5:14 a.m. - 2023-03-05
RED-HEADED LEAGUE PART 2
Holmes as always is able to astound Watson with his ability to make bold and accurate deductions based on careful observation and his own personal storehouse of minutiae. In the case of the pawnbroker, Holmes states with confidence that Wilson has spent time at manual labor, takes snuff, is a Freemason, has been to China, and recently has done considerable writing. His analysis of the impending crime hinges on Clay's fondness for photography and willingness to work for half pay, as well as the physical arrangement of the businesses in Wilson's neighborhood. Watson is, of course, flummoxed at first, but then remarks that, once explained, Holmes's conclusions seem to be quite simple. This case is nevertheless unique. Holmes admits that he is usually able to "guide myself by the thousands of other cases which occur to my memory," but that "in the present case, I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Unique indeed, until Doyle recycles the same basic plot in later stories: THE STOCKBROKER'S CLERK and THE THREE GARRIDEBS.

Doyle's gift for creating a moody and foreboding atmosphere is evident when Holmes and Watson begin their nocturnal journey through London's "endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets," arriving, in the company of Jones and the bank executive Merryweather, in a huge cellar filled with crates and massive boxes. Waiting for the criminal plot to develop, they extinguish all light, leaving them in "such an absolute darkness as I have never before experienced," and foreshadowing similar night watches in THE SPECKLED BAND and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. The first glimpse of the shadowy, almost spectral white hand emerging from the darkness is an admirable piece of verbal imagery.

Doyle's gift for humor is evident in the scene in which Wilson's job interview culminates in a vigorous bout of hair-pulling, ostensibly to verify his status as a biological redhead. The previously mentioned task of copying out the Encyclopedia Britannica longhand adds a nice bit of nonsense, as does Wilson's pride in finishing the letter A and looking forward to B. When Wilson expresses regret at having lost his cushy position, Holmes drolly urges him to take consolation from "the minute knowledge which you have gained on every subject under the letter A." Another note of absurdity is struck when the search for "Duncan Ross" of the Red-Headed League leads to a false address: "a manufactory of artificial knee caps."

There are a couple of apparent inconsistencies in the story, however. The newspaper ad for the Red-Headed League appeared on the morning of April 27, 1890, "just two months ago," according to Watson. Thus, the interview with Wilson presumably took place in June. But according to Wilson's narrative, the dissolution of the League--the reason for him seeking Holmes's advice--did not occur until October 9 of the same year, a four month discrepancy. It is also troublesome that the landlord of the building in which the League met, who lived on the ground floor, had never heard of the League. Why hadn't he noticed the huge crowd of red-headed men described by Wilson on the day of his job interview?

THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE has one of the cleverest plots in the Holmes saga, not diminished by its less satisfying reappearance in other stories. There are memorable and sometimes humorous characters, a possible prototype for Moriarty, and a pleasantly intriguing mystery. In my opinion it's one of the best stories in the canon.

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