Harpooners discussion for April. . BLAN

This month the story for the Harpooners meeting is BLAN,

Written in Holmes’ own hand, we find Holmes in 1903, alone at Baker St,. We are told Watson has “deserted” Holmes for a wife. We assume this to be Watson’s second wife.

His client is a Mr. Dodd, who is concerned about the where abouts of his friend from time in military duty in the Second Boer War.

Some interesting discussion points could be;

• The Second Boer War
• Units in the Second Boer War
• Watson’s second wife
• Ichthyosis
• Turkish world issues of the time
• Leprosy
• Relationship to other mentioned cases in the story.

Although the case proves to be an arm chair case for Holmes, meaning it doesn’t take him a whole lot of energy or leg work to figure out, it does present some wonderful insights into Holmes’ feelings and respect for Watson, and I believe it also shows some humor in Holmes’ personality.

We are also given one of his most famous quotes in this tale. We also see a Holmes who is kind in his handling of the case.