“A curse upon the land” was called down upon England for its stringent divorce laws.

A sensible female detective like Miss Marple would have been impervious to Lady B’s charms and solved this case in no time flat. It took a thinking machine to see through her lies, and even he had to make two trips to Abbey Grange to do so.

Have you ever seen so many stoopid men in one story? Lady Brackenstall could’ve told the male investigators anything at all and they would have believed her, no questions asked.

My weekly questions and comments as you settle in to read this tale of love and hatred…

Lock up the dog, hide your hatpins, and mind the decanters….welcome to our next story, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange. Is it possible to see other Sherlock Holmes stories also as calls for specific legal and social reform? It’s pretty well accepted that this story is about, among other things, the evils of bad marriages and the need for improvements in the divorce law – an issue to which Arthur Conan Doyle devoted much time, money and energy.

Was “a drop” as much as three men would drink?.

What is the vilest name a man can call a woman?.

How could the cord be cut without ringing the bell?.

What was the significance of the mantelpiece candles?.

Was the wine bottle two-thirds full or half-full?.

Was the decanter thrown at Theresa empty?.

Would a heavy poker be bent out of shape by a blow to the skull?.

When were servants not the kind you don’t pick up nowadays?.

Wouldn’t burglars wait until all lights were out?.

With three floors, was this a low house?.

Couldn’t Watson improve on vinegar and water?.

Why did Holmes propose only one volume?.

Did Watson slur over the scientific aspects this time?.

How was the note transmitted so quickly?.

Would streets be deserted at dawn in winter?.

Find as many as you can which can be considered traditions of the genre and which earlier cases are called to mind?

There seem to be some echoes of past cases in this story.

What view of justice is demonstrated by Holmes’ actions in this story? Has this view of his changed during his career?.

What assumptions about the reader’s general knowledge of world events must the author of this narrative have made? Do you think such assumptions were justified?.

What do the three wine glasses suggest to Holmes? Can you think of any alternative explanation for the “beeswing” being present in only one glass?.Is there anything in Lady Brackenstall’s statement to Holmes and Stanley Hopkins that you consider to be singular? If so, what does this suggest?.How familiar does Holmes appear to be with Watson’s accounts of his cases? What does his opinion of them suggest to us about Holmes’ professional attitude to what he calls “the whole art of detection”?.

The adventure of abbey grange