Gripping Yarns

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about 60 stories starring his most famous creation, the detective Sherlock Holmes. He had not planned to write nearly as many – he soon wearied of his hero – but his enormous reading public continued to demand more, and so he continued, producing an infinite variety of tales, collected in nine volumes.

Class 9Y2 of Springfield School in Portsmouth had been reading four of the stories - The Man With The Twisted Lip, The Speckled Band, The Final Problem and The Resident Patient. These include scenes ranging from a Limehouse opium den to a locked room in a half-ruined mansion in Surrey, from an invalid’s bedside to the Reichenbach Falls where Holmes meets his end at the hands of his deadly enemy, Professor Moriarty – or so it seems.

The chosen tales reveal much about Holmes’ techniques of detection, which were very advanced and innovative for their time. His ‘methods’ became well-known and were an important aspect of the books’ popularity. Holmes was a master of disguise, he had studied chemistry, he was acutely observant and he had an analytical mind. He was a model detective.

In response, Class 9Y2 took on a Sherlock Challenge. They worked in pairs to produce the title, blurb, plot outline, opening paragraph and book cover for detective stories of their own, inspired by the Conan Doyle short stories which they have studied. Like Doyle himself, they tackled many topics in many different settings.  Poisons, an enforced overdose, phone hacking and jealousy all play their parts in their lively tributes to the great master.

To see more images and find out more about The Conan Doyle Collection, please email: sherlock.holmes@portsmouthcc.gov.uk