The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Other Stories of Sherl... by Arthur Conan Doyle

From that point on, Sherlock deeply admires Adler and refers to her as the woman. The consulting detective is able to discover where Adler keeps her blackmail material with the help of a clever ruse, but by the time the men return the following morning to retrieve the picture, it and the woman are gone. He comes to Holmes for help as a last resort. The king is about to be married and has attempted multiple times to get hold of the picture to no avail. She is a beautiful and intelligent retired opera singer who has obtained a compromising photograph of her former paramour, the hereditary king of Bohemia. “A Scandal in Bohemia” features Irene Adler, a character who becomes a prominent figure in many contemporary adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. The narrator often alludes to some of the other stories in the volume, as well as the earlier novels featuring Sherlock Holmes. The book consists of 12 unrelated stories narrated by Doctor John Watson. This study guide is based on the 1960 Popular Library edition. He championed several occultists and mediums who were later proven to be fake, damaging his credibility with the public. Despite his scientific training, the writer developed a lasting interest in spiritualism after World War I, possibly in reaction to his son’s and younger brother’s deaths. However, public demand forced him to revive the detective.Ĭonan Doyle is also known for his passion for the occult in his later life.

The author tried various strategies of getting out of writing about the consulting detective, such as increasing his fees and even killing Holmes in “The Final Problem” (1893).

The detective’s adventures quickly become popular, boosting the journal’s circulation.Ĭonan Doyle, however, had an ambivalent attitude toward his creation, as he believed the Holmes stories overshadowed his other writing. Conan Doyle began submitting short stories to the newly inaugurated The Strand Magazine. Bell was able to observe minute details about his patients and use them to deduce their condition.

The detective was inspired by Conan Doyle’s university instructor Joseph Bell, considered one of the pioneers of forensic science. Sherlock Holmes appears in a total of 56 short stories and several novels. His earliest known text is the manuscript “The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe” from the late 1870s, while his first published story is “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley” (1879). During his time at medical school, Conan Doyle began writing short stories. With the help of wealthy relatives, however, Conan Doyle received an education at several schools in England and Austria, and later completed a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh. The family’s situation was fraught due to his father’s alcoholism and eventual commitment to an asylum.

Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh to Catholic parents, the second of 10 children.

The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Other Stories of Sherl... by Arthur Conan Doyle