Sherlock Holmes and the Strange Events at the Bank of England

Review: This is an ingenious short novel in which Holmes investigates the disappearance of a number of unissued bonds from an apparently inaccessible vault.

It's all very cleverly worked out. The chronology is odd, though. The bonds mark the centenary of the 'new Bank of England building, which was opened on 5th June 1800', yet the Prime Minister is Lord Rosebery (1894-95) and other indicators suggest that the time is the early 1880s! Well, this is just the sort of puzzle that we find in the Canon., so no complaints there. I really can't let the consistent use of 'discrete' pass unchallenged, though: the word does not mean the same as 'discreet'. And an action can't be effete, if it comes to that; only a living creature can.

That said, this is a very enjoyable read, and comes with a bonus in the form of a fascinating history of the Bank, originally delivered as an illustrated lecture in 1920.

Reviewed by: Roger Johnson, [District Messenger 173, 1997]