Holiday read: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Another case from the past with Holmes being sent by Watson to a friend in the country to relax because of the stress one case has put him under. But no sooner has Holmes arrived in the country than he is straight into a case that taxes all his energy.

Highlights from The Reigate Squires

Just as Holmes is settling in to enjoy some relaxation in the country with one of Watson's friends a burglary is committed nearby and then at another home in the neighbourhood a servant is shot trying to defend his master's property. The police link the crimes but have nothing to go on other than the description of a fleeing man given by the father and son who employed the dead servant. Holmes discovers that the servant had a corner of a letter in his hand, which must have ripped out of his clutches by the killer, and sets off to work out what happened.

He visits the scene of the murder and starts to act funny and asks to see where the son had seen the intruder and enters his bedroom. Shouts of distress are heard and Watson and the police find the father and son trying to murder Holmes, who has found the rest of the note in the son's dressing gown. The two are taken away leaving Holmes to explain that they committed the first burglary trying to find some papers to conclude a legal dispute with a neighbour, had been discovered and were being blackmailed by the servant and had together decided to remove him as a threat. But they had not bargained on Sherlock Holmes being in the area.
More tomorrow...