may well retire again...
It is also a war story, taking place during WW1 and involves, as you shall, spies.
The narrator isn't Watson anymore, as this story is told in the third person.
The story starts at 9 O'clock in the evening of 2nd of August, 1914, penned by the narrator as the most terrible August in history. A case of extreme importance is investigates under the curtain of secrecy and deceit, as the two friends must stop an information leakage to the Germans during the great war (which we know as WW1).
This Last Bow reconnects two friends which had been separated a few years, during which the one, Holmes, lived in seclusion, in a very different line of work than investigation, and we don't know at this point what Watson had been doing. Either way, when they reunite, we learn that Holmes had been travelling a lot for this very case of international urgency, for the past 2 years.
The story involves some of the usual elements, whilst others are absent. For instance, we don't get the usual cold and arrogant dialogues from Holmes showing his deduction ; we only get to the result : his presence on the case.
It is slightly more predictable than other stories, probably because of this very war that was really happening in the world during Doyle's composition - which was interpreted as a propaganda tool to boost moral, and though this may well be the case, it doesn't take away the qualities shown in the writing.
The narrative in the third person may also be out of sorts for such an established saga, and may be a tad less floral in prose than some, but at least the first couple and last couple pages do include such quality we are used to by now, that it isn't really too much of a reduction in quality, and remains, in any case, entertaining to read.
Of note: there are references in this story which tie it back to the Scandal in Bohemia.
There was only one adaptation of this story, as a BBC radio drama in 1994.
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