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
29. The Adventure of Black Peter (March 1904, Return)
A sensational story that would have benefited from involving our faithful chronicler Watson earlier in the case, The Adventure of Black Peter is a harpooning story with a whale of space for improvement. As the story is written, Watson is aware that his friend, Sherlock, is on a case, for Watson is able to see the ripplings of one of Sherlock’s alter-egos, Captain Basil. (Basil, by the way, was the name of the lead character in The Great Mouse Detective, a Disney story about Holmes, where Holmes and Watson, or facsimiles of them, are mice.) Watson is introduced into the case only a week after the murder happens, but, by then, a great deal of the most interesting sleuthing has already been completed. How much more captivating this case would have been if we, as readers, were summoned to the scene of the crime! How much more fascinated would we be, if we had seen the bluebottles buzzing “like a harmonium,” and if we (along with Watson) were able to see Holmes in disguise as the persuasive and believable Captain Basil in the sailors’ smoky and treacherous dens! We would have liked also, I believe, to see Holmes at the butcher’s, attempting (with minimal explanation to Watson) to thrust the harpoon through the pig. (Though, it must be said, it was also very pleasant to see him returning to Baker Street, harpoon in hand, and to hear Watson’s ejaculation of disbelief, and his astounded demand to know whether Holmes had actually been carrying that monstrous weapon through the civilized streets of London.) Other points of the story, such as the discovery of the notebook, could have been accounted for in other fashions. For instance, the notebook could have been found by the ill-used wife or daughter, who kept it (for a time), fearing that it would incriminate the man who killed their hated father, then the notebook could have been turned over to Holmes and Hopkins a week later, with repentant apologies. However, as the case stands, we have only the whiff of Holmes as he spirits in and out of Baker Street after the case has begun, and we have, furthermore, some fairly confusing timelines.
For instance, Holmes, who is in fact investigating the case, nevertheless chides Hopkins for not inviting him to review it earlier. Why Holmes needs this invitation, and when, exactly, he became involved in the case (if not from the very beginning) is a bit confusing. The reader is meant to assume that Holmes becomes intimately involved in the case, I suppose, when Hopkins appears at Baker Street, but the reader must also assume that Holmes has been investigating it seriously since the murder happened (after all, Holmes has been dressing up as Basil and throwing a harpoon into a pig with every intention of clearing the matter up).
Still, the case does not fail to pierce and pin our interest. The horror stories of Black Peter’s domestic life are morbidly magnetic; the grim tale of the securities “borrower” and his ill-fated luck in the seas off the frozen Norwegian coast supply necessary backstory; the fantastic way in which Peter Carey meets his death is thrilling; and the apprehension of Patrick Cairns is gripping. That said, if Conan Doyle had but embarked with Watson a little earlier, readers might have had an even more exhilarating voyage in The Adventure of Black Peter.
