The story begins with a visit to 221B Baker Street from Steve Dixie, a black man and a cowardly ruffian who warns Sherlock Holmes to keep away from Harrow. Although Dixie has come to intimidate Holmes, Holmes secures Dixie's future cooperation by threatening to tell what he knows about the suspicious Perkins death involving Dixie. Dixie's boss is Barney Stockdale, and he must be connected with the Harrow Weald case, of which Holmes has just learnt from a message from Mary Maberley, a lady who lives at Three Gables, a house at Harrow Weald.
Mrs. Maberley is an elderly woman whose son has recently died in Rome. He was an attaché there. Some peculiar things have happened at Three Gables. Mrs. Maberley has lived there nearly two years and in all that time has attracted very little attention from her neighbours. Suddenly, however, a man came to her recently and offered to buy her house and all the furniture in it. She was not really willing to do it, especially after her lawyer, Mr. Sutro, told her that the legal agreement drawn up by this prospective buyer would forbid her to remove any possessions from the house when she moved out.
an illustration from Strand Magazine in 1926 by Howard Elcock
As she is telling Holmes this story, he becomes aware that someone is eavesdropping on the conversation. He opens a door and drags in Susan, a wheezing maid. Holmes manages to establish that Susan communicated to Barney Stockdale the fact that her mistress was hiring Sherlock Holmes, and that precipitated Steve Dixie's visit. Holmes also finds out that a rich woman hired Barney Stockdale and his thugs to do her dirty work. Susan is also a member of the gang but will not give up all their secrets. She leaves in a huff.
Obviously, this woman wants something that has come into the house quite recently. Holmes, seeing some trunks with Italian placenames on them, realizes that her late son Douglas's belongings must hold the key. He instructs Mrs. Maberley to try to get Mr. Sutro to spend a couple of nights at Three Gables, to keep the house guarded.
Holmes finds Dixie outside, keeping the house under surveillance. Dixie is now inclined to help Holmes if he can, to avoid any indiscreet talk about the Perkins lad who met his end so tragically. He swears, however, that he does not know who has hired Barney Stockdale.
Holmes and Watson go back to Three Gables to investigate a burglary that has happened there. The burglars chloroformed Mrs. Maberley and stole a manuscript from her son's belongings. She retained part of one sheet of paper from it when, coming round, she lunged after one of the thieves.
The police inspector at the scene treats the matter as an ordinary burglary, but Holmes knows better. He examines the bit of manuscript retained by Mrs. Maberley, and it appears to be the end of a lurid novel. Holmes is struck by the peculiar wording; the story abruptly changes from third-person narration to first-person narration. It is in Douglas's handwriting; so it would seem that he was putting himself in a story that he was writing.
Holmes and Watson go to see Isadora Klein, a wealthy woman who is used to getting what she wants. The happenings at Three Gables, and the information Holmes obtained from Langdale Pike, "his human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal", have all added up to something. It turns out that Douglas Maberley was involved with Isadora Klein at one time. She broke the relationship off, and he almost wrought his revenge by writing a thinly veiled account of their affair, to be published as a novel. Everyone in London would know who the characters truly were, were the novel ever published. Isadora established that no copy had ever been sent to Douglas's publisher but realized that he must have a copy. She hired Barney Stockdale and his confederates to secure the manuscript. She tried legal means at first, and when that did not work, she resorted to crime. She has burnt the manuscript.
Holmes forces Isadora Klein to write a cheque for £5000 to furnish Mrs. Maberley with a first-class trip round the world in return for his silence about Isadora's nefarious dealings.
Commentaries
"The Adventure of the Three Gables" has been criticized for its reliance on racist stereotypes in the portrayal of the black boxer, Steve Dixie. This contrasts strikingly with Doyle's earlier sympathetic portrayal of an interracial marriage, in "The Adventure of the Yellow Face" (1893).
D. Martin Dakin wrote that "no admirer of Holmes can read these scenes [with or discussing Steve Dixie] without a blush".[1] Dakin saw Holmes's crude jeers at Dixie as completely out of character for the detective, and this was one reason behind his conclusion that someone other than Doyle had in fact written the story.[1] Others, including Walter Pond, have rejected Dakin's argument and concluded that there is no reason to doubt Doyle's authorship.[2]
Publication history
"The Adventure of the Three Gables" was first published in the US in Liberty in September 1926, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in October 1926.[3] The story was published with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Liberty, and with four illustrations by Howard K. Elcock in the Strand.[4] It was included in the short story collection The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,[4] which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.[5]
Adaptations
Radio
The story was adapted by Edith Meiser as an episode of the American radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that aired on 12 November 1931, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.[6] Another episode adapted from the story aired on 7 April 1935 (with Louis Hector as Holmes and Lovell as Watson).[7]
In 2007, the story was adapted as an episode of The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a series on the American radio show Imagination Theatre, with John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson.[11] Like in the 1994 BBC adaptation, it is stated in the episode that "Langdale Pike" is a pseudonym. In this adaptation, he is a disinherited member of a noble family and his real name is implied to be Lord Peter.
Television
Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series featuring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and Edward Hardwicke as Dr Watson presented the story[12] with several differences. Douglas Maberley is depicted as Mary Maberley's grandson instead of her son; he dies in his grandmother's house after a month of suffering from a bout of pneumonia caused by a savage beating he received from Mrs Klein's hired boxers; Langdale Pike defines himself as a benevolent counterpart of Charles Augustus Milverton (the eponym of an earlier story about a blackmailer, although his last name is slightly different) and points out that he suppresses more than he exposes; and Steve Dixie retains some enmity towards Holmes and brawls with Watson during the break-in.
In CBS' contemporary Sherlock Holmes adaptation Elementary, the season 2 premiere episode, "Step Nine", features a case very briefly involving a character named Langdale Pike,[13] the owner of a 3D printer manufacturing company that Holmes seeks out via a sign requesting something from him, which he holds up in front of a security camera for an extended period of time.
"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow (1917), and is the second and final main appearance of Mycroft Holmes. It was originally published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and in Collier's in the United States in 1908.
"A Case of Identity" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is the third story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It first appeared in The Strand Magazine in September 1891.
"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (1926), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It is notable for being narrated by Holmes himself, instead of by Dr. Watson.
"The Problem of Thor Bridge" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle collected in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). It was first published in 1922 in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Hearst's International (US).
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes is the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle first published in the Strand Magazine between October 1921 and April 1927.
"The Man with the Twisted Lip", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the sixth of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1891. Doyle ranked "The Man with the Twisted Lip" sixteenth in a list of his nineteen favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eighth story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was originally published in Strand Magazine in February 1892.
"The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the tenth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in The Strand Magazine in April 1892.
"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the last of the twelve collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in June 1892.
"The Adventure of the Second Stain", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) and the only unrecorded case mentioned passively by Watson to be written. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in December 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States on 28 January 1905. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Second Stain" eighth in his list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories.
"The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 30 April 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in May 1904.
"The Adventure of the Yellow Face", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the third tale from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in February 1893, and in Harper's Weekly in the United States on 11 February 1893.
"The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October and November 1893, and in Harper's Weekly in the United States on 14 and 21 October 1893.
The Adventure of the Dancing Men is a Sherlock Holmes story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as one of 13 stories in the cycle published as The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1905. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in December 1903, and in Collier's in the United States on 5 December 1903.
"The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in July 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States in October 1904.
"The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" is one of the fifty-six Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. One of eight stories in the volume His Last Bow, it is a lengthy, two-part story consisting of "The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles" and "The Tiger of San Pedro", which on original publication in The Strand bore the collective title of "A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes".
"The Adventure of the Red Circle" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is included in the anthology His Last Bow.
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", written by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes stories collected between 1921 and 1927 as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the January 1924 issues of The Strand Magazine in London and Hearst's International in New York.
"The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger" (1927), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.
This article describes minor characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and from non-canonical derived works. The list excludes the titular character as well as Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, Irene Adler, Colonel Moran, the Baker Street Irregulars, and characters not significant enough to mention.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Text available at Wikisource 
