The Adventure of the Cardboard Box by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (His Last Bow #2)

This book is considered a Mystery. 

It is also considered Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Historical Fiction, and Detective. It is a short story and considered a Classic because of its author.

"Ring for our boots and tell them to order a cab."

The Adventure of the Cardboard Box was originally published in "A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes". It was also published in "His Last Bow", a collection of short stories. 

Two severed human ears. That is what Miss Susan Cushing, a fifty-year-old "maiden" of Cross Street, Croydon, found when she opened a mysterious cardboard box delivered to her. Who would send this to her and why? The boxes origine was Belfast, but the sender was anonymous. 

It doesn't take long for Inspector Lestrade to call in Sherlock Holmes and his pal Doctor Watson to investigate a case that seems "right up their alley". Inspector Lestrade is convinced that it is merely a prank, a joke played by medical students. But Holmes is not convinced. 

The Review

After reading The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge I was really excited to keep going with His Last Bow. This was the next story. One of the things I loved about this one was how different it felt from the first story, and yet how familiar it felt also. It's one of those stories where you hear the "evidence" and think, how in the heck is anyone going to figure this out? (Especially, keeping in mind the time frame of these mysteries.) A standard box wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. Like what else is there? And then, of course, Sherlock Holmes comes along and does his magic. 

The first thing that Mr. Holmes realises about the package is that it had a piece of tarred twine. And that Miss Cushing cut the cord with scissors. Again, to your average Joe, that would mean nothing, but to Sherlock Holmes, this is a clue. He notes that the knot tying the string together is very important. He also detects the smell of coffee on the brown paper and finds it curious that the package is addressed to Miss S. Cushing, not specifically addressed to Miss Susan Cushing.  

As Sherlock talks to Susan Cushing, he asks her questions about her sisters. He has seen a photograph of three women that include Susan, and she admits they are her sisters Sarah and Mary. She also has a photo of her younger sister and a young steward who weren't yet married at the time of the photo. They talk about the young Steward, Jim, who transferred lines to work on the May Day to stay close to his love. She alludes that Jim has issues, especially with alcohol. And that she isn't as close to her sisters anymore, partly because of it. 

They continue talking about the Cushing sisters and relatives and Jim Browner's temper and how it has affected the whole family. By the end, Holmes and Watson are on their way to Wallington to speak to Sarah Cushing. But when they arrive, they are told that Miss Sarah Cushing is ill and that she can have no visitors. Holmes does not seem to be upset by this; in fact, he doesn't push or prod. He simply accepts the medical adviser's words, and he and Watson leave. 

A very interesting line in this story comes next. While Watson tries to rationalise that Sarah Cushing may not have been of any help anyway, Sherlock says, "I did not wish her to tell me anything. I only wanted to look at her. However, I think that I have got all that I want." While I had no idea at the time what that meant, I was starting to realise this probably indicated that Sherlock had a strong theory, if not had already solved the case.  

SPOILER ALERT

Almost instantly, Sherlock realises that the box was not meant for Susan Cushing but for Sarah Cushing, her sister. Also, the knot was a popular sailor's knot, which led him to suspect Jim Browner once he learned more about him from Miss Susan Cushing. This seemed further supported by one of the ears in the box. After careful examination of the ear in the box and Miss Cushing, he determined that the ear must belong to a blood relative of hers because they were so similar. (It is now that Sherlock points out that Sarah had recently moved and that her address would have been unknown and probably sent to her old address instead.) 

Sherlock then talks about the steamer that Jim Browner would have been on. The May Day's first port would have been Belfast, where he could quickly get off the boat and post his package. Mr Holmes also indicates that it is clear Sarah realised this package was for her, which is why she was so ill upon hearing the news. 

Except that isn't the case. 

Inspector Lestrade is waiting for Jim Browner at the next port, and upon his arrest he gives a statement. Jim talks about how much he loved his wife, Mary and how they had a perfect life until Sarah came to stay with them. It seems like Sarah tried to seduce him and poison their marriage. She eventually did, but not through Jim as she originally planned. Eventually she turned Mary against him instead. 

Eventually, Sarah introduced Mary to Alec Fairbairn, and they began an affair. When Jim found out, he was furious and told Sarah. "[...] If Fairbairn shows his face here again, I'll send you one of his ears for a keepsake." And he did.

Rating and Recommendation

I gave this book four and a half stars. I think that this one was a little harder to solve. We aren't all ear experts but it still had that fun "Whodunnit" vibe, and it was interesting to really see the way the brilliant mind of Sherlock Holmes works. I think it is about now that I really realised that Sherlock Holmes mysteries aren't really meant to be "solved". It's more so you stand gape-mouthed and in awe of his brilliance, which is a-okay by me. 

I own His Last Bow; it was the first book I bought of Sherlock Holmes, and that's how I read The Adventure of the Cardboard Box. After reading the first few stories in this collection, I went out and bought a complete works collection of books. And since then I have asked for (and been gifted) two different print copies of the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as a special edition complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and a special edition illustrated book showcasing the illustrations that were used when printing the Sherlock Holmes short stories in The Strand Magazine. 

Conclusion

If you like any mystery novels whatsoever, you NEED to give Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a try. As I said previously, 4.5 stars may be a bit generous, but it is very close to four stars on most platforms. And Doyle is one of the kings of mysteries, especially from that time period. I think most people would agree that Sherlock Holmes is a classic no matter what story you read. 

This is usually where I provide links to the book so you can easily find them. This is a unique situation. I searched Amazon specifically for The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge. They have some, they have some in paperback and ebook format, etc. But none of them seemed official, and I had a hard time deciphering which were being sold reputably and which were reproductions. So I won't be linking any of those. (You can simply search the title on Amazon if you wish.) So my next idea was to link His Last Bow. The lowest price for The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge in print was a little under eight dollars. I figured His Last Bow would be cheaper and provide more stories. (I was wrong.) 

My best advice is this. I paid $10 at Chapters (Indigo) for His Last Bow. It wasn't on sale; it was just one of those front table books they sell cheap to try and getchya! So I am going to link to the version of His Last Bow that I own. Again, keep in mind that Amazon is asking $35, when I bought it for $10. 

Note: Along with owning a large collection of physical books, I also bought the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes on Amazon for 0.99, and it includes His Last Bow. You can find that here. 

You can also find the story typed up for free here. This includes the pages from The Strand Magazine. You can also find the Harper's Weekly publications and illustrations here.

* Book cover image retrieved from GoodReads. All rights belong to the author and/or publisher. 
* All the "stickers" in this blog were provided by Bookish (presented by NetGalley).

* Knife Photo via Pixabay, and used under the Pixabay Content License
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