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The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
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The Complete Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
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The Adventure of the Illustrious Client (The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes)
Discussion Questions
1) Why does Holmes remark to Watson that he hopes “that it is not a false scent and that he has some real need for our assistance”?
2) What do you think it is that convinces Holmes to take on the case, despite being “in the dark” on both ends of the mystery?
3) This story is entitled “the Illustrious Client.” Based on what you have learned about the said client, do you think “illustrious” describes him as a character?
4) How does Holmes utilize Kitty Winter to achieve his goal? How does Kitty Winter use Holmes to achieve her own goal?
Could this be one of the most misleading titles of all Conan Doyle’s short stories? Was it done, maybe, to draw the reader into an ultimately repugnant story which was both disturbing and yet only too familiar?On one level I was reminded of Wilkie Collins’ novel Blind Love. The obsessive infatuation of Violet Mervel was sickening. Even poor, damaged Kitty could not dislodge that ‘proud love’ that the Baron had cultivated in Violet’s poisoned mind.
https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org...
The intro to my edition featured takes on all the stories by an editor that I suppose I don't have much in common with (he loved "The Veiled Lodger" and hated "The Creeping Man.") But on this story we're united: this is the best in the collection, and maybe one of the best overall.When it started I didn't remember it and then got a little stab of excitement--"oh, it's this story!" And when Kitty appeared "Oh yes! Her!" I love this story, particularly Watson having to swot up on Chinese pottery to an absurd extent.
I also find Violet and Kitty wonderful creations... in a series not necessarily strong on female characterization. I adored their "fight."
I have strong memories of the Jeremy Brett version and had forgotten that Kitty having also been disfigured by acid was an addition to the TV adaptation...a good one I think.
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client (The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes)
Availability The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69700
Background Information
"The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and one of the 12 stories collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States in November 1924, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in two parts, in February and March 1925.
Publication History
"The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" was first published in the US in Collier's in November 1924, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in February–March 1925. The story was published in Collier's with four illustrations by John Richard Flanagan, and in the Strand with eight illustrations by Howard K. Elcock. It was included in the short story collection The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.
The original manuscript of the story is now held by the National Library of Scotland, it was formerly in the possession of Jean Conan Doyle.
A Short Summary
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client," Sherlock Holmes is contacted by Sir James Damery to assist in preventing a marriage between the roguish Baron Adelbert Gruner and Violet Merville, the daughter of a prominent General. Holmes suspects the Baron is a dangerous man, possibly a murderer, due to his previous wife's suspicious death, and is determined to stop the marriage. The identity of Damery's true client, the "illustrious client," is never revealed, adding to the mystery of the case.