14. The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
Originally, the next Holmes story to appear was a combination of two stories, which appeared in two parts in The Strand Magazine under the title A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. It appeared in Collier’s Magazine as a single story in August, 1908. The Strand published the two parts in September and October. It revealed an aspect of Holmes’s character never before seen. In all of the preceding stories in which police officers and investigators appeared, their talents and skills were for the most part looked at condescendingly by the great detective.
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 62 works featuring Sherlock Holmes, four novels and 56 short stories. In all but one, The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, his skills, deductive reasoning, and analysis of evidence, exceeded the abilities of the police. In the story, Doyle introduced Inspector Baynes, Surrey Constabulary, who demonstrated abilities equal to those of Holmes. Holmes is highly appreciative of Baynes’s abilities, and comments that the young detective should rise to the top of his profession. In no other Holmes story does he praise the investigative abilities of professional policemen.