The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

The Complete Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (His Last Bow)

Availability His Last Bow: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2350

Background Information

"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow (1917), and is the second and final appearance of Mycroft Holmes. It was originally published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and in Collier's in the United States in 1908.

Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" fourteenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.

Publication History

"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in December 1908, and in the US in Collier's on December 12, 1908. The story was published with six illustrations by Arthur Twidle in the Strand, and with five illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's. The story was included in the short story collection His Last Bow, which was published in the UK and the US in October 1917.



A Short Review / Summary



"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is a classic Sherlock Holmes story where national security is at stake as Holmes and Watson investigate the theft of blueprints for a revolutionary submarine, leading to a thrilling chase and a clever resolution.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (His Last Bow)
Discussion Questions

1) What do you think was Holmes’ reason for not telling Watson the truth about his brother’s profession when they first met?

2) In response to the suggestion of his name on the next honors list, Holmes says, “I play the game for the game’s own sake.” What do you make of Holmes comparing solving crime, often murder cases, to a game?

3) Mycroft Holmes urges Sherlock to “use his powers” to solve this crime. What does this say about the dynamic between the brothers?

4) It’s mentioned often in this story that this crime is different from others Holmes has solved because it involves the government, and Holmes is “serving his country.” What role does patriotism serve in this story?

5) Given the time period, what could have been the consequences of spies getting their hands on submarine plans?

I felt pretty unconnected to this book as a whole, and this story was one of the problem ones for me. I've noticed that while the early Sherlock Holmes stories often revolve around small issues, eccentric problems, giving advice to governesses, etc., by this point everything is a matter for national security. I find the more government-focused plots quite boring and was particularly unimpressed with Mycroft here. Patriotism is not my thing.

That said, the disposal of the body on top of the train was brilliant!

This is one of my favourites of the short stories and one I remember vividly from the TV series. The main reason, as Emily has mentioned, was the way that Holmes deduced that the body was on the top of the railway carriage, not inside it.

This story also contains one of my favourite notes sent from Holmes to Watson……..

’ Am dining at Goldini’s Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington. Please come at once and join me there. Bring with you a jemmy, a dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver.—S.H.’

Finding the spy whose house backed on to a railway was a masterstroke and for that I have to forgive Holmes for his housebreaking antics.

Sadly, the callous indifference of Colonel Valentine Walter and his need for money meant that yet again there was an innocent person murdered and the victim’s family and loved ones were left devastated. The spy and Valentine Walter might have been caught but the misery caused was unjustifiable.

https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org...

Trev wrote: "This is one of my favourites of the short stories and one I remember vividly from the TV series. The main reason, as Emily has mentioned, was the way that Holmes deduced that the body was on the to..."

Yes, I felt particularly sad about the victim and his family here.