Sherlock Sunday: The Crooked Man

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

"The Adventure of the Crooked Man" was published in July 1893. This story has Holmes & Watson investigating the death of Colonel Barclay and hinges on reference to a Biblical story of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah. It involves old sins having long shadows and features a mongoose.

Here's an image of the original manuscript.



I smile at this line:

she...had flown to tea, as an agitated woman will

The image of a woman flying to tea as a remedy for seeing her former lover who she'd thought had died 20 years ago is amusing to me.

I think the thing I remember most about this story is gardnerhill's fic series where Henry Wood (the Uriah in the tale) and Watson become friends. It's called Wounded Warriors Here's the first fic in the series:

Sum Tamquam Vas Perditum (5366 words) by gardnerhill
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Henry Wood
Additional Tags: Aftermath of Torture, Community: watsons_woes, Angst, Friendship, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Story: The Adventure of the Crooked Man
Series: Part 1 of Wounded Warriors
Summary:

For the LJ Comm Watson's Woes' Challenge 023. Prompt: "Adventure of the Crooked Man: Watson is affected far more deeply than Holmes can understand. After much time, Watson reveals that he was held hostage at some point and tortured."

Comments

[smallhobbit]

I do like Teddy the mongoose in this story.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, so do I.