Discussion Post: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Hi, everybody! Let me offer a special welcome to our newcomers -- thanks for joining us! So, all, what are your thoughts on The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone? As always, here are some of my questions and thoughts to get you started. Please add your own!

- The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is an unusual one. It is actually adapted from a play called "The Crown Diamond", and it is one of only two canon stories told in third person, the other being His Last Bow. The perspective here raises some questions. Are we to believe Watson wrote this story? That seems unlikely. ("Holmes seldom laughed" -- really?) But if it wasn't Watson, who was it?

- What do you think of young Billy the page boy? Billy seems a sharp tack, learning the ropes quickly from Holmes. Is he an informal apprentice? What about the ethical question of having a child in such a dangerous situation? Even Holmes expresses concern about that, although not enough concern to actually do anything more than keep the boy away from the window.

- "Count me in." Watson isn't given much to do here, but he is still the brave, eager, loyal partner we (and Holmes) know and love. He eventually acquiesces to Holmes' desires, as he inevitably does, but he puts up a fight about leaving his friend alone to face his would-be killer. Understandable -- the last time that happened was at Reichenbach.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I see this as being written by Billy - he seems to have quite a large part to play.

I liked it when Holmes accuses Watson of fibbing when he says he's got plenty of time.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Billy doing the writing seems plausible and would explain some of the more unusual characteristics. Maybe Holmes doesn't laugh as much without Watson around these days.

And yes, the fibbing bit, absolutely great. I love Watson's response about his current cases -- "No such important ones." He has sick clients, but none that might die imminently. But Holmes might.

[methylviolet10b]

I find MAZA to be one of the truly problematic stories, myself. Definitely not one of Doyle's better efforts, IMHO; too derivative of his own previous stories, and none of the characters act quite like themselves (except Billy, who only appears here, I think).