Canon Discussion: The Three Garridebs
Aug. 27th, 2017 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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sherlock60This week we are reading The Three Garridebs.
I found this to be a much more interesting and satisfying case, tying up more of loose ends and cases with a spot of misadventure and friendship. For those of you who are following along with the suggested topic of the round, I think the theme of this case is hidden secrets and plots.
We open this case with Holmes teasing Watson with the particulars of a unique case, but refusing, as usual, to not give away any details until the actors involved are revealed. Save of course for the fact that we have an unusual name that on the surface would involve any number of wild ideas for a plot.
Enter one J. Garrideb who is an American -- claiming only to be recently in the country but his clothes tell another tale -- looking for three other Garridebs. He's found one, the man who called Holmes into the case, and he amicably agrees to let Holmes aid in the case. Quite fortunate however that he founds the third before Holmes can rightly put the case to rights for N. Garrideb.
As expected, it was a ruse to get N Garrideb out of the house and as the reader suspects, it was a ruse to for J. Garrideb -- now revealed to be a murderer -- to get into the home of N Garrideb. Naturally he has qualms about shooting to get his prize, but luckily for our heroes, he missed and Holmes takes charge. The man J Garrideb had shot a counterfeiter and had found the printing press, neatly tying up this case and one for Scotland Yard for the missing counterfeit money.
Whew. I rather liked this tale (if it was not obvious). Much more satisfying than our last one. I was rather put out because this and our previous one were in the same collection -- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes -- so the plot were almost the same. A person occuying the house is targeted by a criminal who wishes to gain entrance to their home in order to take possesion of an item, but don't wish anyone to know what that item is. However, this is a great improvement over the previous story.
We do have a plot within a plot -- Killer Evans was convicted for the murder of another man some years ago. The murdered man was a counterfeiter whom everyone in polite society was glad to be rid of, but the counterfeit money had never been found. The conclusion of this care therefore neatly wraps that up. And we can assume of course that now that Killer Evans is back behind bars, we need not worry (at least for now) that a murderer is safely locked away. Both cases, neatly solved.
I do feel terrible for N Garrideb, rather opposite of our last client who at least got to travel around the world post cast. Poor N Garrideb lost what strength he did have left and retired to a home in the country. (One does wonder I think what happened to his wonderful collection.)
And lastly we have Holmes and Watson who open with a wonderful conversation full of familiarity and the end where Holmes fusses over Watson and defends his friend before addressing the needs of the case.
I'm happy with this story. What are your thoughts however?
I found this to be a much more interesting and satisfying case, tying up more of loose ends and cases with a spot of misadventure and friendship. For those of you who are following along with the suggested topic of the round, I think the theme of this case is hidden secrets and plots.
We open this case with Holmes teasing Watson with the particulars of a unique case, but refusing, as usual, to not give away any details until the actors involved are revealed. Save of course for the fact that we have an unusual name that on the surface would involve any number of wild ideas for a plot.
Enter one J. Garrideb who is an American -- claiming only to be recently in the country but his clothes tell another tale -- looking for three other Garridebs. He's found one, the man who called Holmes into the case, and he amicably agrees to let Holmes aid in the case. Quite fortunate however that he founds the third before Holmes can rightly put the case to rights for N. Garrideb.
As expected, it was a ruse to get N Garrideb out of the house and as the reader suspects, it was a ruse to for J. Garrideb -- now revealed to be a murderer -- to get into the home of N Garrideb. Naturally he has qualms about shooting to get his prize, but luckily for our heroes, he missed and Holmes takes charge. The man J Garrideb had shot a counterfeiter and had found the printing press, neatly tying up this case and one for Scotland Yard for the missing counterfeit money.
Whew. I rather liked this tale (if it was not obvious). Much more satisfying than our last one. I was rather put out because this and our previous one were in the same collection -- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes -- so the plot were almost the same. A person occuying the house is targeted by a criminal who wishes to gain entrance to their home in order to take possesion of an item, but don't wish anyone to know what that item is. However, this is a great improvement over the previous story.
We do have a plot within a plot -- Killer Evans was convicted for the murder of another man some years ago. The murdered man was a counterfeiter whom everyone in polite society was glad to be rid of, but the counterfeit money had never been found. The conclusion of this care therefore neatly wraps that up. And we can assume of course that now that Killer Evans is back behind bars, we need not worry (at least for now) that a murderer is safely locked away. Both cases, neatly solved.
I do feel terrible for N Garrideb, rather opposite of our last client who at least got to travel around the world post cast. Poor N Garrideb lost what strength he did have left and retired to a home in the country. (One does wonder I think what happened to his wonderful collection.)
And lastly we have Holmes and Watson who open with a wonderful conversation full of familiarity and the end where Holmes fusses over Watson and defends his friend before addressing the needs of the case.
I'm happy with this story. What are your thoughts however?
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 04:49 pm (UTC)We do have the opening where Holmes refuses a knighthood for a second time. (One of these days Victoria or Edward is just going to have to tackle Holmes and forcibly pin it on.)
As for Holmes' reaction - the real reason we read and re-read this one? I can only conjecture that part of his over-the-top reaction and panic could be for the precise reason that this case was such a trivial and petty affair, a mere diversion - and to lose Watson to such a case would be unbearable. (Then again, Watson could tell Holmes that most deaths in wartime are due to such petty and trivial reasons. This is a man who was wounded in a major battle, but who nearly lost his life not to the wound but to a fever that followed.)
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 09:27 pm (UTC)I do sometimes wonder if perhaps she did force it on him, but he kept it a secret.
This story is one of my favorites, not for the plot but for these boys. However you see their relationship, it's a story about them rather than the case itself, I think. Watson could assure Holmes, but I doubt the man would listen!