The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted E-Book

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Herausgeber: Al-Mashreq eBookstore
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 50

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted is an apocryphal Sherlock Holmes short story that for many years was mistakenly attributed to Arthur Conan Doyle. Framed as a typical Holmes adventure, it finds Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in Baker Street confronted with a perplexing scenario: an respectable London man is about to turn himself in for a crime he insists he did not commit, claiming he is "wanted" for an old murder. Holmes intervenes to investigate why an innocent person would assume a fugitive's identity. Over the course of the story – which unfolds in cozy sitting-room interviews and a swift trip to a provincial town – Holmes unravels a mix-up of identities and a fraudulent scheme. The climax sees Holmes dramatically prevent a miscarriage of justice by revealing that the real wanted murderer died years ago, and an imposter (or blackmailer) had manipulated the situation. In classic style, Holmes produces a key piece of evidence (a dated letter or diary) that clarifies the truth in front of astonished police. Watson pens it with the usual admiration for Holmes's logical prowess. Notably, this story has a story of its own: discovered in the Conan Doyle archives in the 1940s, it was published as a "lost Holmes tale" until later determined to be authored by an architect named Arthur Whitaker. Nevertheless, The Man Who Was Wanted reads like a faithful Holmes pastiche – a neat puzzle of identity and motive, complete with Holmes's kindly deception to spare an innocent and his famous concluding remark that "what one man can invent, another can discover."

Leseprobe

The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted

The Last Adventure of Sherlock Holmes

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Prepared and edited by: Rafat Allam

Copyright © 2025 by Al-Mashreq eBookstore

First published in Cosmpolitan, Hearst Magazines, Inc., August 1948

No part of this publication may be reproduced whole or in part in any form without the prior written permission of the author

Table of Contents

The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted

The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted

First published in Cosmpolitan, Hearst Magazines, Inc., August 1948, under the byline "Arthur Conan Doyle" Reprinted in The Sunday Dispatch, December 1948

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE

THE CASE OF THE MAN WHO WAS WANTED

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Cover

The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted

First published in Cosmpolitan, Hearst Magazines, Inc., August 1948, under the byline "Arthur Conan Doyle" Reprinted in The Sunday Dispatch, December 1948

Cosmopolitan, August 1948, with "The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted"

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE

The Arthur Conan Doyle Enyclopedia describes this story with the following terse entry:

08.1948 : The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted (wrongly attributed to Conan Doyle), by Arthur Whitaker (1 ill. by Robert Fawcett).

Its history is recounted in detail at The Sheffielder website in an article entitled: "Sherlock Holmes, the "Adventure of a Sheffield Banker," where we read:

Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930 and several documents, unused typescripts, and odd papers, were placed in a deed box by Lady Conan Doyle. Among them were some typewritten pages headed, "The Man Who Was Wanted," recounting a hitherto unrelated adventure of the great Sherlock Holmes.

Reference was made to it by Hesketh Pearson, a biographer of Conan Doyle, and the revelation caused a literary stir. People clamoured for its publication, American and British editors approached the Conan Doyle family, and tempting prices were mentioned. But the family were unwilling to sell at the time.

Some years later, the American Cosmopolitan magazine acquired the right to print the story in the United States, and in Britain, shortly after Christmas 1948, it was published by the Sunday Dispatch.

It prompted a letter to the Conan Doyle family from Arthur Whitaker, a slim, grey-haired man, who was living in Longridge, near Stroud, and spent his days collecting ornithology reports from bird-watchers in Gloucestershire.

"You know that story called 'The Man Who Was Wanted,' which appeared in an American magazine and in the Sunday Dispatch? Well, I wrote it. I don't want any money or publicity, of course, but I just thought youd like to know, that's all."

It caused upset in the Conan Doyle family and a solicitor began to investigate the claim. He interviewed Whitaker, examined a letter from Arthur Conan Doyle, and saw that he had an exact carbon copy of 'The Man Who Was Wanted.'

"It is quite simple, really," said Mr Whitaker. "In 1911 I was a young architect, married, and living in Barnsley. I thought I might earn a little more money by writing detective stories, so I wrote five or six. One was called 'The Man Who Was Wanted.' I sent it to Arthur Conan Doyle, asking him whether he ever collaborated in story-writing, and if he would like to collaborate with me.

"He replied that the story was not bad, but that he did not collaborate; he sometimes paid ten guineas, however, for an idea which he later worked up in his own way. He advised me to change the names in the story and get it published myself. However, I accepted the ten guineas, and he retained the typescript. Thats all there is to it, really."

Because the typescript was unsolicited, the Conan Doyle family had retained it but held back on publication believing it was not up to the great man's standards. However, Arthur Conan Doyle's son, Denis, had eventually allowed publication with a note to that effect, and adding that the family had at last yielded to public pressure and had allowed it to be printed.

Arthur Whitaker died in 1949, which means that "The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted" is in the public domain in countries where the "Life+70" rule applies.

Here is the text of the story as it was printed in the August 1948 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

THE CASE OF THE MAN WHO WAS WANTED

The most famous detective of all time solves his last case!

A recently discovered and heretofore unpublished novelette starring the immortal Sherlock Holmes.

DURING the late autumn of 'ninety-five a fortunate chance enabled me to take some part in another of my friend Sherlock Holmes's fascinating cases.

My wife not having been well for some time, I had at last persuaded her to take a holiday in Switzerland in the company of her old school friend Kate Whitney, whose name may be remembered in connection with the strange case I have already chronicled under the title of "The Man with the Twisted Lip." My practice had grown much, and I had been working very hard for many months and never felt in more need myself of a rest and a holiday. Unfortunately I dared not absent myself for a long enough period to warrant a visit to the Alps. I promised my wife, however, that I would get a week or ten days' holiday in somehow, and it was only on this understanding that she consented to the Swiss tour I was so anxious for her to take. One of my best patients was in a very critical state at the time, and it was not until August was gone that he passed the crisis and began to recover. Feeling then that I could leave my practice with a good conscience in the hands of a locum tenens, I began to wonder where and how I should best find the rest and change I needed.