Author: Hugh AshtonPublisher:
ISBN: 9780615861456
Category : Detective and mystery stories, English
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
In the account of the adventure that I have edited and entitled The Reigate Poisoning Case, published by Inknbeans Press in the collection Notes from the Dispatch-Box of John H. Watson MD, there was no mention of any character named Mlle. Carere, nor of a subsequent resurrection of the victim, let alone a reappearance and marriage in New York. I had therefore assumed that Watson had confused two cases, and attached the name of the principal of one to the events of another. It turns out that I was mistaken. Watson was correct in all the details that he had originally supplied as hints mentioned in his earlier story of Dartmoor. As I was searching through the dispatch box, I discovered an envelope into which was tucked another notebook, somewhat similar to the one in which I had discovered the story of Madame Montpensier. This was the totally unexpected sequel to the story that I had first discovered-a sequel that overturned my previous assumptions. The notebook contained what was perhaps a final copy of the second part of the manuscript describing the adventure, to be sent to the publisher, but later withheld, almost certainly at the request of Sherlock Holmes, given the content. Certainly there are very few corrections and additions to be seen in the manuscript, and the style is as polished as any other production from the pen of John Watson. I therefore present to you the second part of The Reigate Poisoning Case, which in my opinion, brings to a satisfactory close-as far as the plot is concerned, through many dubious moral aspects remain-those parts of the case that raised doubts in my mind when I was acquainted only with the first part of the story. This adventure is set some six months after the first, as the mention in Hound would imply. For those who have yet to read the initial portion, Holmes discovered that Mme. Montpensier, who had previously married a Mr. Stevens, was currently in a marriage which had been contracted bigamously by her current husband, under the name of Colethorpe. This Colethorpe, as she knew him, had suborned one of the maids into collaborating with him in a complex scheme that would trick the unfortunate Mme. Montpensier into providing her daughter, Miss Annabel Stevens, with a fatal dose of poisoned cocoa. At the autopsy, conducted by the local doctor, Henry Clifford (a former student colleague of Watson's) together with Watson and a lecturer at Bart's Hospital (Professor Menzies), it was discovered that the death of the victim had indeed been caused by poison. Though circumstances initially pointed to Mme. Montpensier as the administrator of the poison, it was deduced by Holmes that she had acted unwittingly, and the true culprit was Colethorpe, acting through his catspaw in the form of a kitchen maid, whom he had cajoled into acting as his accomplice. Colethorpe was found guilty and hanged, and the maid sentenced to many years' imprisonment. Now includes a sneak peak at the upcoming The Death of Cardinal Tosca. Grateful acknowledgement to Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. for permission to use the Sherlock Holmes characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.