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
15. The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (December 1908, Last Bow)
An exquisite story, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans is most notable for its ingenious method of disposing of young Cadogen West’s body. West’s murderers, when the train beneath their window pauses, place West’s body atop the train. The train carries the corpse off, then throws the body from its rounded roof to the ground while cornering. West’s body is found with no train ticket, a requisite for boarding the train, but with seven semi-critical papers relating to the patents of the new Bruce-Partington submarine. Three patent papers remain—first they are in the hands of the traitorous and indebted Col. Valentine Walter and, afterwards, in the murderous spy’s, Oberstein’s, grubby paws. These papers are the most important, and Holmes and Watson must find them. They do so, first by luring Walters into a trap, then by enticing Oberstein into a similar one. Both Walter and Oberstein rot in prison, while Holmes, for his services, gets an emerald tie-pin from the queen, and Watson gets a story to add to his collection.
Reminiscent of The Second Stain in some ways—with its list of three spies, focus on international intrigue, and stakes of national security—The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans also seems to borrow from The Adventure of the Naval Treaty. Both Naval Treaty and Bruce-Partington feature, as villains, unlikely and treasonous family members: Joseph Harrison and Valentine Walter. All three stories share a whiff of espionage. Here, however, we are treated to a special appearance. The inclusion of Mycroft, who leaves his orbit, is more coal for the Partington engine. Not often are we treated to an appearance from brother Mycroft, and this instance is the only occasion in the canon that he visits Holmes’ quarters. Typically able to collate affairs of state from his office chair, this Woolwich Arsenal matter brings Mycroft ’round, and, like seeing a leopard on a safari, we feel a real thrill at his sighting. So, though there’re some echoes of other stories in Bruce-Partington,there’s still enough ingenuity to keep readers clattering pleasantly along this tale’s tracks.
