I’ll be uploading rankings of Sherlock Holmes stories from my new book, Wherever Fact May Lead Me: A Ranking of the Sherlock Holmes Stories, every day till we reach the best story. After that, I’ll share my ranking of the best villains in the Holmes canon. You can find the rankings on my website, and you can buy a copy of the book on Amazon.
Ranking the Sherlock Holmes Stories
47. The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (November 1926, Case-Book)
Like The Retired Colourman, The Blanched Soldier features a mystery whose outcome is easily guessed. Although unoriginal, The Blanched Soldier is saved from a lower placement by Doyle’s characteristically masterful writing. Still, it cannot rank more highly due to the fact that Holmes has no need to exert his strongest powers in arriving at the solution. Indeed, Holmes is so sure of his result that, before he makes any inquiries into the case, he brings with him a leprosy specialist to treat poor Godfrey. So many times before (in The Yellow Face, The Missing Three-Quarter, and Copper Beeches) has Doyle used the concept of shunting an individual away, that the discerning reader cannot help but arrive at this result as the story’s most probable conclusion. Perhaps the tale’s greatest twist lies in the specialist’s diagnosis. Godfrey’s disease is not leprosy but ichthyosis. Although this is a happy discovery, it does not substantively alter the etiolated character of The Blanched Soldier.
