The Adventure of the Speckled Band
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| "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Released | 1892 |
| Series | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
| Client(s) | Miss Helen Stoner |
| Set in | 1883 |
| Villain(s) | Dr. Grimesby Roylott |
The Adventure of the Speckled Band, one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in February 1892. Conan Doyle later revealed that he thought this was his best Holmes story.
Doyle wrote and produced a play based on the story. It premiered at the Adelphi Theatre, London in June 1910.
[edit] Synopsis
A young woman named Miss Helen Stoner goes to the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes about her ill-tempered and immensely strong stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, who has required her to move into a particular room of his ancestral home, Stoke Moran. The room has some very odd features, including a bed bolted to the floor. It is also the room that Stoner's twin sister, Julia, had slept in before she died under suspicious circumstances.
A number of other details about the case are quite mysterious. There is the low whistling sound sometimes heard late at night. There is the strange metallic clank. There is the strange bell cord that doesn't seem to work any bell. There are also Julia's dying words about a "speckled band." Stoner surmises that Julia might have been referring to the Gypsies whom Dr. Roylott permits to live on the grounds, which is patrolled by a dog named Siva.
After arranging for Miss Stoner to spend the night elsewhere, Holmes and Watson contrive to be in Miss Stoner's room that night without her stepfather's knowledge. Holmes believes that he has already deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns out to be successful. They hear the strange whistle, and Holmes sees what the bell cord is really for, although Watson doesn't. It is a poisonous snake that Roylott uses to kill his stepdaughters Holmes attacks it and brings it back up the rope biting Roylott and killing him. Within minutes, the whole mystery is explained, and the villain pays dearly for his crime.
The indian swamp adder is thought to be the Bungarus fasciatus or more commonly known as the banded krait.
The story is marred somewhat by some scientific blunders. Furthermore, snakes are deaf, thus it is impossible to signal a snake with sound.
[edit] Wikisource links
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle |
|---|
| "A Scandal in Bohemia" — "The Red-Headed League" — "A Case of Identity" "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" — "The Five Orange Pips" — "The Man with the Twisted Lip" |
| Study in Scarlet — Sign of Four — Adventures — Memoirs — Hound of the Baskervilles — Return — Valley of Fear — His Last Bow — Case Book |
