This is from my Wordsworth Blog written last year to commemorate three Sherlock Holmes stories written in 1924. Sherlock Holmes is one of my favourites and I am sure to write more on his antics in the future.

Sherlock Holmes fiction probably conjures up images of fog bound London streets, hansom cabs and cosy scenes in 221b Baker Street with its Victorian décor.  However, this year marks the centenary of the publication of three particular Sherlock Holmes short stories and it may seem strange to think of Sherlock Holmes in the 1920s.  ‘The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire’ was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1924.  This was followed by ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’ in the American magazine Colliers in October 1924, later appearing in The Strand Magazine in January 1925.  Colliers also featured ‘The Adventure of the Illustrious Client’ in November 1924 and once again The Strand Magazine followed in suit in February – March 1925.

It seems to be taken as a given by Holmes aficionados that the quality of Conan Doyle’s earlier Holmes stories far outweigh those produced later in his life.  The final collection of stories The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, which includes the three aforementioned stories, does indeed contain some of the weaker tales in terms of plotting and solution.  This collection is discussed by the late David Stuart Davies in his Wordsworth blog of 5 June 2020, and as he suggests, many of the stories have a somewhat darker edge.

I thought it might be interesting to cast a tighter focus on these three stories as this year marks their centenary.  How then, does Conan Doyle locate Holmes within the decade of the 1920s?  Well, the answer is, that he largely avoids doing so. One of the ways around this is to have the stories told in retrospect, indeed two of the three stories are set in 1902 which allows Conan Doyle to keep that familiar feel.  Let’s move to consider each of the stories in turn.

To read my discussion of ‘The Sussex Vampire’, ‘The Three Garridebs’ and ‘The Illustrious Client’ please follow the link to the Wordsworth blog Click here.