You will probably be able to answer these questions rather quickly.
In the Conan Doyle "Holmes Canon", what is the only story:
a) that is dated in the period when Holmes was supposedly dead in the Reichenbach Falls?
b) that has a police detective who is actually Holmes equal (for a change) in figuring out what is going on without Holmes saving his investigation?
c) that is actually written in two parts (for magazine publication purposes apparently)?
d) that has a villain based on fact as well as some details suggestive of fact?
Answer: THE ADVENTURE OF WISTERIA LODGE, which is in the collection HIS LAST BOW (1917). The story was written in 1908 or so.
SPOILER COMING UP:
It's not a bad story. Holmes and Watson are visited by a young man named Scott Eccles who needs their assistance. He was invited to the home of a reclusive neighbor named Garcia (which is an isolated estate called Wisteria Lodge), and sees a hideous faced man at the window looking in. His host is pleasant, but seemingly preoccupied. (in fact Mr. Eccles did not understand why he got the invite). But he is put up for the night. The next day he finds the house totally deserted except for the corpse of Garcia, who has been murdered. Holmes and Watson get into the case, but for a change they don't find Lestrade or Gregson involved. It is being handled by an Inspector Baynes, who actually is asking intelligent questions and making some astute observations (until the last Holmes story, THE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMAN no other similarly intelligent detective shows up in any Holmes' tale).Gradually Holmes and Baynes go about their separate investigations, until they find themselves reaching the same conclusion. Scott Eccles is innocent. The villain is not the man at the window but a mysterious and secretive neighbor Henderson. He is Don Murillo, the "Tiger of San Pedro". This man is a blood-stained Latin-American tyrant, who just managed to flee his country before he could be assassinated or executed. However, the families of his victims have been tracking him, found him hiding out in the middle of England's countryside, and tried to kill him...but the person who planned the trap, a young woman in the household, excited the suspicions of the secretary of Murillo, and they planned their counter trap and escape. Subsequently Holmes and Watson learn of the murders of Murillo and his secretary in a hotel in Madrid.
The series ended the deaths of the two villains somewhat differently. To me the best part of the episode was Freddie Jones playing the wonderful Police Detective Inspector Baynes. This character, in the story, is following the methodical plodding associated with Lestrade, but he actually is smart. Why Conan Doyle never saw fit to make a story about Baynes alone is hard to fathom.
The use of the mirrors is an interesting aspect of the teleplay, as it leads up to a cackling Don Murillo enjoying his sense of power over the woman who betrayed him and the unfortunate man sent to kill him. As he's laughing the mirror he is looking at is shown to be warped.
However the actual story has one glaring error, which is that Watson sets it in March 1892. This is the period that Holmes is hiding after killing Professor Moriarty at the Reichebach Falls. Holmes can't be solving crimes at that time.
Actually, a bit of research I did over twenty years ago explains it all. Conan Doyle picked up bits and pieces from current sensational items in the news for his story. The original ends in a Madrid Hotel where Don Murillo and his secretary are killed. In 1889 (in a Madrid Hotel) the forger and perjurer Richard Pigott committed suicide when about to be returned to England for trial. And in a French hotel in 1891 the head of the Russian Secret Police was assassinated in a French Hotel by a political enemy. Doyle liked to blend events like that in his stories. The fall from power of Dom Pedro II of Brazil in 1889 may also be part of it.
But so also is the ironic coda of the career of Don Juan Rosas of Argentina, who ruled that country in the 1840s until he fled in 1852. Rosas had once been thought of as a reformer (he impressed a youthful Charles Darwin, who writes of him in THE VOYAGE OF THE "BEAGLE", but adds a postscript admitting he was subsequently disillusioned). Rosas ended up living on a small estate in England until he died peacefully in the 1870s.
In the Conan Doyle "Holmes Canon", what is the only story:
a) that is dated in the period when Holmes was supposedly dead in the Reichenbach Falls?
b) that has a police detective who is actually Holmes equal (for a change) in figuring out what is going on without Holmes saving his investigation?
c) that is actually written in two parts (for magazine publication purposes apparently)?
d) that has a villain based on fact as well as some details suggestive of fact?
Answer: THE ADVENTURE OF WISTERIA LODGE, which is in the collection HIS LAST BOW (1917). The story was written in 1908 or so.
SPOILER COMING UP:
It's not a bad story. Holmes and Watson are visited by a young man named Scott Eccles who needs their assistance. He was invited to the home of a reclusive neighbor named Garcia (which is an isolated estate called Wisteria Lodge), and sees a hideous faced man at the window looking in. His host is pleasant, but seemingly preoccupied. (in fact Mr. Eccles did not understand why he got the invite). But he is put up for the night. The next day he finds the house totally deserted except for the corpse of Garcia, who has been murdered. Holmes and Watson get into the case, but for a change they don't find Lestrade or Gregson involved. It is being handled by an Inspector Baynes, who actually is asking intelligent questions and making some astute observations (until the last Holmes story, THE ADVENTURE OF THE RETIRED COLOURMAN no other similarly intelligent detective shows up in any Holmes' tale).Gradually Holmes and Baynes go about their separate investigations, until they find themselves reaching the same conclusion. Scott Eccles is innocent. The villain is not the man at the window but a mysterious and secretive neighbor Henderson. He is Don Murillo, the "Tiger of San Pedro". This man is a blood-stained Latin-American tyrant, who just managed to flee his country before he could be assassinated or executed. However, the families of his victims have been tracking him, found him hiding out in the middle of England's countryside, and tried to kill him...but the person who planned the trap, a young woman in the household, excited the suspicions of the secretary of Murillo, and they planned their counter trap and escape. Subsequently Holmes and Watson learn of the murders of Murillo and his secretary in a hotel in Madrid.
The series ended the deaths of the two villains somewhat differently. To me the best part of the episode was Freddie Jones playing the wonderful Police Detective Inspector Baynes. This character, in the story, is following the methodical plodding associated with Lestrade, but he actually is smart. Why Conan Doyle never saw fit to make a story about Baynes alone is hard to fathom.
The use of the mirrors is an interesting aspect of the teleplay, as it leads up to a cackling Don Murillo enjoying his sense of power over the woman who betrayed him and the unfortunate man sent to kill him. As he's laughing the mirror he is looking at is shown to be warped.
However the actual story has one glaring error, which is that Watson sets it in March 1892. This is the period that Holmes is hiding after killing Professor Moriarty at the Reichebach Falls. Holmes can't be solving crimes at that time.
Actually, a bit of research I did over twenty years ago explains it all. Conan Doyle picked up bits and pieces from current sensational items in the news for his story. The original ends in a Madrid Hotel where Don Murillo and his secretary are killed. In 1889 (in a Madrid Hotel) the forger and perjurer Richard Pigott committed suicide when about to be returned to England for trial. And in a French hotel in 1891 the head of the Russian Secret Police was assassinated in a French Hotel by a political enemy. Doyle liked to blend events like that in his stories. The fall from power of Dom Pedro II of Brazil in 1889 may also be part of it.
But so also is the ironic coda of the career of Don Juan Rosas of Argentina, who ruled that country in the 1840s until he fled in 1852. Rosas had once been thought of as a reformer (he impressed a youthful Charles Darwin, who writes of him in THE VOYAGE OF THE "BEAGLE", but adds a postscript admitting he was subsequently disillusioned). Rosas ended up living on a small estate in England until he died peacefully in the 1870s.
