Now fans can discover the mystery of The Abergavenny Murder in Holmes of Baker Street.
Here is the opening to The Abergavenny Murder.
If there was a man who had
earned the reputation as the foremost expert on crime, that man was, indeed,
Sherlock Holmes. The London detective would have been the first to admit that
this distinction was only too true. It was not that Holmes was boastful or
arrogant, it was simply that he believed in his own talent and abilities, and
to overestimate or underestimate either would not be truthful or accurate. He
was often obsessed with truth and accuracy.
He
made it a point to study not only the history of crime but also recent criminal
acts at home and abroad. Holmes personally stayed in contact with police
detectives in several countries around the world—from Belgium to Brazil and
from Cameroon to Canada. In his catalogue of crime, there were hundreds of
modes of murder, robbery, kidnapping, confidence games, blackmail, forgery, and
others. He went to great lengths to collect newspaper clippings of crimes and
for each, he made comprehensive notes calling attention to certain details of
the case. This would allow him to hear the features of a more recent crime, and
make a conclusion based on the study of similar cases, not unlike a doctor who
listens to the symptoms of a patient and accurately diagnoses the illness. But
Holmes was not a doctor, nor was he a private detective; he was a consulting
detective, perhaps the only one in the world. He was the man that detectives
went to see when they were in a fog, or over their heads regarding a case.
To
aid him in his work, Holmes studied human beings and was very aware of human
foibles and vices, and things that motivated people. I would not classify
Holmes as a lover, but he knew that love was a strong emotion that could easily
lead a man or woman to perform acts they would not normally do if that emotion
was not involved. Though he seldom demonstrated them himself, Holmes understood
human emotions such as fear, vengefulness, hatred, and greed, and how these
emotions led to criminal acts.
He
continually acquired vast amounts of specialized knowledge. Holmes would
sometimes say; A man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.
However,
Holmes had also once said that it was not possible for a man to possess all
knowledge, so he endeavoured to store up a great deal of knowledge that aided
him in his work. He was well up on human anatomy, chemistry, and psychology. He
made a comprehensive study of tobacco ash, bicycle tires, printed type,
handwriting, tattoos, old documents, and secret codes.
But
of course, he fell short of possessing all knowledge. Even the Encyclopedia
Britannica did not possess all knowledge.
It
was early in May 1901 and Holmes, and I had just finished our lunch. It was a
beautiful spring day, but the weather was of little interest to Holmes, who sat
around restlessly in his mouse-coloured dressing gown, his gray eyes mere
slits, and his chin sunk upon his chest. For months on end, the great detective
had had little with which to scintillate his brilliant mind. ‘Trivialities and
stagnation’ was the phrase he uttered almost daily.
“Nothing
in the papers, Watson?” he said, his gaze fixed upon the ceiling.
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