How It Happened

by Arthur Conan Doyle

About the Author-Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer who is most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste.He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.-Wikipedia

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Gothic, Horror, Mystery

24 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 2014

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three short pieces

Against the advice of his chauffeur, a man drives his new car for the first time late at night when he is tired. He is unfamiliar with the controls, particularly the gears. A short simple story.

The last part of this very short book is a list of some of Doyle's Aphorisms. Here are a few examples: "We can’t command our love, but we can our actions. It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. My mind rebels at stagnation. Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children. Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst."

This is followed by a brief essay by Harold Emery Jones, THE ORIGINAL OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.

[Divya Darshani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omggg how it happened?👀
Ending twist in Arthur's story changes everything. It makes the reader reassess what they’ve been reading so far. This is an interesting story much better than Sherlock Holmes's adventures.👀👌🏻

[Federico DN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brand new day.

A man retells the story of a day in his life when one night, after a trip, returned to his home over Claystall Hill, in London, driving his brand new 30hp Robur car, when the most unexpected event occurred.

This was ok. I appreciated the idea, but this felt too short even for a short story, and too average. For 5 pages it's decent enough to read I suppose. It's just very, very ok, and little else.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.



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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1885] [5p] [Horror] [2.5] [Not Recommendable]
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★★★☆☆ 10. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
★★★☆☆ The Great Keinplatz Experiment and Other Tales of Twilight and the Unseen <--

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Un nuevo día.

Un hombre recuenta la historia de un día de su vida en el que una noche, después de un viaje, regresaba a su casa en Claystall Hill, en Londres, conduciendo su flamante nuevo coche Robur de 30 caballos de fuerza, cuando sucedió el hecho más inesperado.

Esto estuvo ok. Aprecié la idea, pero me pareció demasiado breve incluso para una historia corta, y demasiado promedio. Aunque para 5 páginas es bastante decente de leer. Es simplemente muy, muy regular, y poco más.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.



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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1885] [5p] [Horror] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
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[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

To really get the ambiance and full impact of the story listen to it being read on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8p_j... as well as reading along with it.

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

moral: let people do what they are paid for

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, quick read about an arrogant man and his desire to drive his new car under circumstances that are far from ideal. First published in The Strand magazine in 1915.

[Musa Shinwari Af · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story much better than sherlock holmes it was such a pleasure to read it during long drive

[Teemu Öhman · Rating 5 out of 5]

How It Happened was published in The Strand magazine in 1913. Thus, ACD was already really into spiritualism but hadn't become the public face of it as he would do after World War I. It is interesting that the story wouldn't exactly be about spiritualism if it wasn't for the first line: "She was a writing medium. This is what she wrote:"

The story, which is very short (around six pages, perhaps - as I read a Kindle version, it's hard to tell), is about driving a brand new car. The car is a Robur, which is ACD's lovely nod to Jules Verne and his enigmatic Robur the Conqueror. However, Robur the Conqueror's innovations worked, whereas Robur the car...

How It Happened is great little story. It's a real pity that a British silent movie version from 1925 is, according to the irreplaceable Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, "considered lost".

4.5/5

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

How It Happened by Arthur Conan Doyle author of The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/... and other acclaimed mystery works

8 out of 10


Arthur Conan Doyle is number one on the Mystery Writers of America list of the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time with The Complete Sherlock Holmes and on The Crime Writers’ Association list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time it is at twenty-one, with The Collected Sherlock Holmes Short Stories – the latter is the British compilation https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The...

As a personal preference, I would rather read family and friends, State of the Nation, love or comedy books, such as the ones written by the Magician Kinglsey Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/... but there are great mystery novels
Perhaps the most prominent, impressive and best known would be the magnum opus of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the one who had been condemned to death, and had to face the firing squad, for his last three minutes on earth, trying to say goodbye to friends and family, look at his life, in those last moments…

However, he was pardoned near what looked like the end, therefore we can read about the thoughts of the men (almost all those convicted of capital crimes are men) that are looking at the other side, in the marvelous Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, The Possessed, and Crime and Punishment https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/03/... the ultimate crime novel...
On The Crime Writers Association Top 100 list we have at the very top The Daughter of Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/10/... by Josephine Fey, a splendid book that combines detective work with history, and debunks one of the myths that are still shared out there

Richard III is one of the most famous, actually infamous figures in history – Kingsley Amis writes about infamous, and other words – it has made the change from its origin, connected with infamy, to be just something synonymous with famous, so we have to avoid using it, since it no longer means what was supposed to
‘Now is the winter of our discontent/turned into glorious summer by this son of York/and all the clouds that lured upon our sky/in the deep bosom of the ocean buried’ I know of nothing that is better than this, some of the most glorious lines ever, written by William Shakespeare https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/01/... when he was inventing a character

People know about the hunchback, the vile, monstrous king, but The Daughter of Time is the one read that changes the whole thing, it is a paradigm shift, and let me tell you what we find in Vernon God Little https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/06/... about this change and a different view
Imagine you enter a room, and your grandmother is with a stranger, and the latter has a finger up her ass, what would you say, is asking this character from Vernon God Little, who says he would beat the bastard, but then you find that the man knows of a terrible danger, and this is why he was doing it, with gumption

Oh, he is a hero, says Vernon now, and the readers see what a paradigm shift would be…which is what the detective in Daughter of time will deliver, for the infamous (let us use it, now that we know the difference) Royality was in fact innocent of the crime that was attributed to him, and most humans still think he did
Well, most of the percentage that still know of Richard III, and almost anything else – this is a hyperbole, an exaggeration, but look at the American decline, once the greatest democracy in the world, now it looks as if Orange Jesus aka the most stupid, heinous possible candidate will become the most powerful man in the world

That is possible just because education is in such a desperate state – albeit you have the likes of the CEO of Black Rock, who has announced recently that he will support Orange Jesus, and we could not say he lacks education
Yes, there is a moral hole, lack of integrity, but he was educated, and I was tempted to say he has a high IQ, but he is unable to foresee what could happen with a fool in charge, lower taxes, but what about the end of the world

That sounds catastrophic, and it is, inshallah, only the ‘very stable genius’ had demonstrated with his previous four years in office that he is a narcissist, demented, and now convicted felon, a few days ago the verdict came
His side calls this a sham, but it is a justice system that has their own at the very top, where we do (they in fact) have some villains, Alito, the goon who hangs flags upside down, or the one for the insurrectionists…
He claims it was his wife, but he is a rotten scoundrel, just like Thomas, the other fellow, who takes trips with the rich folks that have cases at the Supreme Court, and then the others, on the Trump side, are all alike

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Miriam Chiaromonte · Rating 3 out of 5]

La quinta (very) short story facente parte della collana Frammenti D’Autore, rigorosamente in formato ebook gratuito.
La short story in questione svela il suo finale fin dall'inizio, eppure la scrittura di Conan Doyle, costituita da un lungo climax ascendente che vede il protagonista guidare pericolosamente un'automobile nuova con accanto il suo chauffeur, genera nel lettore tensione e ansia. Al momento dell'agnizione finale, è inevitabile essere percorsi da un brivido: il protagonista scopre il suo stato e il lettore, insieme a lui, rimane attonito.
Tramite la guida sfrenata del protagonista, che narra in prima persona, Conan Doyle veicola messaggi importanti, due su tutti l'amicizia e il maschilismo. Il personaggio principale è il tipico uomo che deve mettere in mostra il suo orgoglio maschile dimostrando di essere in grado di gestire un'auto nuova di zecca. Egli personifica la macchina («try her», scrive Conan Doyle) e la usa per i propri scopi, come farebbe con una donna.
L'esagerata fiducia in sé stesso porterà il protagonista a realizzare di aver commesso un errore che l'ha condotto a mettere a rischio la propria vita e quella del suo amico.

[Camelia ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quinta uscita dei Frammenti d'autore a cura di Enrico De Luca.

Amatissimo soprattutto per il suo personaggio più celebre, l'immortale investigatore Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fu in realtà autore di una produzione ricchissima ed variegata che spazia dalla fantascienza, alla medicina, al mistero, passando per tematiche meno popolari come quella dello spiritismo, in cui egli credeva con fermezza.
Proprio a queste sue convinzioni si ricollega il racconto How it happened, narrato in prima persona dallo stesso protagonista.
Tristemente attuale nel messaggio di fondo - i rischi connessi all'arroganza umana e soprattutto alla guida spericolata - il racconto spreca tutto il potenziale di un eventuale finale a sorpresa, anticipando fin dal principio che a narrare è una medium. Peccato.


➡️➡️➡️ Sul blog il mio articolo completo sui Frammenti d’autore e le recensioni degli altri racconti della collana ➡️➡️➡️ https://ilnidodellecornacchie.altervi...

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good little story ...

[DW · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the afterlife, you will be greeted warmly by someone you barely know, and they won't judge you for not knowing how to drive a stick shift.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a quick and technically effective story about a man losing control of his new automobile and getting himself killed. There is nothing wrong with it as such, but I feel like this one, being focussed so heavily on the topical aspect of crashing a car, has aged less well than other Doyle stories. There is a bit too much focus on the minute manoeuvrings of the vehicle before the fatal crash, that you can’t help feeling like a lot of the story’s power was as a cautionary tale for what was, in its time of publication, a much more recent innovation. It could really be rewritten now to depict an unfortunate commuter finding himself stuck inside an automated car that has gone haywire. That sounds like an intriguing story to me, but perhaps to a reader in the 22nd century - if this world still spins - that would likewise have an outdated note that weighs upon the novelty of the premise.

As for the supernatural twist, it’s really very overdone by today's standards, but I guess it might have given readers more of a thrill in the early 20th Century.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trust me when I tell you, reading this story, I felt Conan Doyle enjoying a rare freedom from moral gravity. This is not a story that seeks depth so much as velocity. Its pleasure lies in the breathless accumulation of improbabilities, delivered with a straight face that borders on parody. What struck me was how gleefully Doyle leans into excess—this is storytelling as escalation rather than revelation.
Yet beneath the farce, there is an affectionate critique of modern confidence. The narrator’s faith in speed, progress, and mechanical mastery feels fragile, even naïve. Disaster arrives not through villainy but through overreach. Reading this, I felt Doyle hinting that technology magnifies human error as efficiently as it magnifies human ambition. The story stayed with me not because of its ending, but because of its tone—urbane, amused, slightly incredulous. Doyle is less interested in catastrophe than in the mindset that invites it.

Recommended.

[Linda Bossoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sin dalle prime battute si capisce l'argomento di questo brevissimo racconto, veramente della durata di pochi minuti, ma vale la pena di leggerlo per la leggerezza con cui tratta un argomento serissimo come la morte.

[Hana Hellna · Rating 5 out of 5]

i will eat this, i will put it in my blood vain, i will remember this story until the day that i die. this story made me want to make my own life like it. i will eat it and even i get sick of eating it i willl still eat it

[Simona Stefani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Che racconto godibile. Conan Doyle si rivela sempre più uno dei miei autori preferiti. Qui una medium scrivente racconta una storia dal finale inaspettato.

[Sorairo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simpatico racconto e con una scrittura che ora mi fa comprendere come mai questo scrittore sia stato tanto apprezzato .

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is why you have to be a sensible driver. Know what you can and can't do. This should be a PSA.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was rather short and seemed to end on a question. At least that's how it made me feel...I wanted to know what the main character's answer was going to be to the question posed to him.

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Very short and not so sweet.

[Maritza · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know it's a story by Doyle when you've got two protagonists on an adventure.

[Lettere d'Inchiostro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quando ho iniziato a leggere questo racconto non sapevo esattamente quanto sarebbe durato. Leggendo sul kindle non ci si rende mai conto di quanto la fine sia vicina (detto così suona un po’ macabro).
Non rivelo dettagli sulla trama perché sarebbe come svelare l’intero racconto, però posso dire che la prima parte mi ha tenuta con il fiato sospeso in uno stato di agitazione come se mi trovassi insieme ai due protagonisti; la seconda parte, invece, mi ha fatta rimanere letteralmente a bocca aperta per la scelta del finale.
Super consigliato!!

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprising ending.

[Gaetano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un tipico racconto da bagno. Senza lode e senza infamia!

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read all of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and probably others as well, just never bothered to put them in to amazon or goodreads, so dates wrong. Some KU some paperback some hardback some collections.