The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Summary

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes collects the second series of Holmes stories published in The Strand Magazine from December 1892 to December 1893, ending with the tale in which Doyle tried to kill his detective. This Gutenberg text contains twelve stories. 'Silver Blaze' concerns a missing racehorse and a murdered trainer on Dartmoor, and contains the famous 'curious incident of the dog in the night-time': the dog did nothing, and that silence tells Holmes the thief was someone the dog knew. 'The Cardboard Box', about a parcel containing two severed ears, is a grim tale of jealousy and drink, which Doyle left out of many early editions. 'The Yellow Face' is unusual because Holmes is wrong, and the solution, a mother hiding her child of mixed race from her second husband, ends with the husband's generous embrace of the girl. 'The Stockbroker's Clerk' and 'The Reigate Squires' are puzzles of impersonation and forged evidence. 'The Gloria Scott' and 'The Musgrave Ritual' are early cases Holmes tells Watson himself, one about a mutiny on a convict ship and the other about an old family riddle that leads to the lost crown of Charles I. 'The Crooked Man' and 'The Resident Patient' turn on old betrayals catching up with their authors. 'The Greek Interpreter' introduces Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's older and even cleverer brother, who rarely leaves the Diogenes Club. 'The Naval Treaty' follows a stolen diplomatic document and includes Holmes's meditation on a rose as evidence of Providence. Finally 'The Final Problem' brings on Professor James Moriarty, 'the Napoleon of crime', and ends with Holmes and Moriarty apparently falling to their deaths together at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, leaving Watson to mourn the best and wisest man he had ever known. Readers were so dismayed that Doyle was forced, years later, to bring Holmes back. The stories show the series at its most varied: comic, tragic, domestic and international, with the friendship at the center growing deeper.

Plot or Argument

• Silver Blaze

  Holmes finds a missing racehorse and solves the killing of its trainer through the dog that did not bark.

• The Cardboard Box and The Yellow Face

  Two domestic stories: a parcel of severed ears traced to a jealous sailor, and a case in which Holmes guesses wrong and a husband responds with mercy.

• Early cases: The Gloria Scott and The Musgrave Ritual

  Holmes tells Watson of his first case, a convict-ship mutiny, and of a family ritual whose riddle leads to buried treasure.

• The Greek Interpreter and The Naval Treaty

  Mycroft Holmes is introduced; a stolen treaty is recovered after a long illness and a midnight watch.

• The Final Problem

  Holmes confronts Professor Moriarty, flees across Europe, and vanishes with him at the Reichenbach Falls.

Characters

• Sherlock Holmes, detective

  At the height of his powers, finally meeting his intellectual equal.

• Dr. John H. Watson, narrator

  Now married and in practice, still Holmes's faithful companion.

• Mycroft Holmes, brother

  Sherlock's older brother, a government man of even greater powers of observation.

• Professor James Moriarty, villain

  Mathematician who secretly organizes much of London's crime.

• Grant Munro, client

  Husband in The Yellow Face whose generosity resolves the case.

Lessons

• Learning from silence

  The dog that did nothing reminds us that what is missing can matter as much as what is present.

  • What other silences or absences are clues in these stories?
  • Where in ordinary life do we miss what did not happen?

• Admitting error

  In The Yellow Face Holmes misjudges the case and asks Watson to whisper Norbury whenever he grows overconfident.

  • Why does Doyle let Holmes be wrong?
  • How does humility make a reasoner better?

• Self-sacrifice

  In The Final Problem Holmes is willing to give his life to rid the world of Moriarty.

  • What does Holmes write in his last letter?
  • Is his sacrifice wise or reckless?

Context

By 1892 Holmes was the most popular character in The Strand. Doyle, eager to write historical fiction, raised his fee and then decided to end the series.

Composition

Published in The Strand Magazine from December 1892 to December 1893; collected by George Newnes in 1894. The Cardboard Box was omitted from most early British book editions and later restored in His Last Bow; this Gutenberg text includes it.

Reception

The death of Holmes caused public grief; readers reportedly wore black armbands, and subscriptions to The Strand were cancelled.

Comparisons

• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

  The first series of Strand stories, lighter in tone and more often set in London.

• The Return of Sherlock Holmes

  Doyle's answer to the outcry, opening with Holmes's return from the Reichenbach Falls.

• The Valley of Fear

  The later novel that gives Moriarty's organization a fuller story.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The clue of the dog in Silver Blaze.
• Holmes's mistake in The Yellow Face and what he says about it.
• How Mycroft compares with Sherlock.
• The tone of Watson's last paragraphs in The Final Problem.

Key terms and names

Mycroft Holmes

Sherlock's older brother, who works for the British government.

Diogenes Club

London club whose members are forbidden to speak to one another.

Reichenbach Falls

Waterfall in Switzerland where Holmes and Moriarty struggle.

Musgrave Ritual

Family catechism of questions and answers that conceals the location of a treasure.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why was the dog's silence important in Silver Blaze?
2. Comprehension How does Holmes learn about Moriarty's organization?
3. Interpretation What does The Yellow Face show about Holmes's limits?
4. Interpretation Why does Holmes speak of the rose as he does in The Naval Treaty?
5. Interpretation How does Watson's narration shape our grief at the end?
6. Big Question When is it right to risk one's life to stop a great evil?

Faith Connections

• John 15:13 (Scripture)

  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; Holmes accepts death to free the world of Moriarty.

• Matthew 6:28-29 (Scripture)

  Consider the lilies of the field; Holmes's rose meditation echoes this teaching on God's generous care.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Reason can uncover hidden wrongs, but the best detective must also be humble about his errors and ready to give himself for others.

Rhetorical device: understatement. Watson closes The Final Problem with quiet praise rather than dramatic lament, which makes the loss more moving.

Debate: Resolved: that Holmes was right to confront Moriarty alone.

Memory Work

To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Write about the friendship of Holmes and Watson as it appears in three stories of the Memoirs.

Comparison with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Compare the tone of the first and second Strand series, and explain why the second ends in tragedy.

Medical Lens

Watson practises medicine in Paddington during these stories; The Naval Treaty describes a long brain fever after a shock; The Resident Patient involves a physician and a feigned catalepsy.

• The Naval Treaty

  Percy Phelps lies nine weeks with brain fever after losing the treaty.

  Physicians Doctors

Creative Prompts

• Fiction

  Write Watson's letter to a friend the week after Reichenbach, describing what Holmes meant to him.

• Essay

  Choose two stories and show how each depends on noticing something absent.

• Classroom

  Debate whether Doyle was right to end the series with The Final Problem.

Further Reading

• The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

  Holmes comes back.