These are notes I used for reference at Virtual Bouchercon 2020
SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES with Forensics- Cheat Sheet
- “A Study in Scarlet” (1887)- Jefferson Hope’s poison pill confession. Cigar ashes. Sherlock’s observational skills similar to what Conan Doyle learned from his mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell.
- “The Sign of the Four” (1890)- curare blow gun dart. Use of Toby, the hound to track- a handkerchief with creosote.
- Quote: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
- “My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four
- “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891) Examination of boots/limp
- “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery - “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891) Uncovering someone’s disguise
- “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)-poisonous snake in vent
- “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892) Footprints in the snow
- “The Adventure of Silver Blaze” (December 1892) before the George Edalji case in 1906. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time, cuttings to maim the horse. Sheep mutilations for practice.
- “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” (January 1893) Two severed ears packed in salt thought to be prank of medical students, but Holmes knows that medical students would have access to a better preservative and suspects it came from a sailor.
- “The Adventure of the Yellow Face” (February 1893) Sherlock deduces clues about his client and owner (Grant Munro) of a pipe left behind, bite marks and repairs.
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- Quote: “…where he failed it happened too often that no one else succeeded… Now and again, however, it chanced that even when he erred the truth was still discovered.”
- “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire” (June 1893) Handwriting analysis
- “The Adventure of the Crooked Man” (July 1893) Determining cause of death (stroke vs blunt force trauma)
- “The Adventure of the Resident Patient” (August 1893) Clues left at crime scenes (footprints, cigarette butts)
- “The Adventure of the Empty House” (October 1903) Ballistics- Marksman Colonel Sebastian Moran shooting a dummy and Sherlock in disguise as old bookseller fooling Watson.
- “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder” (November 1903) Wax cast of thumbprint to place blame on the wrong suspect, forged and inconsistent handwriting.
- “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” (December 1903) Cracking a code/cipher.
- “The Adventure of the Priory School” (February 1904) As for the cow tracks, they were accomplished by shoeing the horses with special shoes shaped like cow’s hooves.
- “The Adventure of the Three Students” (June 1904) Possible forgery and cheating on an exam.
- “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez” (July 1904) Optical knowledge, cigarette ashes, footprints in the ashes.
- “The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter” (August 1904) The mystery is at last unlocked by Pompey, a beagle-foxhound cross by appearance, who tracks the doctor’s brougham to a cottage in the countryside after Holmes had coated the wheels in aniseed oil.
- “The Adventure of the Second Stain” (December 1904) Blood stains and tampering crime scene.
- “The Adventure of the Dying Detective” (1913) Disguise to get a confession about a cigarette box with a sharp spring tainted with a deadly disease.
- “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” (1910) Discovering toxic ashes from a burnt plant root. “Accidentally” knocking over a water pot to get footprints.
- “The Problem of Thor Bridge” (1922) Sherlock reconstructs crime scene using Watson’s pistol.
- “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” (1923) Involves the use of a strange drug affecting one’s behavior.
- “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” (1924) Wounds caused by poison darts and not vampirism.
- Quote: “The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.”
- “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier” (1926) Doyle’s knowledge of medicine used as a plot point (leprosy-like affliction).
- “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” (1926) Determining origin of mysterious welts on victims.
- “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman” (1926) Masking the smell of gas with the smell of paint.
Other notes of interest:
- NOTE: The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter is the story where the reader is introduced to Holmes’ older brother, Mycroft.
- The Final Problem– introduces Professor Moriarty and Colonel Moran, who is also in The Adventure of the Empty House.
- “The Adventure of the Red Circle” (1911) involves Inspector Gregson and a Pinkerton detective.
- In “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”, Holmes mentions to Watson the case of the ship Matilda Briggsand the Giant Rat of Sumatra, identifying it as “a story for which the world is not yet prepared”. This single reference has been expanded upon by a number of other authors and performers who have either created their own versions of the story or alluded to it in tales of their own.
- “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” (1926) Narrated by Holmes, because Watson does not join him on this case.
Elizabeth Crowens interview of Leslie Klinger
Suggested reading: The Annotated Sherlock Holmes series by Leslie Klinger and The Science of Sherlock Holmes by E. J. Wagner