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sherlock60This week we are reading The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans. It carries the themes of debts and unlikely suspects.
As a thick London fog rolls in, Holmes and Watson are confined to their rooms at Baker Street. Naturally, Holmes is bored and Watson is put to the task of entertaining him. Luckily, before Watson becomes subject to his own police inquiry when Holmes continues to be awful at being bored, Mycroft sends a telegram. For once, he leaves his usual routine -- but of course the matter is a case of national security.
Plans for a submarine that would advance British naval supremacy have been stolen.
Being that he's already made one trip out of the usual, Mycroft hands the case over to Holmes. A junior clerk for an armory had been found dead on the train tracks with seven of ten papers detailing the sumbarine plans. Motive? Found. But how was the question. It is found that he did have ready access to the papers, but he could have also merely copied the papers to avoid raising suspicion. He also did not have ready access to the keys which would not only open the safe, but doors. Possibly made copies, but the only one who had all the keys was the senior officer -- who dies not long into the investigation, we assume because of the embarassment.
The dead man's fiance gives credence to the fact that the man had been plotting to betray his country for at least a week. And after all, he would want some money to put aside to support a family soon. But Holmes points out that the man had been found with no evidence of having been pushed alive from the train and finds not only a spy who lives by one of the open points, but correspondence in the papers that may not incriminate the junior clerk.
Holmes lays a trap, but finds that the one he expected was not whom he thought to catch -- that is, he finds the brother of the murdered senior officer! He had run up some debt in the market and the sale of the plans would wipe clean his slate. He had the keys copied and on the night the clerk was murdered, took the plans. The clerk ran off to catch the brother and overheard him selling the plans to the spy. When he confronts them, the spy hits him just hard enough in the right spot that he dies instantly. The spy and the brother put the clerk on the train which stops outside the spy's home and falls when the train switches at the points. The seven sheets, being the least valuable for the whole submarine, are put in the clerk's pocket to lay suspicion at his feet.
Holmes has the brother recall the spy back to London, somehow with the three original sheets, and we are assured that the security of the navy is secure.
It might be that I actually read this the night before, when I was exhausted, but I have few thoughts about this case. It seems well thought out and put together. I adore Holmes and Watson's interactions in this case, especially when Holmes is assured of Watson's help. I do wonder why Lestrade was chosen to accompany Mycroft -- being that this should fall under the MP, wouldn't someone from the army be on the case? Or was that a section of the army not yet formed?
Thoughts?
As a thick London fog rolls in, Holmes and Watson are confined to their rooms at Baker Street. Naturally, Holmes is bored and Watson is put to the task of entertaining him. Luckily, before Watson becomes subject to his own police inquiry when Holmes continues to be awful at being bored, Mycroft sends a telegram. For once, he leaves his usual routine -- but of course the matter is a case of national security.
Plans for a submarine that would advance British naval supremacy have been stolen.
Being that he's already made one trip out of the usual, Mycroft hands the case over to Holmes. A junior clerk for an armory had been found dead on the train tracks with seven of ten papers detailing the sumbarine plans. Motive? Found. But how was the question. It is found that he did have ready access to the papers, but he could have also merely copied the papers to avoid raising suspicion. He also did not have ready access to the keys which would not only open the safe, but doors. Possibly made copies, but the only one who had all the keys was the senior officer -- who dies not long into the investigation, we assume because of the embarassment.
The dead man's fiance gives credence to the fact that the man had been plotting to betray his country for at least a week. And after all, he would want some money to put aside to support a family soon. But Holmes points out that the man had been found with no evidence of having been pushed alive from the train and finds not only a spy who lives by one of the open points, but correspondence in the papers that may not incriminate the junior clerk.
Holmes lays a trap, but finds that the one he expected was not whom he thought to catch -- that is, he finds the brother of the murdered senior officer! He had run up some debt in the market and the sale of the plans would wipe clean his slate. He had the keys copied and on the night the clerk was murdered, took the plans. The clerk ran off to catch the brother and overheard him selling the plans to the spy. When he confronts them, the spy hits him just hard enough in the right spot that he dies instantly. The spy and the brother put the clerk on the train which stops outside the spy's home and falls when the train switches at the points. The seven sheets, being the least valuable for the whole submarine, are put in the clerk's pocket to lay suspicion at his feet.
Holmes has the brother recall the spy back to London, somehow with the three original sheets, and we are assured that the security of the navy is secure.
It might be that I actually read this the night before, when I was exhausted, but I have few thoughts about this case. It seems well thought out and put together. I adore Holmes and Watson's interactions in this case, especially when Holmes is assured of Watson's help. I do wonder why Lestrade was chosen to accompany Mycroft -- being that this should fall under the MP, wouldn't someone from the army be on the case? Or was that a section of the army not yet formed?
Thoughts?
