The case-book of Sherlock Holmes

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1927, gathers Arthur Conan Doyle's last twelve Holmes stories, with a preface taking leave of him. The cases turn stranger and sadder: a mother found with blood on her lips beside her baby, a professor attacked by his own dog, a woman veiling her ruined face. Holmes takes the pen from Watson for two stories, including The Lion's Mane, set in his Sussex retirement. His taunting of a Black boxer in The Three Gables is plainly racist.

Each case stands alone, running from about 6,900 to 15,000 syllables. The book opens with its longest, The Illustrious Client, so start with the shortest, The Veiled Lodger. Pronouns sort people by rank and feeling. Edith Presbury is em to her fiancé Trevor Bennett and cháu to Holmes, who calls her cô. Her enraged father turns on Holmes with các người. Neil Gibson calls Grace Dunbar both cô and em, and Josiah Amberley speaks of his wife as ả.