蓝柘榴石探案 (1892)

《蓝石榴石探案》，又译名为“蓝色石榴石探案”，柯南·道尔所著的福尔摩斯探案的56个短篇故事之一，收录于《福尔摩斯办案记》。

故事简介

门警彼得森深夜撞到一个途人，那途人遗留了一只鹅及一顶帽子，彼得森将帽子交给福尔摩斯，希望找回物主。后来彼得森更在鹅中找到失窃了的宝石，于是他又向福尔摩斯求助。福尔摩斯登报寻找失主，上门的人显然不知道宝石的事，于是一直向上找回卖鹅的源头。最终发现了是酒店的经理偷了下榻在酒店的客人的宝石，然后转运出去。

"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.

Plot

As London prepares for Christmas, newspapers report the theft of a near-priceless gemstone, the "Blue Carbuncle", from the Countess of Morcar's hotel suite. The police arrest John Horner, a plumber with a criminal record who was in the Countess's room repairing a fireplace grate.

Meanwhile, at 221B Baker Street, Dr Watson finds Sherlock Holmes contemplating a battered old hat brought to him by Peterson, a commissionaire who seeks Holmes's help in returning it and a Christmas goose to their rightful owners after he found them the previous night in the street after a scuffle. A tag on the goose reading "For Mrs Henry Baker" is of little assistance, as the name is a very common one. Ultimately, Peterson takes the goose home for dinner and Holmes keeps the hat to study as an intellectual exercise, deducing Baker's age, social standing, intellect, and domestic status.

An excited Peterson bursts in, having found the stolen gem in the goose's crop. That evening when Baker appears in response to advertisements placed by Holmes in the London newspapers, Holmes returns his hat and offers him a new goose, which he happily accepts. Baker's refusal to take the original bird's entrails leads Holmes to believe that he knew nothing of the theft and that he has been truthful in his claim of having purchased the goose at a pub.

Holmes and Watson visit the pub, whose proprietor states that he bought the goose and several others from a dealer in Covent Garden. However, the dealer refuses to help, complaining that he has been repeatedly pestered by another man about geese he sold to the pub. Realising that he is not the only one aware of the goose's importance, Holmes tricks the dealer into revealing that it was supplied to him by its breeder, a Mrs Oakshott of Brixton. The pestering man visits the stall and identifies himself to Holmes as James Ryder, head attendant at the hotel from which the gem was stolen, who had testified that he found it missing.

Upon being taken to Baker Street and shown the gem, a remorseful Ryder admits that he and his accomplice, the Countess's maid, had contrived to steal it and frame Horner, whose criminal past would make him an easy scapegoat. During a visit to his sister, Mrs Oakshott, Ryder had concealed the gem by feeding it to a goose she had promised him as a gift, but confused the bird with another. By the time he realised his mistake, his goose had already been sold. As it is Christmas, Holmes takes pity on Ryder and allows him to flee the country, concluding that the man is too frightened by what happened to offend again. Holmes is confident that the case against Horner will be dismissed for lack of evidence once Ryder fails to appear in court as a prosecution witness.

Publication history

"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" was first published with eight illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine in January 1892, and in the US edition of the Strand in February 1892. It was also included in the short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published in October 1892.

Adaptations

Film and television

A silent short film based on the story was released in 1923 as part of the Stoll film series starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock Holmes.

Peter Cushing portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the 1968 BBC series. "The Adventure of Blue Carbuncle" is one of only six surviving episodes.

Algimantas Masiulis played Sherlock Holmes in a 1980 television film adaptation of the story by Belarusfilm, directed by Nikolai Lukyanov.

In 1984, the story was adapted by John Hawkesworth and Paul Finney as an episode of the Granada TV series, directed by David Carson and starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and David Burke as Dr. Watson.