The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Description

The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one out of the 56 short stories written by the author and the eighth story in the collection of short narratives entitled The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was initially published separately in the February 1892 issue of Strand Magazine, then in 1905 under the title The Spotted Band in New York World.

The world’s most famous detective is accompanied in his adventures by his best friend Dr. Watson this time again. They are faced with a locked room mystery – their client is a young woman named Helen Stoner who fears that her life is in danger because of her stepfather, Grimeby Roylott, a doctor who used to live in India and who had been imprisoned for killing his Indian servant in a fit of rage. Helen had a twin sister who died a couple of years earlier, her mysterious last words being about the Speckled Band. Helen hires the detectives because she keeps hearing strange noises and she is also seeing strange activities in her home.

The scary stepfather also visits Holmes, threatening to kill him if he takes the case. Holmes, however, cannot be easily scared, so he visits the house where Miss Stoner lives with her stepfather and he and Dr. Watson notice numerous strange things. They also find out what the speckled band is – a venomous snake sent by Roylott to kill Helen. Holmes saves Helen’s life and he also figures out what motivated Roylott when he wanted to kill his stepdaughter, and many other secrets are revealed as well.

The story was so well-received by the public that Doyle wrote a stage play with the same title – a play that was a huge success, too, and ran for almost 170 performances before it was transferred to the Globe.
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