Sherlockian Shorts – The Adventure Of The Dying Detective

First published in November 1913 in the Collier’s Magazine in the US and then in December 1913 in the Strand Magazine, The Adventure Of The Dying Detective is the fourth story in the fourth collection, His Last Bow.

What’s It About?

Watson is summoned to Holmes’ side as the great detective is dying of a rare tropical disease. Only one man can save him and Watson is summoned to fetch Dr Culverton Smith. But does Smith have another agenda?

Is It A Mystery?

Not really. It suffers a little from being a Sherlock Holmes story, as regular readers can see the twist coming a mile off.

Is It Any Good?

The first half is very entertaining, but once Holmes tells Watson to hide under the bed, you can see where it is going. Still, it’s a fun read, especially the bits when Holmes is rather rude to his best friend about his abilities in both medicine and lying.

Anything Else?

Obviously I picked this one due to it being the source material for The Lying Detective, the recent episode of Sherlock, which draws very heavily on this one. Hopefully, this will revive my Sherlockian Shorts series, which has been dying itself from neglect over the past year and a bit.

NB For the full index of my Sherlockian Shorts, please follow this link.