(This piece was originally published in the FMHC Interim Report, 1994 pp 3-5)
More than anything else this is a record of a historic reunion, 'The greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life ... that sudden flood of joy, amazement and incredulity ...' It is the crux of the story and yet it is here that Watson sadly fails the reader. Where are the recriminations and bitterness that any human being would feel who had been treated as Holmes had treated Watson? The grief that Watson (and his readers) had suffered would not be assuaged by even '...a thousand apologies.'
As the story opens we are tantalised by the details of the Adair murder but as soon as Holmes reveals himself this crime takes second place - in fact, it is hardly mentioned until the conclusion. In between we hear the explanation of how, where and why Holmes has been in hiding for three years and what has prompted his return. Immediately Holmes makes himself known Watson agrees to accompany him. "You'll come with me tonight?" "When you like and where you like." Perhaps we can forgive him for playing patsy to such a bounder for, as readers, we are selfish. We want to hear of more adventures and therefore accept Holmes' ignominious return. Besides there is little time to contemplate it for we are off through the streets of London to witness a '...piece of work ... which ... will justify a man's life on this planet.'
The empty house, the wax dummy, the wait - this section is full of suspense with a thrilling twist as Moran decides to use their hiding place as his vantage point for shooting Holmes. How he was going to accomplish this from the ground floor is not clear and is, perhaps, a point in need of further investigation. There is also some doubt as to how easy it would have been to hit a target by sighting on a shadow cast on a blind. The size and position of the shadow would have been affected by the relative positions of the light source, dummy and blind. Perhaps there is scope here for some experimental work with a screen, a lamp, a spud-gun and an Action Man?
The climax of the story is the capture of Moran and now we can offload at least some of our resentment towards Holmes. After all this is the dastardly fiend who prompted Holmes to fake his death and remain incommunicado for three years. But what of Moran's crimes? 'The attempted murder of Mr Sherlock Holmes', would certainly have gotten Moran a stiff prison sentence, but what of the shooting of Ronald Adair? Where is the evidence? All we have is Holmes' word and the fact that Moran possessed an air-gun which could possibly have been the murder weapon. Let us look at the evidence.
Holmes said, '... [Moran] had followed [Adair] home from the club ... ' Who witnessed this? Certainly not Holmes who was still abroad at the time. He also claimed that ' ... [Moran] had shot [Adair] through the open window'. This is a wild accusation. Note that in the Granada adaptation the open window of Adair's room has a floor length net curtain in front of it which seems to have escaped acquiring a bullet hole! Finally we are told that '... the bullets alone are enough to put his head in a noose.' We must ask ourselves whether ballistics was that advanced in 1894. So if, as we are led to believe, Moran spent the rest of his days in prison, there must have been more to the Adair case than was revealed in the story.
The murder ' ... was of interest in itself.' What a shame we are not privilege to the full account. However, as a vehicle for the return of Holmes it has a lot to recommend it - after all the Great Hiatus could have been explained as one of Watson's bad dreams!