Questions tagged [arthur-conan-doyle]

Questions about the works of Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) or his life as a writer.

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Why isn't Arthur Conan Doyle considered a first-rate writer? [closed]

Why isn't Arthur Conan Doyle considered a first-rate writer? I find the style of the Sherlock Holmes books astounding. Here are some of the sentences I liked: Holmes lay with his gaunt figure ...
Ziad El Hachem's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
163 views

Sherlock Holmes: What does "woman's' hand" mean?

This is an excerpt from the Sherlock Holmes novel named The Hound of the Baskervilles (emphasis mine): "Well, Sir Henry, your uncle had a letter that morning. He had usually a great many letters,...
J...S's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
440 views

Where did Doyle write that the Hound of the Baskervilles was originally intended as a "Victorian creeper", and what does this mean?

According to Wikipedia (section "Technique" in the Wikipedia page for the famous Sherlock Holmes story "The Hound of the Baskervilles"; emphasis mine): The novel incorporates five ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
106 views

In 'The Sign of the Four', what happened to the Sikh accomplices at the end?

Jonathan Small always maintained how he was loyal throughout to his other three Sikh/Indian accomplices. The last we read of them was when they all met with Sholto and Mortsan and told them about the ...
sitenkerz's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
157 views

Does "sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt" imply social class?

Quote from "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle": His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves ...
district12's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
120 views

"The Evil One" in Sherlock Holmes series

Holmes makes a reference to an individual he referred to as the "Evil One" in "The Adventure Of Charles Augustus Milverton", though without explicitly naming him: ...He is as ...
Android Won Kenobi's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
357 views

Visualising a scene described in the beginning of “The Adventure of the Three Students”

The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed window on to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college. A Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase This is the ...
sherlockz's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Meaning of "She impressed me neither favorably nor the reverse."

I'm reading "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" by Arthur Conan Doyle. I came across this sentence by the character Violet Hunter: Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colorless in mind as ...
Akash Jain's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
97 views

Is Von Bork's "I've been there" the idiomatic expression here, in "His Last Bow"?

I’d like to ask about the sentence from His Last Bow by Conan Doyle. “.. It was on my first arrival. I was invited to a week-end gathering at the country house of a cabinet minister. The conversation ...
giraffe's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
3k views

What does "more than I gave" mean in "I therefore named a price which was £500 more than I gave"?

I’d like to ask about the sentence from The Three Gables by Conan Doyle. .. but naturally I was interested in what he said. I therefore named a price which was £500 more than I gave. Here I’m not ...
giraffe's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
468 views

Was Professor Moriarty ever apprehended or killed by Sherlock Holmes?

Professor Moriarty was Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy. Was Professor Moriarty ever arrested or killed by Sherlock Holmes?
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4 votes
1 answer
286 views

In "Adventure of the Priory School", what is going on with the reward money and the cheque?

In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Priory School", Holmes shows perhaps the most amount of interest in the reward money. Holmes initially confirms the terms of the reward ...
HighVoltage's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
159 views

What did Conan Doyle mean by saying the butler would adorn a bench of bishops?

I’d like to ask about the following sentence from "The Illustrious Client" by Conan Doyle. A butler, who would have adorned a bench of bishops, showed me in and… I wanted to know what ...
giraffe's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
469 views

Which does this part refer to, a pencil or the words?

I’d like to ask about the sentence in The Red Circle by Conan Doyle. The words are written with a broad-pointed, violet-tinted pencil of a not unusual pattern. This is uttered by Holmes when he saw ...
giraffe's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
343 views

What does "loose-jointed" mean in this Sherlock Holmes passage?

I’d like to ask about the following sentence from "The Three Garridebs" by Conan Doyle: Mr. Nathan Garrideb proved to be a very tall, loose-jointed, round-backed person, gaunt and bald, ...
giraffe's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
219 views

What is "the Segregation of the Queen" in "His Last Bow"?

I’d like to ask about a sentence in "His Last Bow" by Arthur Conan Doyle. Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen. I’d like to make sure ...
giraffe's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
208 views

What is Watson's "old service" in "His Last Bow"?

I’d like to ask about a sentence in "His Last Bow" by Arthur Conan Doyle. As to you, Watson, you are joining us with your old service, as I understand, so London won’t be out of your way. ...
giraffe's user avatar
  • 493
0 votes
1 answer
82 views

Implication of "your four-in-hand takes the prize" in "His Last Bow"

I’d like to ask about a sentence in "His Last Bow" by Arthur Conan Doyle. You yacht against them, you hunt with them, you play polo, you match them in every game, your four-in-hand takes ...
giraffe's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
1k views

What was the case where Sherlock answers Watson's private thoughts?

I recall a Sherlock Holmes mystery where the detective and his assistant are in their apartment and Watson is working over some decision that he has to make. Suddenly Holmes pipes in to give his ...
ArcaneLight's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
33 views

"Last summer's manifestations" here refers to which "manifestations and incidents"?

"Last summer's manifestations" here refers to which "manifestations and incidents"? I believe they have been latterly playing us false, which may be only supplementing the genuine ...
peter's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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Does "coming and going on their own accord" refer to "ectoplasmic forms"? What does "will to do" mean?

In the following quote from Arthur Conan Doyle's History of Spiritualism, does "coming and going of their own accord" refer to "ectoplasmic forms"? What does "will to do" ...
paul's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
169 views

Meaning of "the plaster stripping off the walls"

Does "the plaster stripping off the walls" mean "a wall with fallen chunks of plaster"? The rumours of the strange doings which occurred in the Eddy homestead had got abroad, and ...
longliveamerica's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
62 views

Meaning of "Upon one other interest I have not yet touched—to me the weightiest and farthest—reaching of all"

Arthur Conan Doyle's The History of Spiritualism contains the passage quoted below. In his presidential address before the British Association at Bristol in 1898, Sir William briefly referred to his ...
paul's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
104 views

The words "latter" and "former" refer to which statements here?

The following excerpt is taken from Arthur Conan Doyle's The History of Spiritualism. I don't understand which statement is referred to by "this latter statement" and which one is referred to by "the ...
andrew's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
98 views

What does "Ministry of Angels" refer to in "The History of Spiritualism"?

What does "Ministry of Angels" refer to in Volume I of The History of Spiritualism by Arthur Conan Doyle? Judge Edmonds was pointed at in the streets as a crazy Spiritualist. Wealthy ...
nadia's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
91 views

How had Mr. Fay's coat left him while his hands were bound tightly in Arthur Conan Doyle's "The History of Spiritualism"?

In volume I of The History of Spiritualism, Arthur Conan Doyle quotes a letter from Dion Boucicault describing a performance by "the Davenport brothers and Mr W. Fay" on October 11, 1864. How had Mr. ...
nadia's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
84 views

How to interpret this "temptation"?

I’d like to ask about the sentence I’m not really sure how to interpret in The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Conan Doyle, preferably to someone who’s already read the story. “Well, it is not for me to ...
giraffe's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
397 views

Meaning of "He deserted me for others" in "The Veiled Lodger"

I’d like to ask about this sentence from the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger" (1927) by Arthur Conan Doyle: From that day I was in hell, and he the devil who tormented me. ...
giraffe's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Which London streets mentioned in Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are fictional?

In the course of the Sherlock Holmes stories, many streets are named. Let's focus here on London streets. Many of them are real, e.g. Baker St., Oxford St., Regent St. and many more. Which of them, ...
Rosie F's user avatar
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15 votes
4 answers
822 views

Was Afghanistan considered tropical or was Holmes wrong?

From the 1887 Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet: ... He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin ... Where in the tropics could an ...
stacksia's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
459 views

Should I read 'A Scandal in Bohemia' before I read 'A Study in Scarlet'?

Is it important to read 'A Study in Scarlet' before 'A Scandal in Bohemia'? I have heard that the former is the first book by Sir Arthur Connal Doyle. And it gives initial insights into the character ...
Soumee's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
512 views

How many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories are fixed in time?

While re-reading this Q&A, I was wondering how we know that, for example, the story "The Final Problem" is set in 1891. Presumably it's mentioned somewhere in the story. I recall the occasional ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
453 views

How tall was Dr. John Watson?

How tall was Dr. John Watson, from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Doyle? I have for some reason always imagined him as very tall and strong, but in a discussion today learned that I seem to be the ...
Joel's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
543 views

What did Holmes mean when he referred to Watson's habit "of telling a story backward"?

In The Problem of Thor Bridge, Holmes begins running through the background of his latest case before telling Watson that he has a client: "The fact is that the problem, though exceedingly ...
BiscuitBaker's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
292 views

Was the pun on the word 'reading' intentional in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"?

In the beginning of "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", while Holmes and Watson are on the train, we see this line: We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers which Holmes had ...
Mithical's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
407 views

Did Conan Doyle's belief in the supernatural influence his fiction writings in any way?

Arthur Conan Doyle was a believer in the supernatural. My source here is from the Muse magazine, published by Cricket Media, in the October 2011 issue, page 6, by Doug Stewart. One of the English ...
Mithical's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
758 views

Why does "The Five Orange Pips" devote an entire paragraph at the beginning to the case with the watch?

"The Five Orange Pips" opens with two rather large paragraphs. The first one describes that there are a lot of good cases. The second, however, goes into detail about one of these cases - 180 words ...
Mithical's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
998 views

Was Holmes written as a drug user in A Study In Scarlet?

In The Sign of the Four, Holmes is a drug user: Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morroco case. With his long, white, ...
Mithical's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
944 views

Why did Morris and Clay preemptively dissolve the Red-Headed League?

Spoilers ahead for The Red-Headed League. In this Sherlock Holmes story, Holmes and Watson are recruited by a flustered pawnbroker, Jabez Wilson, who has been tricked into joining a fake society, the ...
The Dark Lord's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
254 views

Do Holmes and Challenger coinhabit the same fictional world?

Doyle published The Lost World well after both killing off and reviving Sherlock Holmes. He wrote about Professor Challenger and Holmes concurrently for about fourteen years, and continued to write ...
BESW's user avatar
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21 votes
4 answers
5k views

Why Did Doyle Choose 221B Baker Street?

221B Baker Street. One of the most famous addresses in literature. But why? Was there any reason Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chose this particular address as the residence of his famous protagonist? Did ...
Beastly Gerbil's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
850 views

How much of "The Adventure of the Second Stain" did Conan Doyle have planned when he wrote "The Naval Treaty"?

The first paragraph of the Holmes story The Naval Treaty, from Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, reads as follows (emphasis mine): The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable by ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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17 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is Professor Moriarty really Sherlock Holmes' arch-enemy in the way some people think?

Some people view Professor James Moriarty as the ultimate arch-enemy to Sherlock Holmes, and that perhaps he may have been a major character in the stories and novels. If you've watched a TV series ...
Buffer Over Read's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
838 views

Are any Sherlock Holmes antagonists besides Moriarty based on real people?

I've heard that Arthur Conan Doyle's depiction of Professor Moriarty was inspired by several real-life figures, including Adam Worth. Given Doyle's wide-ranging set of villains and antagonists in the ...
HDE 226868's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
1k views

What occult references caused The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to be banned in the Soviet Union?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fascination with spiritualism and the occult is well known. However, I was surprised to find out that his short stories collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was banned ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

When do the events in The Valley of Fear take place?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's final Sherlock Holmes novel, "The Valley of Fear", is notable for being the only story other than the short story The Final Problem where Professor Moriarty plays a direct ...
user avatar
28 votes
2 answers
4k views

Is Sherlock Holmes religious?

In this question, it is established that Sherlock Holmes, from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was asexual and in explaining that it is stated that he showed very little emotion in general. This ...
Benjamin's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
215 views

Had Holmes previously encountered Charles Augustus Milverton?

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton depicts Holmes' and Watson's encounter with Charles Augustus Milverton, a man who is, according to Holmes, "the worst man in London" (he even drives Holmes ...
HDE 226868's user avatar
  • 5,864
19 votes
1 answer
488 views

How much did forensic science at the time of Sherlock Holmes' publication influence it?

Was Arthur Conan Doyle influenced by any particular forensic techniques or methods used in his time? Were there any specific ones utilized a lot in the Sherlock Holmes series? And if so, what were ...
Buffer Over Read's user avatar
24 votes
4 answers
88k views

In which order should the Sherlock Holmes stories be read?

The canonical Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle comprise: four novellas: A Study in Scarlet The Sign of Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Valley of Fear fifty-six short stories, ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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