Canon Discussion: The Retired Colourman

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week we’re having a look at The Retired Colourman. I’ve typed up a few thoughts and questions to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!

"Yes, I met him at the door." Watson does seem to be living at Baker St. in this story but at the beginning he appears to be returning first thing in the morning from somewhere else. Any thoughts?

“But is not all life pathetic and futile? Is not his story a microcosm of the whole? We reach. We grasp. And what is left in our hands at the end? A shadow. Or worse than a shadow — misery." This is pretty dark stuff from Holmes. It could almost be clinical depression—resolutely looking reality in the face, instead of managing to ignore it like most of us do. I wonder, could this be the reason Watson eventually stops living with Holmes? Perhaps Holmes suffers from depression and even though he cares about him, Watson eventually finds he can’t bear it any more? If we take Watson’s dates as right (and as rachelindeed has pointed out, we perhaps never should assume Watson is giving us the correct dates), then Watson stopped living at Baker Street shortly after the events of 3GAR. gardnerhill suggested Watson being shot might have triggered overprotectiveness in Holmes—could it also have triggered a particularly awful bout of depression for Holmes? Maybe Watson simply couldn’t cope with it any more—not on a 24 hour basis. So he moved out but only to rooms about a mile away, so he could still care for Holmes.

“Early in 1897 he married a woman twenty years younger than himself — a good-looking woman, too. if the photograph does not flatter.” Any thoughts on Mrs. Amberley? Did she marry her husband just for his money? It has to be said he didn’t seem like a pleasant man even before the murders.

“Ernest was frequently in the house, and an intimacy between him and Mrs. Amberley was a natural sequence, for you must admit that our unfortunate client has few outward graces, whatever his inner virtues may be.” Was there an affair between Mrs. Amberley and Ernest, or was it all in Amberley’s head?

“You know that I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic Patriarchs…” Any thoughts on this case?

“He was a tall, dark, heavily moustached, rather military-looking man.” It does strike me that ACD has made Barker an amalgam of Holmes and Watson…

“With your natural advantages, Watson, every lady is your helper and accomplice.” What does Holmes mean? That Watson is a handsome man? Or a charming man? Or both?

A white pellet fell from between his gasping lips. Why is Amberley carrying around the means to commit suicide? He doesn’t believe anyone even suspects the missing couple to be dead at this point—let alone that he’s in danger of being arrested for their murders. I did suggest last time that “excelling at chess marked Amberley out as having a scheming mind. Is it possible that Amberley thought ahead, working out many different outcomes, in the same way he'd think many moves ahead in chess? He didn't seriously expect to have to commit suicide, but he had that possibility covered. He wanted to "win" whatever happened.”

"You had not met Barker, Watson. He is my hated rival upon the Surrey shore. When you said a tall dark man it was not difficult for me to complete the picture. He has several good cases to his credit, has he not, Inspector?" Any thoughts on Barker? I suppose, like Holmes, his name doesn’t often appear in the papers, so Watson won’t have heard of him that way. But is it surprising that Holmes has never mentioned Barker to Watson before?

Also, last time vaysh found this article about Barker.

"His methods are irregular, no doubt, like my own.” Has Barker adopted Holmes’ methods or has he devised his own?

okapi1895 and I briefly discussed Barker in another comm last week, and something she said made me think: why does ACD, after all this time, suddenly introduce another detective like Holmes? Is he trying to make a point—Holmes is nothing special? In the preface to The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes ACD writes about a “limbo” where characters go when their time in this world is up: Perhaps in some humble corner of such a Valhalla, Sherlock and his Watson may for a time find a place, while some more astute sleuth with some even less astute comrade may fill the stage which they have vacated. It feels so odd reading that modest statement now, when we know that Holmes and Watson have become immortal characters—they’ll be read and written about long after we’re all gone.

“I sent an agent to the most impossible village I could think of…” Who was this agent? laurose8 made the suggestion last time that it might have been a now grown-up Irregular, feeling some nostalgia for the old days.

“By what devilish device he decoyed them there I do not know, but once inside the door they were at his mercy." In the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes a reference is made to a theory given by John Hall, that Amberley saw Ernest and his wife in the strong room and killed them because he was worried they were indeed going to run off with his money.

Next Sunday, 20th March, we’ll be having a look at The Veiled Lodger. Hope you can join us then.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The whole plot was so well conceived it can't have been just because Amberley saw the two of them in his strong room. I imagine even the visit to Holmes was conceived beforehand - a casual "If Scotland Yard can't help me, is there anyone you could suggest?"

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Oh, so many thoughts about where Watson might have spent his morning (I bet Small Hobbit has one, too!)

Yeah, Holmes is definitely in the dumps, but he seems to perk up pretty quickly (WHY? is a question for the fics! A little RESTORATIVE from his personal physician, mmm?)

The two Coptic Patriarch sounds pretty cool. Also a question for the fics!

Barker, oh, Barker. I had a knee-jerk reaction to him at first: WTF? I do think it makes it seems that Holmes is not special. There are Holmeses everywhere, in every corner of the country. With their own little quercks (grey glasses! Masonic pin!) And, it is kind of typical of Doyle to insert the HATED RIVAL that no one has ever heard of, including Watson! But he grew on me. And now, if I ever think of flexing my noir chops, I'd write one of him and Mrs. Amberley. Maybe she's conniving from the start for Amberley's money but I'd rather her be sort of rising to the hardship of Amberley's treatment and becoming clever and surviving the chamber and making her way to America and starting afresh.

Natural advantages, heh, heh. Of course he's handsome and charming! Come on, now! That is not a matter for discussion. :)

And I just want to say that the murder chamber is VERY CREEPY. I find Doyle amazing because he's so varied. Because sometimes almost nothing happens (a stone in a pocket or a goose or a jellyfish sting) and sometimes it's creepy!Creepy!CREEPY! Like burying someone alive!

[debriswoman]

I wonder at what point the gas pipe arrangement was installed?

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I could make a suggestion as to where Watson has been (although Frankles wouldn't thank me!)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Hardly a spur of the minute job.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Debriswoman's entry brought up a good point: that maybe Amberley's madness might have had to do with toxic exposure to the chemicals in the paints from his business.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

We understand there has been an altercation with a telephone wire. Normal service from Frankles will be resumed as soon as possible.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Or as normal as you're going to get with Frankles ^^

Just copied and pasted the comments into a file in my flash drive - I shall ponder the points at home.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

In the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes a reference is made to a theory given by John Hall, that Amberley saw Ernest and his wife in the strong room and killed them because he was worried they were indeed going to run off with his money. I suppose I have wronged John Hall a little here ^^ I've stated his theory as a reason why Mrs. Amberley and Ernest wanted to go into the room and I've implied Amberley then killed them immediately, the first time they were in the strongroom. But Hall's theory is essentially about the motive - he thought it was over concern for the money, not over Amberley's jealousy about his wife's relationship with Ernest. Seeing them in the strongroom would have triggered Amberley's decision to murder them but he then probably killed them at a later date. I suppose in Hall's theory, Amberley didn't have to lure his victims into the strongroom - he just pretended to get out of the way and let them go in voluntarily.

I completely agree that the plot does seem to be very well worked out - and Amberley is so calm until he's directly challenged. That does imply he planned the murders - he was emotionally prepared for carrying them out.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I always wonder reading this story if the pipe is there expressly to murder people, or if it's supposed to be a source of gas for a light. And whether the light fitting was already missing or if Amberley removed it. Could Amberley have always had the idea of murdering intruders if they managed to get into the strongroom? The New Annotated wonders if Amberley had had the idea of murdering his wife from the beginning.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Holmes is definitely in the dumps, but he seems to perk up pretty quickly... Holmes' mood just seems to come out of nowhere - it's an oddly intense reaction to Amberley. I did wonder last time if Amberley's situation was reminding Holmes of something else - something a little more personal.

And I'm rather intrigued by the direction your thoughts went in connection with Mrs. Amberley and Ernest. I suppose the thing is, Mrs. Amberley is no naive young bride - she must have been over 40 when she married Amberley. She may well have been aware that Amberley was up to something and she was in danger from him.

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes says that the murder chamber may have been inspired by a real life serial killer. But in that man's case, it was a murder hotel. I found the details (and it doesn't go into great detail) rather disturbing.

And yes, of course, Watson is handsome and charming ^_^ (Forever a Watson girl ^_^)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

It is an intriguing thought and possibility.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Is that real life case the guy at the World's Fair in Chicago? And of course Barker's first name is Ernest! Too good not to fic!

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

There's a Freudian slip for you - I meant to put "Barker" when I put "Ernest" ^^" But it would make for a very interesting twist Ernest being Barker's first name...

And you're absolutely right - the murderer was indeed H.H. Holmes.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Watson returning from spending the night with a certain inspector is a perfectly acceptable theory. I just wish you'd let the other boys and girls have a turn at answering the question :P

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee. Well his name is Ernest now as far as I'm concerned. Devil in a White City is one of my favorite books.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I was only responding to Okapi - it would be rude to ignore her ;)