New Book - The Boscombe Valley Mystery - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 4 - by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

RATING: GOOD

First Published: October 1, 1891

Watson gets a note from Sherlock Holmes, asking him to accompany him on a trip to solve a mystery.

 On the coach Holmes tells him about the death of Charles McCarthy. The man came from Australia and was the tenant of John Turner, another Australian man. Both men had children, but no wives. Charles had a son and John a daughter. John's daughter, Alice, reached out to Lestrade to clear Charles's son, James, who was arrested and charged with murder. It seems that James had been away in Bristol and the day of the murder he was seen following his father, carrying a gun. A witness saw them quarrel heatedly. James claimed that he had gone to the forest to see to his traps but he hadn't been followed his father. Then he heard his father called cooey, and they had a fight, which James refuses to explain the reason for, and when he went away, he heard something and returned to find that his father had been beaten to death.

When Holmes and Watson arrive at Boscombe, Lestrade tells them that in his mind there is no doubt that the son killed his father. Holmes starts to investigate and he goes to see James, and this time he tells him that the fight he had with his father was that he wanted him to marry Alice and he refused. Holmes also explores the place where the body was found.

Holmes naturally discovers the killer, and he summons John Turner. The man who is sick and expects to die in a few months confesses that in his youth in Australia he was with a bad lot and they attacked a convoy and stole the gold. In the convoy the driver was McCarthy. Then in England he used the money to buy his properties, and then McCarthy appeared and blackmailed. He agreed to let him live on one of the farms for free, and now lately he was pushing him for marrying Alice off to his son. And that is why he killed him. Holmes and Turner reach an agreement. He won't accuse him, but Turner will write a confession. If James is acquitted, the confession will never be revealed, but if he is charged, Holmes will use the confession if John has died. That is what happens. John dies, but James is acquitted as most of the evidence against him is circumstancial. In the end he marries Alice.

Very clever case, once agai.