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The Adventure of Black Peter - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story
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The Adventure of Black Peter (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Discussion Questions
1) In the beginning paragraphs, Watson refers to Holmes’ career as “art,” and to Holmes as “an artist.” How can something as seemingly black and white as the law be perceived as art?
2) Watson states that Holmes doesn’t often serve the rich and wealthy. How does this characterize Holmes?
3) Holmes mentions to Inspector Hopkins multiple times throughout this story to “not lose sight of the alternative.” What other implications could this advice have?
When they find the culprit, the culprit states “you say I murdered Peter Carey, I say I killed Peter Carey.” In the eyes of the culprit, what is the difference?
4) What significance does the ship’s name, the Sea Unicorn, hold?
5) By Holmes’ explanation of how he solved the crime at the end of the story, it seems that he had it mostly solved from the very beginning, and still allowed Inspector Hopkins to arrest the wrong man. Why do you suppose Holmes let him do this?
6) What role does money play this story? What does this suggest about the characters?
If for no other reason, I love this story for Holmes coming to breakfast with a harpoon, having spent the morning trying to impale a pig with one. I think he let Hopkins arrest the wrong man to teach Hopkins a lesson about alternate solutions. He also seems to have been wrong-footed himself by the securities book.
This one was a bit over-reliant on coincidence.
I like the story of the harpoon too, however not sure I would’ve enjoyed my ham and eggs for breakfast after trying to impale a pig for an hour!I thought this was one of CD’s better stories, initially the policeman got the wrong man, it was obvious that he was a weakling and could not have committed the crime. Holmes is always decrying circumstantial evidence which contributes to his success.
I think the ship’s name does have some significance because a unicorn has a single horn which I assume is usefulfor impaling.
The culprit made a distinction between murder and killing as a paradox between murder and manslaughter, or even self defence, after all he entered the hut un-armed so there was no pre-meditation, therefore no murder.
I took the difference between murdered and killed to simply be that Peter Carey deserved it, and was himself a murderous old man.
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Yeah, I had a hard time caring about the outcome of this one. That's probably why Doyle had the policeman capture the innocent man, to keep readers invested in Holmes finding the right man.
I am not a fan of blood and gore splattered horror/whodunnits so from the time Holmes mentioned his pig spearing exploits I felt uncomfortable. The blood splattered cabin lowered the tone even more with the Hammer horror like scene of the captain impaled by his own harpoon.The despicable abuse of the women made it even worse. Surely the mother and daughter would have been better off in the workhouse rather than continue living with brutal Black Peter.
After all that I found it hard to concentrate on the actual solving of the case. Except to remember that there was yet more blood on one of the most important clues, the notebook.
I was relieved to come to the end of the story and I just felt sorry for those who would have to clean up the mess.
https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org...
Neil wrote: "I think the ship’s name does have some significance because a unicorn has a single horn which I assume is useful for impaling..."It seems that Conan Doyle could have seen a ship named the Unicorn in Dundee. However it was a warship not a whaler. Here is the figurehead.
This ship can still be visited today in Dundee and is claimed to be one of the oldest intact warships from the age of sail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Uni...
Trev wrote: "I am not a fan of blood and gore splattered horror/whodunnits so from the time Holmes mentioned his pig spearing exploits I felt uncomfortable. The blood splattered cabin lowered the tone even more..."Actually, the situation in workhouses were deplorable. People went there when they were in really necessary conditions, but as soon as they could, people would leave it.
Rafael wrote: "Actually, the situation in workhouses were deplorable. People went there when they were in really necessary conditions, but as soon as they could, people would leave it.."That was my point. Even the workhouse would have been better than living with Black Peter. At least there they would not be attacked on a whim living in fear of their lives.
I mentioned the workhouse because I visited one last week.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visi...
It was a fascinating step back in time. This particular workhouse, ’ Built in 1824 as a last resort for many people’ was seen as a model for the future. In effect they were built to relieve the burden on the rich who had to provide ‘poor relief.’
The buildings at Southwell were in use up to 1980, with some of the workhouse converted to bedsits up to the 1970’s.
Incidentally, Charlie Chaplin spent part of his childhood in the Lambeth workhouse. Here is the story.
https://essentialldn.com/2023/07/25/t...
Some famous british people have ancestors that lived in them too. I didn't knew about this subject until I watched a documentary in the Absolute History Youtube channel. They can be found in other channels as well.
The Adventure of Black Peter (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Availability The Return of Sherlock Holmes: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/108
Background Information
"The Adventure of Black Peter" is a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle. This tale is in the collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Collier's (US) in February 1904 and in The Strand Magazine (UK) in March 1904.
Publication History
"The Adventure of Black Peter" was published in the US in Collier's on February 27, 1904, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in March 1904. The story was published with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand. It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.
A Short Review
The Adventure of Black Peter is one of the stories of the Sherlock Holmes canon that is often overlooked, partially because it was one of the stories not adapted by Granada TV for the series where Jeremy Brett played Holmes.
Despite the lack of dramatisation, the story of Black Peter is a classic Sherlock Holmes tale, where Holmes sets about solving the murder of Black Peter Carey by persons unknown. The fact that Black Peter had been murdered with a harpoon, of course, makes the case even more interesting.
Many of the most famous elements of Conan Doyle’s Holmes come out in the tale, and whilst the police, in this case, Inspector Hopkins, take the first solution as fact, Holmes looks beyond the obvious for the real solution. Of course, the fact that Holmes manages to use his disguises is an added bonus.