RATING: GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
Dr Watson visits Sherlock Holmes at Christmas time. He tells him about a curious case. Commissionaire Peterson was walking home one day when he observed a man carrying a goose. Some men attacked him and as he tried to defend himself, he smashed a window withi his cane. Afraid of being arrested, he run away, leaving the gooseand a hat behind. Now Peterson wants to find the owner of the hat and has asked for Holmes's help. Sherlock explains to Watson that Peterson kept the goose to eat for Chrismas, and the hat gives them a few clues. The name in the lining is Henry Baker, which is too common to find him, and from the tatty state of the hat it is logical to think that the man has suffered financial straits.
Then Peterson arrives with news. When his wife opened the goose to cook it, she found a gem. Sherlock identifies the jewel as a blue carbuncle which was stolen from the Countess of Morcar when she was staying at the Cosmopolitan. A plumber has been arrested on suspicion. He was there, fixing the taps when the carbuncle went missing. James Ryder the head attendant left Horner alone in the room, so he later reported him to the police.
Holmes thinks that what they need to do is find where the turnkey comes from. When he posts an advertisement in the newspaper about the hat and goose, Henry Baker appears, and it is clear that he had no idea that there was anything inside the goose. He got the goose in an inn which he frequents. When Holmes and Watson go to talk to the owner, he tells them that he got them from a supplier in Covent Garden, and there the man tells them that the goose from a Mrs Oakshott, who turns out to be the sister of the hotel attendant, Ryder.
The attendant was the thief, and he made one of the geese to hide the jewel as his sister had promised he could have a bird. Yet, when he returned, the goose was gone. When confronted by Holmes, Ryder confesses, but Holmes agrees to let him go.
I think this was a great and witty story.
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