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The Adventure of the Reigate Squire
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Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Reigate Squire
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The Adventure of the Reigate Squire (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
Discussion Questions
1) Did you have suspicions that the murder of the coachman was not what it seemed, or that the Cunninghams may have had something to do with it? If so, when did you begin to suspect that, and why?
2) Was Holmes being reckless by putting himself into a situation that endangered him? Do you think he was aware of the potential risk or was he just being foolish?
3) Why did young Alec Cunningham persuade his father to participate in his schemes, rather than the other way around? How did the ongoing lawsuit affect him more than it affected his father?
I am now starting to get into Sherlock Holmes‘s mindset. When he discussed a ransom with the Cunningham’s and offered a pro forma, I suspected that his motive was to obtain a sample of handwriting.I don’t really think that Holmes was reckless, he was just unlucky that whilst trying to retrieve the note from the dressing gown he got rumbled.
I think the younger Cunningham would’ve been more affected than his father by the question of ownership or a potential court case because he would’ve eventually inherited the estate, and that inheritance may well have been depleted if things would’ve gone against the family.
Not the most exciting of Holmes’s adventures in my opinion.
I actually did find this one quite exciting, between the strange handwriting, Holmes pretending to have a fit, and then nearly being strangled. Plus the general comedy of Watson taking him for a quiet break in the country but Holmes being reinvigorated by the murderous locals.
I laughed when Watson was commenting on Holme’s untidiness. Watson thought that he himself was a ‘bohemian’ but Holmes was off the scale.Here is a very short explanation of the term ‘bohemian’
https://www.fashmorous.com/post/bohem...
Holme’s deductive and analytical skills were once more in evidence with the writing on the torn corner of the note (nicely illustrated in my copy of the story) and the curious collection of objects stolen during the first robbery.
Also, the master sleuth’s acting, this time without an accompanying disguise, helped to apprehend the culprits. Both the opportune fainting and the pretence of getting the time wrong bamboozled father and son into falling into Holme’s trap.
In this story Holmes did not ask Watson to bring his trusty army revolver with him, something that might have been useful when Holes was attacked.
The description of the Queen Anne house included a reference to ‘Malplaquet’……..
’ We passed the pretty cottage where the murdered man had lived, and walked up an oak-lined avenue to the fine old Queen Anne house, which bears the date of Malplaquet upon the lintel of the door. ’
It was a battle with the French in 1709 that I had not heard of and I wondered why it had been mentioned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...
Nevertheless a good story with plenty of drama and humorus interludes.
The Adventure of the Reigate Squire (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
Availability The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/834
Background Information
"The Adventure of the Reigate Squire", also known as "The Adventure of the Reigate Squires" and "The Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle", is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and Harper's Weekly in the United States in June 1893. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" twelfth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories.
Publication History
The story only bore the title "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" when it was published in The Strand Magazine. When it was collected into book form, it was called "The Reigate Squires", the name under which it is most often known.
The story was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in June 1893, and in the US in Harper's Weekly on June 17, 1893. It was also published in the US edition of the Strand in July 1893. It was published in Harper's Weekly as "The Reigate Puzzle". The story was published with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine, and with two illustrations by W. H. Hyde in Harper's Weekly. It was included in the short story collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the UK in December 1893 and in the US in February 1894.
A Short Review
In "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle returns to the standard approach of having the Sherlock Holmes case narrated from Dr Watson’s perspective; the two preceding stories, "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" and "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual," had both been tales told by Holmes of early cases.
In this case, Conan Doyle introduces international scope to the work of Sherlock Holmes, and whilst previous cases had seen him work primarily in London and the Home Counties, at the start of "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" the detective returns from the continent after a case that had taken in three countries.
Holmes would end up in Reigate, Surrey, where the detective was supposed to be recuperating but, of course, had a case to solve. The case presented to Holmes is by no means the most difficult one, and all the detective needs to do is look at the physical evidence. Whilst no great deductive work is undertaken, the story manages once again to show the superiority of Sherlock Holmes over the run-of-the-mill policemen.
Holmes and Watson
This is one of the rare stories that show a glimpse of Watson's dedication and his life before he met Holmes, as well as Holmes' trust in Watson. Colonel Hayter is a former patient who Watson treated in Afghanistan and has offered his house to Watson and Holmes. Watson admits in convincing Holmes, "A little diplomacy was needed," for Holmes resists anything that sounds like coddling or sentimentalism. Watson also glosses over the facts of Holmes' illness from overwork, implying redundancy because all of Europe was "ringing with his name."
Holmes' health has collapsed after straining himself to the limit, and his success in the case means nothing to him in the face of his depression. With his superhuman physical and mental achievement, he has a correspondingly drastic fit of nervous prostration and needs Watson's assistance. Holmes clearly has no problem with asking Watson for help when he needs it, for he sends a wire and Watson is at his side twenty-four hours later. At the onset of the mystery, Watson warns Holmes to rest, not to get started on a new problem. However, Watson knows and has revealed in other writings that inactivity is anathema to Holmes, and his caution comes off as weak. Holmes takes it all with humor, but the reader does not doubt his mind is eagerly upon the trail of the crime. At the conclusion, he tells Watson: "I think our quiet rest in the country has been a distinct success, and I shall certainly return much invigorated, to Baker Street to-morrow."