The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine in 1903 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget.
Synopsis
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are visited by "the unhappy John Hector McFarlane", a young lawyer who has been accused of murdering one of his clients, a builder called Jonas Oldacre. McFarlane's family history provides some clues for Holmes, however the final evidence is found hidden in the house which Oldacre had built for himself in Norwood.
Trivia
Arthur Conan Doyle lived in Norwood, and included some local details into the story. For example, McFarlane spends the night in The Anerley Arms, a pub which still exists today.
At the start of the story, Watson metions two unrecorded cases that Holmes investigated around the time as this story:
- "the case of the papers of Ex-President Murillo,", which Conan Doyle later wrote as The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
- "the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland", which loosely inspired the 1945 film Pursuit to Algiers starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes.
External Links
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