The Adventure of the Vicar's Missing Daughter

I had just returned from a fortnight away, my annual holiday, when I decided to call on him. I had not seen him in several months, so was wholeheartedly curious, and filled with some trepidation, to discover the current state of both his mental and physical faculties.

Baker Street was as bustling as ever as I called at that oh-so-familiar 221. Mrs. Hudson kindly greeted me at the door and directed me up, knowing full well I didn’t want nor need to be announced nor directed to the upstairs flat.
​
I found him pacing, as he often did when he was on a case, with his gaze fixed downward, no doubt studying the minute movements of some as yet unseen arachnid or similar creature. The scent of pungent incense hung in the air, certainly designed to conceal from Mrs. Hudson some far fouler stench.

“Good evening, Holmes.”

Silence.

“My apologies if I am disturbing you, but I have just returned from…”

“Shhhh!!”, he muttered.

“Er… holidays… er… .sorry”, I stammered.

He paused in his pacing, looked up, and studied me but for a moment. “How was Greece?” he asked.

.”Now how the devil did you surmise I’d been to Greece? Wait, is it the slight smell of some Athenian spice, emanating from my clothes? The particular tanning of my complexion, indicative of Aegean latitudes? Or some other subtle tell?”

A hint of a smile appeared on Holmes’ gaunt chiseled face. “No, no, no, my dear doctor. Nothing quite so cerebral.”

He suddenly presented a card, which he must have subtly palmed off the table as he’d paced by. “Mary sent me a postcard from the two of you, from Athens.”

We both chuckled at this.

“Watson, I… we… have a case.” He began. “I was visited this afternoon by Reverend Edward Cussler, Vicar of Saint Sepulchres, in Snow Hill. It seems his daughter, Abigail, has disappeared and he is quite concerned for her well-being.” 

It had been too long since we’d last worked together, so a part of me was quite eager to assist in his efforts, while another part of me was conscious that I had a wife waiting for me at home. “Where shall we start?” I heard myself say. “What additional information were you able to glean from the Vicar?”

Holmes’ smile broadened, “The game’s afoot, Watson.  We’ll start by visiting the flat Abigail apparently called home, I should think."

​Click on the Read More link to find out what happened.

Vertical Divider

Museum visitors will learn how Sherlock Holmes, a scientific expert ahead of his time, used seemingly trivial observations of clues others missed to solve some of his era’s most mysterious crimes. His practices and techniques, created in the mind of doctor-turned-author Conan Doyle, changed the way police work was conducted and remain in practice today. The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes features original manuscripts and period artifacts, investigative tools influenced and used by Sherlock Holmes, and interactive crime-solving opportunities. Guests will be transported into Sherlock Holmes’ London to solve a crime in a world filled with innovation and experimentation–and just receiving its introduction to his ground-breaking methods.
​
“The Conan Doyle Estate can’t remember an undertaking as involved and exciting as this one,” says the Estate’s U.S. representative Jon Lellenberg: “Museum visitors will experience the scientific and literary ideas that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes, and Holmes’ methods for investigating and solving crimes as the world’s first consulting detective, and they will visit their two worlds, including the very rooms in which all this took place.”

​The exhibition is brought to the Houston Museum of Natural Science as the result of a unique arts partnership between Exhibits Development Group (EDG); Geoffrey M. Curley + Associates; Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.; and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Local support provided by the John P. McGovern Foundation.

Read More