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The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and Other Cases

Arthur Conan Doyle

3.93 · Rating details · 480 ratings · 46 reviews

The Penguin English Library edition

Many readers would claim that The Adventure of the Copper Beeches or The Man with the Twisted Lip was their favourite Sherlock Holmes story - but then that would be doing an injustice to The Adventure of the Yellow Face and The Problem of Thor Bridge. It is just as well that in the end we do not have to choose - as if we did then there wo ...more

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Paperback, 368 pages

Published September 4th 2014 by Penguin Classics (first published May 1904)

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Dec 08, 2020 Mary Pagones rated it it was amazing

Ah, the end with Holmes bowing with a flush of pleasure, but unable to accept Lestrade’s praise, is one of my favorite canonical moments.

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Jul 15, 2018 Chris rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-books, classics

“This case is quite sufficiently complicated to start with, without the further difficulty of false information.”
“Meaning that I lie.”
“Well, I was trying to express it as delicately as I could, but if you insist upon the word I will not contradict you.”

I quite enjoy Sherlock Holmes-stories, but after reading several Holmes-books, I can say I prefer the short stories quite a bit over the “full novels” (even though these were only just between a 100 and 200 pages). Both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. W ...more

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Feb 03, 2021 Eustacia Tan rated it it was amazing

After an enjoyable experience reading Sherlock Holmes for the first time, I decided to buy another book by Arthur Conan Doyle (also, the fact that I like this series of covers may have played a role in it). The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and other cases is a baker’s dozen of Sherlock Holmes short stories, ending with an essay by Michael Saler on why people believe that Holmes is real.

Each of the stories here work as standalone tale, and my personal favourites were:

- The Adventures of the Six ...more

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Oct 06, 2018 Tim rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories-novellas, reviewed, mogen-weg, own

Arthur Conan Doyle is/was famed for his Sherlock Holmes stories. Everyone knows this detective and his assistant, Dr Watson. I had never really read any of the stories - or not that I remember, in any case. Seeing several of those stories republished by Penguin Classics, I decided to go for this compilation, even if there are others.

The only Conan Doyle book I read previously, was 'The White Company', which I liked very much, not in the least because the writing style, as you can read here.

I'm n Arthur Conan Doyle is/was famed for his Sherlock Holmes stories. Everyone knows this detective and his assistant, Dr Watson. I had never really read any of the stories - or not that I remember, in any case. Seeing several of those stories republished by Penguin Classics, I decided to go for this compilation, even if there are others.

The only Conan Doyle book I read previously, was 'The White Company', which I liked very much, not in the least because the writing style, as you can read here.

I'm not going to go into details, because there's a certain pattern in the way the stories go and how Holmes (with logic and reason) solves them, of course also thanks to his trusty assistant, Watson. This compilation contains 13 stories, taken from several earlier publications and "series". 13, but there are still several tens of such stories out there.

Here too, the language used is not contemporary, but it is very exquisite and stylish, I must say. So, once more, hats off for Doyle's writing skills. As is typical, not all stories are superb, but all of them are excellent material for in-between two books or if you do want read, but nothing heavy. Entertainment value, you could say, is high. In addition, you do get a picture of (a certain part of) life back then, in the late 19th century.

The whole is concluded with a text by Michael Saler, titled 'Clap If You Believe in Sherlock Holmes'. This deals with Arthur Conan Doyle's career and specifically the Sherlock Holmes period. Mr Saler describes how Doyle's beliefs were in stark contrast with Holmes's logic and reasoning. He also explains how the characters Holmes and Watson were, back in the day, believed to be real persons of flesh and blood - even writing letters to Holmes's attention -, while others obviously knew they were fictional. The impact on readers' lives was apparently big, especially when Doyle decided he had written enough Holmes stories. And so it goes on, the comparison between Doyle and Holmes, how they acted, what they believed, etc.

Long story short: Recommended, entertaining stories, no doubt about that. If only for the language of that time. Do read the stories in bits and pieces, not several at a time, as this could harm the reading pleasure, I find. Personal opinion here, of course. ...more

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May 29, 2019 Marthese Formosa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, short-under100pages, audiobook, classics

One of my favourite Holmes mysteries that I read recently. I listened to the audiobook by Greg Wagland.

Lestrade brings news often and this time he brings news of a strange case - where a thief goes into establishments and smashes their Napoleon busts.

Immediately I knew that it was because something was inside but this time, it was fun to see how Holmes arrived to the conclusion of what was inside.

I noticed now how meticulous Holmes is. He always makes sure that he has proof and that he has docu ...more

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Mar 26, 2020 Rob Thompson rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, fiction, reviewed, 2020-challenge, thriller, short-stories, sherlock

An entertaining enough tale which shows how meticulous Holmes is at securing proof. Worth reading if you want a good introduction to the methods of the great detective.
(view spoiler) An entertaining enough tale which shows how meticulous Holmes is at securing proof. Worth reading if you want a good introduction to the methods of the great detective.
(view spoiler)[Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard brings Holmes a mysterious problem about a man who shatters plaster busts of Napoleon. One was shattered in Morse Hudson's shop, and two others, sold by Hudson to a Dr. Barnicot, were smashed after the doctor's house and branch office had been burgled. Nothing else was taken. In the former case, the bust was taken outside before being broken.

Holmes knows that Lestrade's theory about a Napoleon-hating lunatic must be wrong. The busts in question all came from the same mould, when there are thousands of images of Napoleon all over London.

The next day, Lestrade calls Holmes to a house where there has been yet another bust-shattering, but there has also been a murder. Mr. Horace Harker found the dead man on his doorstep after investigating a noise. His Napoleon bust was also taken by a burglar entering through a window. It, too, was from the same mould. Also, a photograph of a rather ape-ish-looking man is found in the dead man's pocket.

The fragments of Harker's bust are in the front garden of an empty house up the street. Holmes concludes that the burglar wanted to see what he was doing, for there is a streetlamp here, whereas the bust could have been broken at another empty house nearer Harker's, but it had been dark there.

Holmes tells Lestrade to tell Harker, a journalist for the Central Press Syndicate, that he is convinced that the culprit is a lunatic. Holmes knows that this is not true, but it is expedient to use the press to convince the culprit that this is what the investigators believe.

Holmes interviews the two shopkeepers who sold the busts and finds out whom they were sold to, and where they were made, Gelder & Co. A couple of his informants also recognize the ape-ish man in the picture. They know him as Beppo, an Italian immigrant. He even worked in the shop where the first bust was broken, having left his job there only two days earlier.

Holmes goes to Gelder & Co. and finds out that the busts were part of a batch of six, but other than that, the manager can think of no reason why they should be special, or why anyone would want to destroy them. He recognizes Beppo's picture, and describes him as a rascal. He was imprisoned for a street-fight stabbing a year earlier, but has likely been released now. He once worked at Gelder & Co., but has not been back. His cousin still works there. Holmes begs the manager not to talk to the cousin about Beppo.

That evening, Lestrade brings news that the dead man has been identified as Pietro Venucci, a Mafioso. Lestrade believes that Venucci was sent to kill the culprit, but wound up dead himself.

After sending an express message, Holmes invites Dr. Watson and Lestrade to join him outside a house in Chiswick where apparently Holmes is expecting another bust-breaking. Lestrade by now is exasperated with Holmes's preoccupation with the busts, but comes. They are not disappointed. Beppo shows up, enters the house, and comes back out of the window minutes later with a Napoleon bust, which he proceeds to shatter. He then examines the pieces, quite unaware that Holmes and Lestrade are sneaking up behind him. They pounce, and Beppo is arrested. He will not talk, however.

The mystery is at last laid bare after Holmes offers £10 (£1,090 today) to the owner of the last existing bust, making him sign a document transferring all rights and ownership of the bust to Holmes. After the seller has left, Holmes smashes the bust and among the plaster shards is a gem, the black pearl of the Borgias. Holmes was aware of the case of its disappearance from the beginning. Suspicion had fallen on the owner's maid, whose name was Lucretia Venucci – the dead man's sister. Beppo somehow got the pearl from Pietro Venucci, and hid it inside a still-soft plaster bust at the factory where he worked, moments before his arrest for the street-fight stabbing.

After serving his one-year sentence, he sought to retrieve the hidden pearl. He found out from his cousin who bought the busts, and through his own efforts and confederates’, even found out who the end buyers were. He then proceeded to seek the busts out, smashing them one by one to find the pearl. (hide spoiler)] ...more

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May 25, 2020 José Cruz Parker rated it it was ok

The Six Napoleons is the worst Sherlock Holmes stories that I've read so far; it isn't bad, but it isn't nearly as good as, say, The Hound of the Baskervilles. However, even the mediocre stories of a great author are superior to anything written by a hack.

In The Six Napoleons, the Poe influence once again shows up: one of the suspects in the case is a "sharp-featured simian man with thick eyebrows, and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of the face like the muzzle of a baboon" (remembe ...more

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Apr 10, 2019 Symon Vegro rated it liked it

Quite an interesting little story. I’m pleased to say that I solved the mystery of the thefts myself 😀

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Apr 26, 2019 Sam Tornio rated it liked it

Comforting little problems.

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Nov 15, 2017 George Slade rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

This is one that ended up making it into the BBC television adaptation of the stories, except that on TV it was the Six Thatchers. The premise remained the same. A person was smashing busts in a frantic search for a concealed valuable. Sherlock's skills are put to good use in this adventure, and the story is fun to follow. ...more

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Mar 12, 2019 John Yelverton rated it really liked it

This is another crazy Sherlock Holmes adventure, but you can sadly see the ending coming because the premise has been copied by so many mystery writers since the story was originally published.

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Sep 07, 2017 Carole Tyrrell rated it really liked it

Ah Sherlock Holmes! Surely the blueprint for all maverick detectives who like to be ahead of Scotland Yard’s finest and who also have their little addictions…He’s a master of joining up the dots but not necessarily in the same order as everyone else to solve the most unusual crimes quickly. He is aided and abetted by Dr John Watson, ex-army medic who succinctly narrates Sherlock’s cases from beginning to satisfying and believable conclusion.
In this book are 13 adventures culled from both the Me ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Marsha rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio

The radio drama version broadcast in 1954 - Sir Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson, Sir John Gielgud as Sherlock Holmes
Inspector Lestrade tells Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson about something unusual happenings around London. Someone running around smashing busts of Napoleon. Nothing is stolen, however, a Napoleon bust is smashed to pieces. The case heats up when one of the victims wakes up to what he thought was a break-in only to find a dead man on his front doorstep. He also has a bust of Napoleon ...more

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Feb 24, 2021 Zac Davies rated it it was ok

This is essentially Sherlock Holmes showing off and displaying his superior intellect for the entirety of this story’s plot. If that’s why you enjoy Sherlock Holmes and the works of Arthur Conan Doyle then this will be right up your alley, I on the other hand prefer a more intricate playful and mysterious Holmes story which is why I would give this a miss unless you truly enjoy the Sherlock Holmes series as a collective.

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Dec 11, 2016 Liselotte rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, detectives, classics

I always get into a reading slump during the colder months and this book is great to read eventhough you are in one! some stories are better than others, but the overall length of them is easy to digest (about 20 pages per story). It isn't the best I've ever read, but overall it was good. ...more

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Feb 17, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-historical, 2017-challenge-books, physical-books, most-recommended, classics

As with most Sherlock Collections I enjoyed this a lot. This may have had some of my favorite stories in it, most of which I had never heard of before. It also had some oddly short ones in it as well, I'm used to the longer Sherlock stories so those were a nice surprise. ...more

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May 22, 2017 Matt rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, sherlock

Good deduction in this one. The BBC "Sherlock" television series spoiled me a little bit on a main plot point in this story, so I knew what was coming all along. I wonder how much more I would have liked the mystery if not for that. ...more

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Jun 17, 2019 Jade rated it really liked it

221b Baker Street is a second home to me. Honourable mentions - The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Problem of Thor Bridge, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist and The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.

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Apr 11, 2020 Mirko rated it really liked it

Shelves: penguin-english-library

This is my second Sherlock Holmes stories' collection that I have read, and I have realised how much I enjoy reading the different cases, following along the twists and turns of each case, and the build up to its eventual resolution. Arthur Conan Doyle had a gift for suspenseful writing. ...more

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Aug 11, 2020 James rated it liked it

A good selection of Arthur Conan Doyle short stories. It is always nice following through such stories with the ever growing relationship between Holmes and Watson. However, on certain occasions you do feel you are reading a Poirot and Hastings story with the similarities of plot.

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Oct 20, 2020 Nilson R. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-whilst-waiting-for-something

Though, like myself, most SH's fans will be able to figure out what the real reason for all that bust-breaking, the story still has some surprises at hand. such as Lestrade's humble but touching (even for the sleuth himself) 'hommage' of sorts, at the very end. ...more

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Jun 16, 2017 Eleanor rated it it was amazing

Nothing better than Sherlock Holmes

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Oct 25, 2017 Emma rated it it was amazing

I never get tired of reading Sherlock Holmes. Loved it!

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Dec 04, 2017 Briana rated it it was ok

It wasn't a terrible read it just wasn't for me. ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 Alex rated it liked it

I need to find a new suitable book for travels now, oh the burden...

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Jan 30, 2018 Redwan Hasan rated it liked it

I think I have seen the movie, story was a bit different there. This story is not that complicated either but not that bad.

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Mar 03, 2018 Désirée rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned-physical, in-english, classics, format-short-story-collection

As I have read all short stories except one I will mark this as read. I am collecting all the Penguin Library editions concerning Sherlock Holmes.

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Mar 24, 2018 Josiah Richardson rated it really liked it

The adventure of the Six Napoleons was adapted for the BBC Sherlock show and was the first episode I watched, which may have contributed to why I enjoyed this particular adventure so much.

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Oct 04, 2018 Adriana rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 10, 2018 Nikhil rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: essays-shorts-anthologies, mystery-horror

Too predictable.

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About Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

19,066 followers

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, a talented illustrator, was born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They were married in 1855.

Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname (if that is how he meant it to be understood) is u ...more