In 2026 I plan to read all the Conan Doyle “Sherlock Holmes” works – 56 short stories and 4 novels (here’s why and how). If you haven’t already read it, Michael Green’s “undiscovered letter” from John Watson is fricking hilarious.
I may also read various Holmes homages/pastiches etc. Who knows? (btw I’d recommend the Seven Per Cent Solution, by Nicholas Meyer where Watson has to trick Holmes into going to Vienna to be treated by Sigmund Freud)
Published: October 1891
Wikipedia here
Online here
Review: I would recommend this, but it amounts to a shaggy dog story with a warning about the Dangers of the Colonies (see also Magwitch in Great Expectations, Speckled Band etc etc etc). The best way to think about all this, imo, is Aime Cesaire (1950) Discourses on Colonialism, “imperial boomerang”
It’s probably good for thinking about around the dangers of “the obvious.”
Best sentence(s):
“One of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult”
“Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,” answered Holmes thoughtfully. “It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different….”
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,” he answered, laughing.”
“God help us!” said Holmes after a long silence. “Why does fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter’s words, and say, ‘There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.’”
Allusions I had to look up: The Baxter thing is well-described here
See also:
Romadona, S. N., Alawiyah, S. D., & Assiddiqi, H. (2024). SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN DETECTIVE SHERLOCK HOLMES THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY. Pupujian, 3(1)
This research aims to analyze the study of scientific methods put forward by Gay & Diehl, through the detective Sherlock Holmes short story The Boscombe Valley Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle. This research uses qualitative methods to explain the scientific methods contained in Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective story. The study of scientific methods according to Gay & Diehl has five stages, namely Recognition and definition of the problem, Formulation of hypotheses, Collection of data, Analysis of data, and Statement of conclusions. The research results show that these stages are in accordance with the detective’s investigative steps in the story. This is depicted in the narrative or characters in the story. The first stage is through the introduction of the detective character and the introduction of the case, the second stage is through presumptions against James McCarthy, the third stage is through collecting evidence, the fourth stage is through collecting evidence and the suspect’s confession, the fifth stage is through the narrator’s narrative which describes that the case has been completed with the discovery of the suspect.
Kulkarni, P. (2021). The Boscombe Valley mystery: A lesson in the perils of dogmatism in science. Journal of Biosciences, 46(3), 59.The central dogma enunciated by Francis Crick and the postulate that sequence defines protein structure and function put forth by Christian Anfinsen (also referred to as the Thermodynamics Hypothesis) are some of the most fundamental tenets of molecular biology that have had very profound influences and implications. They were formulated based on observations (evidence) that was obvious to the preceptors. However, as is well known, exception is the rule in biology and several works in the literature cite examples that appear to challenge these dogmas suggesting that being dogmatic can be perilous. In this perspective, using the Boscombe Valley Mystery from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fabled Sherlock Holmes stories as a paradigm, I ponder the necessity to revise the two dogmas in light of new evidence, especially concerning prions and intrinsically disordered proteins, much like the call for revising the Modern Synthesis to enunciate the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
marchudson.net 
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