I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Engineer’s Thumb”

The ninth story in this collection is one where even Watson admits that Holmes doesn’t really “do” very much.  The story reads a bit more like a (tame) horror story than a mystery.

A man comes running into Watson’s office with his hand all bloody.  He has had his thumb chopped off!  He recounts his story and when Holmes hears about it, he sets about trying to unpack what happened,

The man Victor Hatherley, was offered 50 guinea by Colonel Lysander Stark to come examine Stark’s hydraulic press which was broken.  Stark claimed it was to compress fuller’s earth (what? even the definition doesn’t help what would be going on here–uses include as absorbents for oil, grease, and animal waste, and as a carrier for pesticides and fertilizers.  Hatherley was suspicious about this fuller’s earth story, but figured, hey 50 bucks is 50 bucks, so he goes to check it out.

It’s all incredibly hush hush of course, and when Hatherley checks things out, he also seems to discover what Stark is up to.  Stark tries to crush him with the very press that he fixed (!) and then, when Stark gets away, he swings an axe at him (hence the thumb).

The bulk of the story is in recounting Hatherley’s story.  It’s not even clear that Holmes could “do” anything.  But it turns out that Holmes has read about a counterfeiting operation in town.  He puts two and two together and figures that the press is actually for printing coins.

They head to the house (which is where Holmes does his real deducing because he figures out where it was despite Hatherley being blindfolded, but it has been burnt down.

The question is whether or not the police can track down the thieves.

This wa sa pretty exciting story and well told, but it’s not a great example of Holmes’ detection.

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The four novels of the canon:

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
4. His Last Bow (1917)
5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)