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The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and Other Cases
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
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The Complete Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
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The Adventure of the Six Napoleons (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Discussion Questions
1) There is a consistent theme of Holmes refusing to work with the investigative parties in the area when conducting his own investigation. Why do you think this is?
2) What is Holmes’ purpose in having the Central Press Syndicate publish a misleading article?
3) Why, do you think, Holmes made such a handsome offer for the bust owned by Sandleford?
4) There is a moment when Watson notices that Holmes does, in fact, feel pride resulting from the admiration of those around him. Why do you think he acts so cold and acts as if he doesn’t care about it most of the time? Why was this time different?
5) Did you ever suspect there might be something hidden inside the busts? If so, when, and why? If not, did you have any other ideas about the significance of the busts?
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One possible drawback of reading all the stories in such a short time is that they do tend to remind you of other stories. In this case, The Blue Carbuncle. Or perhaps I just remember Jeremy Brett prising out the pearl in the adaptation. Regardless, I enjoyed the specificity of the Napoleans, and love that they were replaced by Thatcher in the newer series!
I never watched the smashing of the Thatchers, (but I would have liked to😄.)There was a rather uneasy alliance of the comic and the vicious in this story. The (literally) cut throat Mafia members hunting out Napoleon busts seemed ludicrous at first but then turned deadly.
Holmes seemed to adopt more conventional ‘police style’ techniques in this story by visiting the scenes of the crimes and the place where the busts were manufactured. Nevertheless he was clever in using his deduction skills plus the misleading newspaper article to catch up with Beppo.
Some dashing around London was required. I hadn’t realised, for instance that it was ten miles from Kensington to the Kennington Road.
https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org...
The Adventure of the Six Napoleons (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Availability The Return of Sherlock Holmes: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/108
Background Information
"The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on April 30, 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in May 1904.
Publication History
"The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" was published in the US in Collier's on April 30, 1904, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in May 1904. The story was published with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand. It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.
A Short Summary
This story starts with the ever-imbecilic Inspector Lestrade from Scotland Yard asking Sherlock to help him with a seemingly trivial case surrounding several recent break-ins. The key component of the case is the fact that at every residents broken into, a bust of French ruler Napoleon was smashed, with nothing apart from this being stolen. Lestrade is under the impression that it is just a Napoleon hating lunatic, however, Sherlock thinks differently, querying why they were the exact same busts being smashed. The next day, another bust is broken, however, this time there was also a murder involved. After realising that the bust had been broken outside under a light, Holmes decides to use the media to his advantage, informing Lestrade to tell them that it was just a lunatic, so that the person responsible would drop their guard. The main clue found at the scene is a picture of an ape-like man, whom we find out after Holmes takes a look at the place that the busts were sold, is Beppo, an Italian Immigrant who formerly worked there. Holmes and Watson were told that he was a bit of a rascal, and after doing a stakeout at one of the houses that held one of the remaining busts, the pair, along with Lestrade, catch Beppo in the act, and he is subsequently arrested.