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vivdunstanOnto another one, which I could remember!
This is the tale of the mysterious murder of the secretary of an aged professor. It's one of the Holmes original stories where a plan of the relevant geography is included. For once I found this quite useful, despite my difficulties visualising things in my head, that plans or maps don't always help much with.
The story as it pans out is rather tragic one, of a needless death, at the hands of the estranged glasses-wearing wife of the professor. Who I could remember vividly in the Jeremy Brett 1994 TV version as played by Anna Carteret, best known from BBC's Juliet Bravo. I wonder if I maybe saw a repeat more recently, for it to be so fresh in my mind? Or just that, "Hey, it's her from the police series!" back on my original watch.
Frank Finlay, noted actor, was also in the 1994 TV guest cast, playing the professor, who turns out to be a Russian exile in hiding. When Holmes finally meets him in the story, the professor is incredibly unlikeable. There's no surprise when he turns out to be the villain, even if he didn't commit the crime being investigated. It did leave me wondering though how reliable the accounts we hear of at the start are of neighbours liking him.
Ultimately the case revolves largely around the spectacles, combined with another neat bit of play acting from Holmes using cigarette ash to reveal a further vital clue. And the story has a satisfactory resolution, though it's also a sad one when another guest character dies.
And yes, I should definitely rewatch that Jeremy Brett TV version.
This is the tale of the mysterious murder of the secretary of an aged professor. It's one of the Holmes original stories where a plan of the relevant geography is included. For once I found this quite useful, despite my difficulties visualising things in my head, that plans or maps don't always help much with.
The story as it pans out is rather tragic one, of a needless death, at the hands of the estranged glasses-wearing wife of the professor. Who I could remember vividly in the Jeremy Brett 1994 TV version as played by Anna Carteret, best known from BBC's Juliet Bravo. I wonder if I maybe saw a repeat more recently, for it to be so fresh in my mind? Or just that, "Hey, it's her from the police series!" back on my original watch.
Frank Finlay, noted actor, was also in the 1994 TV guest cast, playing the professor, who turns out to be a Russian exile in hiding. When Holmes finally meets him in the story, the professor is incredibly unlikeable. There's no surprise when he turns out to be the villain, even if he didn't commit the crime being investigated. It did leave me wondering though how reliable the accounts we hear of at the start are of neighbours liking him.
Ultimately the case revolves largely around the spectacles, combined with another neat bit of play acting from Holmes using cigarette ash to reveal a further vital clue. And the story has a satisfactory resolution, though it's also a sad one when another guest character dies.
And yes, I should definitely rewatch that Jeremy Brett TV version.