sherlock60 | Canon Discussion Post: The Priory School

Welcome back, everyone! Let's have some canon Sherlock Holmes discussion, shall we? What did you all think of The Priory School? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Please add your own in the comments!

Discussion about the Granada adaptation of this story is available in this week's Granada discussion post.

- I found myself disturbed reading this case this time through. A child is missing for days, presumed kidnapped, and yet besides Dr. Huxtable, who works himself into a faint in 221B, there is little sense of appropriate urgency and concern from anyone from the beginning. It's unsettling. I kept wishing I could grab everyone involved and scream at them: What are you doing?

- The police are the first offenders here. They investigate ineptly before Holmes' arrival on the case, following a lead to nowhere for days on end and abandoning all local searches for the boy. After that, they disappear for good, led astray by the Duke to the South of France. Holmes never even encounters the police once in his investigation. Police rarely look good in these stories, but this is a particularly pathetic job.

- And then of course, we have the Duke of Holdernesse, a cold and haughty aristocrat who is as miserable a person as he is a parent. His first son is jealous and unstable, and the Duke coddles him for years despite his problematic behavior due to his resemblance to his mother, a lost love. Sure sounds like Jack from the Sussex Vampire, doesn't it? And like Jack, James gets away with his crimes, sent to "seek his fortune" in Australia. Is that anywhere close to an appropriate punishment for kidnapping and accessory to murder?

- The Duke is too weak to do anything more to James, of course, but shouldn't Holmes have insisted on a stronger punishment than a boat ticket? Is the only reason he didn't because of the money? The extraordinary payment involved here and Holmes' open enthusiasm for it is strange and barely explained. The Duke gives the detective a check for £12000, twice the promised reward, although it's not entirely clear why. Is it an extra bribe for Holmes to keep his mouth shut? Is half intended for Watson to buy his silence too? If it is, isn't it curious how everyone always tends to just assume that whatever Holmes wants (and here, he wants that cheque), Watson will go along with. But what if he didn't? What if he couldn't? How much can a man of honor and ethics be willing to look away from?

- Speaking of buying silence in the face of injustice, do you think the Duke will be successful keeping Reuben Hayes quiet on his way to the gallows? Does Hayes have any reason not to point his dying fingers at James? If James falls into trouble, his father may be implicated too in the coverup. And if that's the case, wouldn't Holmes and Watson be at risk as well? They are just as complicit in hiding this felony as anyone else.

- "I am a poor man." - Is Holmes being serious? At this point in his career, shouldn't he be fairly comfortable? His rates are reasonable, sure, but he often gets paid extras in gems and assorted gifts. What happened? Perhaps he's just being sarcastic, but that doesn't explain why he is so intensely and uncomfortably eager for his payment from the Duke -- other than just to see a partially guilty party squirm. So what is the deal? Does he really need the money that badly? Any guesses as to why?

Comment away, and join us next week for Shoscombe Old Place!