The Adventure of the Speckled Band: A Locked Room Mystery

The Adventure of the Speckled Band The story is called 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band' and is a detective fiction. It is set in the year 1983. Evidence from the text to show this is where it says, 'year '83'. The main settings are Baker Street (city) and Stoke Moran (countryside). The story is very appealing as it has use of the 'Locked Room' mystery; which in those days was very popular. The mentioning of exotic animals is also very exciting and has a good effect on readers. It may remind some of Edgar Allan Poes. Ferocious animals like the cheetah could be entertaining as well as slightly humorous ones like the baboon.

It is also very appealing as it has a 'hero' (Sherlock Holmes) and 'villain' (Dr Roylott). The Speckled Band is presented as a 'locked room' mystery. It has good use of red herrings; distractions from the real murderer/killer. It is written in first person, which makes us more intimate with the narrator, who in this case is Dr Watson. The cheetah, baboon and the gypsies are all 'red herrings' and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made good use of them. Never would I have guessed that it was a snake that killed Julia although it was logical. The use of the words 'the speckled band' is slightly interesting to use on a snake, but also clever and mysterious. The snake was around the neck of Dr Roylott like a 'band' and the body of the snake was 'speckled', hence the title of the story: 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band'.

A brief outline of 'The Speckled Band':- A lady by the name of 'Helen Stoner' sets upon her journey to the famous detective 'Sherlock Holmes'. Whilst meeting him, she explains her crisis; her sister Julia had heard some strange whistles. She was just in the phase of getting married, but marrying someone meant that, she would gain her father's wealth. The following few weeks, the terrible incident happened. After explaining what had happened, Dr Watson and Holmes had a plan up their sleeves, but not before they had a close look at Dr Roylott's mansion. In doing so, they found a few clues: a leash, a saucer, a ventilator and a rope. Of course Holmes was a bit swift to catch on this as he also deduced that the bed in Julia's bedroom was clamped to the floor.