Doyle tires of his detective in ‘Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’ (1894)

Nowadays mystery authors dream of creating a cash-cow detective like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or The Continental Op. So it’s not like readers and authors have a lot of sympathy for Arthur Conan Coyle, who tired of writing about Holmes and therefore “killed him off” in December 1893’s “The Final Problem,” the last of the 11 tales in “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” (1894).

Doyle wanted to write other things; he wrote six novels before accepting that his success with Holmes was a blessing as well as a curse and penning 1902’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Looking through the lens of history, we see a reasonable balance: Doyle is most popular for Holmes (my library’s DOY section includes only Holmes works), but critics respect him beyond that. Notably, “The Lost World” (1912) is a sci-fi classic.

Although it was Doyle – not his publisher – who bumped off Holmes, “The Final Problem” reads like a rushed TV finale penned when a show is suddenly canceled (see “Angel” and “Dollhouse”). Knowing now that Holmes will return, it also plays like a teaser.

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Enter (and exit) the nemesis

(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)

Professor James Moriarty — an evil genius to match Holmes’ good genius, a Joker to Holmes’ Batman – is introduced. Doyle’s prose flows like a waterfall, but this is certainly the weakest plot in the canon up to this point. We’re vaguely told that law enforcement will arrest, charge and convict Moriarty soon – on Holmes’ evidence – unless Holmes backs off.

The concept of Moriarty simply walking into Holmes’ quarters with an ultimatum is a thrillingly brash piece of writing. “Buffy” Season 3 would later copy it in “Choices,” when The Mayor brazenly enters the library to chat with our heroes.

Holmes doesn’t back off, so we then have the famous fight at Reichenbach Fall, where Holmes and Moriarty fall to their deaths. The end. It’s not so thrilling to read, though, because we don’t see it! Watson just assumes it happened. Perhaps even at the time Doyle was making sure he could easily bring Holmes (and Moriarty) back.

Then again, maybe not, because Doyle wasn’t one for chronological continuity; indeed, he tended to be backward-looking. The 11 prior stories in “Memories” find Watson telling us, the reader, tales from Holmes’ archives – including the first chronological story, “The Gloria Scott.” (All of the titles except “The Final Problem” technically start with “The Adventure of …” but I’ll omit that.) It’s one of several yarns wherein someone has a reckoning with their past.

Sins of the past

In these stories – another is “The Reigate Squire” – clients or people associated with the clients seem like the victims, but actually they brought the situation upon themselves. Doyle is rather neutral in whether he believes in “What goes around comes around,” but certainly he sympathizes with the suspect in “The Crooked Man.” Convolutions allow the suspect to not necessarily be the killer, suggesting that Doyle takes a fable-like approach wherein matters end up morally “correct.”

(Also, Doyle had to satisfy publishers, readers and the era he was writing in. This is why “The Cardboard Box,” despite being published in January 1893, is left out – although it was mistakenly published in some early American editions of “Memoirs.” The plot deals with adultery. It would be collected in “His Last Bow,” as apparently moral standards had eased by 1917.)

“The Yellow Face,” uncomfortably dealing with racial views at the time though not being racist, puts a sentimental spin on the “past transgressions” theme. Its quite gripping trying to figure out why a wife who clearly loves her husband must keep a secret from him despite his protestations.

Be prepared for “The Naval Treaty” to be twice as long, as it was published in two parts. But it’s a good one, precursing Agatha Christie’s “The Submarine Plans” in that a secret government document is stolen. A couple tropes pop up – a client who is bedridden due to psychological illness (borne from his loss of the document), plus the way Holmes traps the culprit by staging a set-up and then patiently waiting for the suspect to act.

“The Resident Patient” is another strong one about an ill man, and the best of the “dark secret past” yarns. The victim seems to have what’s coming to him once we learn the engrossing backstory, and Doyle isn’t all that sympathetic, as he offs the person in violent fashion. And a scene of fisticuffs features in “The Musgrave Ritual.” Certainly, Holmes is a man of both brains and brawn.

Innocent and not-so-innocent victims

Despite “Memoirs’ ” cynicism and grimness, some clients are totally innocent, including the titular “Greek Interpreter,” an Everyman yanked into a mob situation. Adding to this tale’s famous status, Holmes’ brother Mycroft is introduced. Smarter but lazier than Holmes, he’s a member of the Diogenes Club, for men who want to quietly sit and read. (Can we bring such clubs back?) Obviously, Preston & Child tipped their hats to Mycroft with Diogenes Pendergast. (There’s also some Moriarity in Aloysius’ brother.)

We get a plain ole piece of good detective work in the racehorse theft tale “The Silver Blaze,” which boasts a great non-clue of a clue: a dog’s uncharacteristic silence. (While humans get banged up more than usual in “Memoirs,” take heart that animals fare OK.)

But my favorite of the collection is “The Stockbroker’s Clerk,” a clever “Be careful what you wish for” fable wherein an Everyman is prompted to pass up a solid job for one that’s too good to be true. I love the clue that tips Holmes off: a situation where identical twins are a little too identical.

Watson has gathered up quite a collection of Holmes’ cases by this point. He also hints at many others (never chronicled) and references some cases by the same title as the story, something “The Hardy Boys” would later do. (I found that goofy even as a kid, but now that I realize Doyle was doing it, I’ll revise my opinion.)

Considering the creeping cynicism and some repeated tropes, I can see why Doyle needed a break. It’s not easy to thrill readers month after month, although he comes darn close to succeeding in “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.”

Sleuthing Sunday reviews the works of Agatha Christie, along with other new and old classics of the mystery genre.