Lady Carfax goes missing and is this the end for Sherlock Holmes?
In The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, a busy and preoccupied Holmes sends Watson to Lausanne to investigate the disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax. Unmarried, Carfax has been denied a rich inheritance on account of her gender but she does carry valuable jewels with her on her travels. Every other week she writes to her old governess Miss Dobney but for the past five weeks, there has not been a word from her. She suddenly left her hotel unannounced and her last two bank transactions were to pay her hotel bill and the another for £50 to her maid, Miss Marie Devine…
In The Adventure of the Dying Detective, Watson is summoned to Baker Street to tend to a seriously ill Holmes. Holmes has contracted a rare Asian disease while he was on a recent case. Mrs. Hudson says that he has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days and Watson is left shocked, having heard nothing about his friend’s illness…
Two rather different stories here. In the first, Holmes allows Watson to take centre stage with somewhat unsuccessful results, but as the story continues, it takes a rather dark turn. The use of the coffin was a rather macabre aspect that I only suspected towards the very end and gave it a rather desperate and urgent need that many of the stories lack. Whereas in the Dying Detective, my suspicions were there from the very beginning that perhaps this wasn’t the end of Sherlock Holmes. Tricking his suspect into making a confession, while Watson hides under the bed, wasn’t the ingenious solution I had hoped from the Great Detective. It shows the lengths that Holmes is willing to go to but there are only so many times these tricks can be used.
The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax: [usr=4]
The Adventure of the Dying Detective: [usr=3]