Holmes and Detective Stories

The first thing I noticed about this Sherlock Holmes story is that it is written in the first person from the perspective of Holmes's closest colleague, Dr. Watson. This was a smart move because if the story were told from Holmes's perspective, the reader would know the outcome of the story before they came to the end. Instead, the reader is allowed to use their own reasoning to try and solve the mystery themselves. Allowing the reader to be the detective should be a very important element of all detective stories, although I haven't read any others. Arthur Conan Doyle makes this clear in his story when Holmes makes the statement, "...I fancy I may have deduced a little more but I imagine that you saw all that I did." This lets the reader know nothing has been left out and that it is possible from what they've read to also deduce the outcome of this story. A detective story is also never complete without a surprise ending, and Sherlock Holmes doesn't fail in that aspect at all. To guess that Roylott was the killer is not so unlikely, but to guess that he had trained an adder to crawl through a ventilator and down a rope would have been ridiculous, at least until it was actually the truth.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band- Taylor Bridgers

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes, is known as one of the greatest detectives in fiction writing. In the story, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Holmes portrays his sharp and intellectual detective skills. There are many elements that make this story a detective story. Throughout the passage, words such as “investigation”, “client”, “promise of secrecy” and “deductions” are used frequently to indicate the professional nature of Sherlock Holmes’ detective work. The passage also provides us with an in-depth background of Holmes’ newest client, Mrs. Hudson who is trying to solve the mystery of her sister Julia’s sudden and inexplicable death. Holmes is extremely observant, noticing small details that could easily be overlooked. He connects clues that seem unrelated, even to Dr. Watson, such as the ventilator and the dummy bell rope. Another element, in which you see in many modern day movies and television shows was the interview that Holmes gave Mrs. Hudson. Although today, these types of interviews are done on camera, in police stations, usually in holding rooms, the interview between Holmes and Hudson was a little less formal. The one thing that surprised me about this story, seeing that it is indeed a detective story, is that there was never at any point any police involved in the case. Holmes, who is a private detective, handled matters personally and put himself in the midst of the case to help solve the murder of Julia and save Mrs. Hudson from meeting a comparable fate.

“The Adventure of the Speckled Band" - Sterling

A detective story follows the investigation of mysterious crime, outlined clue by clue until solved. The theme of detection is seen in many series of books, movies, and TV shows, which continue to be popular for their ability to hold the audience’s attention. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” written by Arthur Conan Doyle, detective Sherlock Holmes is approached by a nervously frightened Helen Stoner, who mourns the mysterious death of her twin sister, Julia. This short story of Sherlock Holmes encompasses the qualities of a typical detective story, revealing clues while the plot continues but refraining from explaining how they tie together until the end. From the beginning of Helen’s recount of her sister’s death, it was apparent that the step-father, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, had motive to kill his step-daughters for money left for them by their deceased mother. Surprisingly, no other characters in the story were emphasized as suspects for the murder, placing the majority of the attention on Roylott, which made the plot less suspenseful. Detective stories discover the criminal through investigating suspects, motives, and retracing the criminal act. The biggest question in this story was exactly how the murder took place, which is not even slightly revealed until the very end. The story was not told through the perspective of Sherlock Holmes, the protagonist, but instead through his partner, Dr. Watson. This emphasized Holmes’ many good qualities, for Watson admired Sherlock for his talent as a detective and as a person.

The Adventures of the Speckled Band

In the simplest terms, “The Adventures of the Speckled Band” qualifies as a detective story because the overall purpose of the story revolves around a character seeking help to solve a murder. The victim first poses the mystery to the detective and then the detective and his assistant work, specifically through means of logic, to piece together the plausible causes of the mystery. The style of the writing, largely dominated by dialogue, helps the reader understand the details Miss Stoner explains to Holmes, starting the investigation. The logic Holmes uses throughout the story serves as the largest convention of the detective story, such as when Holmes revealed at the end of the story that he knew before they ever reached Stoke Moran that there would be a ventilator between Dr. Roylott’s room and Julia’s room. However, it is not until the end of the story that the reader realizes Holmes expected the ventilator because Julia could smell the smoke from Dr. Roylott smoking. Also, the attention given to fine details were aspects of the story that I expected to find in this detective story. Holmes was the first to notice that the bell hung in Julia’s room could not actually be rang and that the bed was clamped securely to the floor. The simple sentence structure and basic diction used in the story also allowed the reader to easily follow Holmes’ actions throughout the story.

However, I was surprised that the detective story took the perspective of Dr. Watson rather than of Sherlock Holmes. As the detective, Sherlock Holmes led the investigation and picked up on the clues that ultimately led to him solving the mystery murder of Julia; Dr. Watson merely enjoys watching Holmes at work. As a reader, I did not figure out the significance of the clues that Sherlock Holmes found until the murder was actually solved because Dr. Watson did not fully understand what Holmes was hypothesizing in his head. This story followed the basic layout that most other detective stories I have read and detective shows I have watched followed. A problem was posed to a detective. The detective conducted a series of questions to gather basic information and hypothesize solutions to the problem. The detective visited the scene of the problem. The detective solved the problem. Therefore, the layout was along the lines of what I expected for this story.