The Misadventure of Shelrock Holmes Read Online Free

Dupin accuses Holmes of filching "the product of another's brain and palming it off as his own."
    Holmes admits that "it looks like a bad case against me. I've drawn freely upon you, M. Dupin." And Dupin, with a last admonition to Holmes not to overwork the exaggerated reports of his death, vanishes, leaving Holmes as shamefaced as a schoolboy caught with stolen apples.
    The debt Holmes owed to Dupin — rather, that Doyle owed to Poe — is not a moot point. The first person to admit it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. In his Preface to the Author's Edition of 1903 (comparatively unknown in the United States), Doyle frankly revealed this indebtedness when, like the great and true gentleman he was, he stated that "Edgar Allan Poe was the father of the detective tale, and covered its limits so completely that I fail to see how his followers can find any fresh ground they can confidently call their own. . . . The writer sees the footmarks of Poe always in front of him. ... I can only claim the very limited credit of doing it from a fresh model and from a new point of view."
    But it is to Doyle's everlasting fame that while he took up where Poe left off, his "fresh model" of the immortal Dupin performed the impossible feat of achieving even greater immortality.
    Further omissions, listed for the benefit of those who have a passion for completeness, include:
    16 A. A. Milne's Dr. Watson Speaks Out is omitted for the same reason. This classic review of an omnibus edition of Sherlock Holmes short stories was written as if by Dr. Watson himself —- and at long last the good doctor defends himself and "exposes" Sherlock. First appearance in "Nation & Athenaeum," issue of November 17, 1928. Later included in the author's book of essays, BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION; London, Mediuen, 1929; New York, Dutton, 1929.
    INTRODUCTION xvu
    James L. Ford's The Story of Bishop Johnson, in "The Pocket Magazine," issue of November 1895
    Allen Upward's The Adventure of the Stolen Doormat, a parody of a certain "criminal specialist in Baker Street" who stgned himself H-LM-S, in the author's book, THE WONDERFUL CAREER OF EBENEZER LOBE, London, Hurst and Blackett, 1900 Charlton Andrews's The Bound of the Astorbilts and The Resources of Mycroft Holmes, in "The Bookman," issues of 1902 and December 1903, respectively
    J. Alston Cooper's Dr. Watson's Wedding Present, in "The Bookman," issue of February 1903
    George F. Forrest's The Adventure of the Diamond Necklace, in MISFITS: A BOOK OF PARODIES, Oxford, Harvey, 1905, featuring detective Warlock Bones and narrator Goswell, the latter name obviously a "switch" on Boswell rather than on Watson Robin Dunbar's Sherlock Holmes Up-to-Date, a socialistic satire in THE DETECTIVE BUSINESS, Chicago, Kerr, 1909 Maurice Baring's From the Diary of Sherloc\ Holmes, which first appeared in "Eye-Witness" (London), November 23, 1911, then in "The Living Age" (U.S.), June 20, 1912, and finally in the author's book, LOST DIARIES, London, Duckworth, 1913 Cornelis Veth's DE ALLERLAATSTE AVONTUREN VAN SIR SHERLOCK HOLMES (THE VERY LAST ADVENTURES OF SIR SHERLOCK HOLMES), Leiden, 1912 —a book of parodies containing The Moving Picture Theatre, The Adventure of the Bloody Post Parcel, The Adventure of the Singular Advertisement, and The Adventure of the Mysterious Tom-Cat, the last a burlesque of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES changed to "The Tom-Cat of the Cooker-villes"
    James Francis Thierry's THE ADVENTURE OF THE ELEVEN CUFF-BUTTONS, New York, Neale, 1918, a long novelette in which Hemlock Holmes triumphs over Inspector Letstrayed J. Storer Clouston's The Truthful Lady, a parody of Dr. Watson with Sherlock Holmes present only in spirit, in the authors book, CARRINGTON'S CASES, Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1920
    H. F. Heard's A TASTE FOR HONEY, New York, Vanguard, 1941, and REPLY PAID, New York, Vanguard, 1942, in which the name Sherlock Holmes is never mentioned; but the detective, who calls himself Mr. Mycroft, is none other than