Sherlock Holmes reread: Black Peter
Oct. 22nd, 2025 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanContinuing my reread, and another one I couldn't remember, which is particularly surprising given a strong Dundee element within it!
This is the mystery of the murder of a cruel and angry former whaler, harpooned to death in his ship-like "cabin" in the grounds of his house. It took me a while to get into this story. More of it than normal felt related at second or even third hand. Maybe I was just too tired to pay full attention (15 hours total sleep yesterday ...) But once the action shifted to the crime scene I was more attentive.
This is also another Sherlock Holmes story with police inspector Hopkins, who, unusually for police detectives, is keen to learn from Holmes and his methods. Though in this case Holmes is rather disappointed by Hopkins and his deductions.
In the end the crime is solved, including via some neat methods from Holmes to draw out the murderer. I liked the Dundee mentions most though. The murdered man had been the master of a whaling ship from Dundee. At one point Holmes sends a telegraph to Dundee to get information.
There's no Jeremy Brett TV version of this story, but I would have seen the story based on it in Jonny Lee Miller's Elementary. Hopefully I remember it better next time I reread the canon ...
This is the mystery of the murder of a cruel and angry former whaler, harpooned to death in his ship-like "cabin" in the grounds of his house. It took me a while to get into this story. More of it than normal felt related at second or even third hand. Maybe I was just too tired to pay full attention (15 hours total sleep yesterday ...) But once the action shifted to the crime scene I was more attentive.
This is also another Sherlock Holmes story with police inspector Hopkins, who, unusually for police detectives, is keen to learn from Holmes and his methods. Though in this case Holmes is rather disappointed by Hopkins and his deductions.
In the end the crime is solved, including via some neat methods from Holmes to draw out the murderer. I liked the Dundee mentions most though. The murdered man had been the master of a whaling ship from Dundee. At one point Holmes sends a telegraph to Dundee to get information.
There's no Jeremy Brett TV version of this story, but I would have seen the story based on it in Jonny Lee Miller's Elementary. Hopefully I remember it better next time I reread the canon ...