The Final Solution

Review: The Final Problem, The Empty House, and the intervening time known as 'The Great Hiatus' pose many problems for Sherlockian critics of all kinds. The railway enthusiasts doubt that Moriarty could have commissioned a special train to pursue Holmes and Watson as swiftly as The Final Problem requires. Holmes’s itinerary during the 'Great Hiatus' is strongly questioned on political and geographic grounds. Colonel Moran’s choice of a soft-nosed revolver bullet for an air-rifle would not be that of many firearms specialists. And these are only a few of the questions asked.

One comprehensive answer - though not, alas, the final one, as there are no 'final' answers to any Sherlockian question - is to boldly sweep all three sets of problems aside as complete fictions on Watson’s part. Instead, the critics propose a radical solution, in which Watson’s narrative of events between April 1891 and March 1894 is completely recast, and the 'true' story replaces them. Nicholas Meyer’s Seven-per-cent Solution, and Michael Hardwick’s Sherlock Holmes: My Life and Crimes are two outstanding examples of this, and there are many others which are listed in the five-volume De Waal bibliography. Walter Harmidarow has ventured onto the trail these authors have blazed, and written a novel-length account of the events leading up to the end of Moriarty, and Holmes’s and Watson’s departure for the Continent.

In the Canadian Holmes 'Pastiches' issue of Winter 1996, Mr. Harmidarow contributed an article sub-titled ... The Adventures of Would-be Watsons, in which he observed that "...The exact blend of character, setting, dialogue and atmosphere that goes into one of the good doctor’s narratives is an ethereal mixture... anything less than a heartfelt effort will be sadly lacking from the first few words."

Unfortunately, this description applies to the opening of The Final Solution, and holds good for much of the rest of the book. This is unfortunate, because Mr. Harmidarow has written what is a well-plotted 'caper' novel, set in the late Victorian period, which deals with a plan to take over and use the resources of a major bank for criminal purposes. Had he not been constrained by the presence of Holmes, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft, Lestrade, etc. in his narrative, Mr. Harmidarow could have given his undoubted ability for inventing incident and describing action a much freer rein, and would, I believe, have written a more enjoyable story - or, as some would call it, an 'entertainment.'

As it is, one is continually confronted by incidents and phrases which cause the 'suspension of disbelief', so necessary for enjoyment, to be itself suspended. Mrs. Hudson 'impulsively throws her arms around' Dr. Watson. Cocaine is described as though it were a drug to which a hapless victim can rapidly become addicted, and, when deprived of it, suffer the full range of 'withdrawal symptoms' only experienced in reality by users of narcotics such as morphine or heroin. We read of 'private security officers'; of a colour named 'Hunter green' (which is at the earliest a mid-twentieth century fashion name); of a street crowded with 'lorries' (a term first used for petrol-engined goods vehicles). There are other, small, anachronisms; a good copy-editor would no doubt have caught most of them.

The worst error, in my opinion, is the depiction of Dr. Watson as a man overwhelmed by a personal tragedy, and unable to think of anything else. The courageous, resourceful survivor of Maiwand has vanished. His replacement is more a "’90’s ma"”, and a 1990’s man at that. "This is not our Watson" - or, at least, not mine.

Reviewed by: Peter H. Wood M.Bt., B.S.I., [Appeared first in Canadian Holmes]