a whimsical little Christmas event
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Being the season of goodwill to all men, the Christmas setting seems to have rubbed off on Doyle as much as on Holmes, for we have a story filled with heart-warming characters - such as the (very honest) Commissionaire, good old Henry Baker (gratefully the recipient of a replacement goose) and a jolly publican - and most of these experience unexpected good fortune, even with the villain, most famously, being let off the hook.
Henry Baker may be described by Holmes as having lost the love of his wife but this seems an exaggeration when one pictures them tucking in together to their delicious fresh goose. (Holmes' 'deductions' have drawn ample criticism over the years so perhaps we don't have to take his comments on the hapless Mr Baker too seriously) And of course there are the mental images conjured by both his wider social circle (based around the British Museum) and their frequenting of the Alpha Inn. Their beer should be excellent if it's as good as their geese!
The only character who has a bad time of things is John Horner the plumber, jailed on suspicion of the Blue Carbuncle's theft. He is presumably released without charge - and remains 'off-screen'. But this said, I always feel a twinge of anxiety at the very end of the story. If this were a Ronald Howard TV episode it would end with Holmes and Watson immediately flying off to Scotland yard, waking a grumbling Lestrade from his afternoon nap and seeing to Horner's immediate release - possibly with him saying "God bless you, Mister 'olmes!" Ramping up the tragic gloom, the BBC Peter Cushing TV version sees Horner attempting to hang himself in his cell!
Instead, we have the austere literary original, letting off Ryder and then telling Watson:
"If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which also a bird will be the chief feature."
Don't rush yourself, Holmes! By all means eat your Christmas dinner first...!!
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The Christmas theme is interesting for being the only such example in the canon. Nowadays any long-running series, be they of novels or TV etc, are expected to have recurrent themes, specials, returning characters etc, pretty much continuously. Doyle was working in the pre-pulp era, so restricted himself largely to one-offs. Latter-day writers of Holmes pastiches have no such qualms, and Christmas stories are especially popular - I suspect with writers and editors more than readers. There are three anthologies consisting of nothing but Christmas-themed adventures. I have only sampled the first of these - Holmes For the Holidays. Despite the pleasingly punning title I found it to be too sentimentally crammed with kitsch for my taste. Like overindulging in mince pies and mulled wine you can have too much of a good thing!
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Many commentators have noted how relatively devoid the story is of what we consider the typical trappings of a Christmas story, despite many of our contemporary traditions having started in the Victorian age. Christmas cards for example - one essay I've read mentions that the exchanging of colourful cards began some time before BLUE and yet its author had to imagine the scene of Watson and Holmes giving each other cards. And imagine it she must because apart from a (post-xmas, 27th December) dinner there is no other obvious tradition, modern or otherwise, shared by the two men. Apparently true to the 'buttoned-up' attitudes of the time they wish each other compliments of the season and that's it. Mrs Hudson, it is noted, obviously prepares ample festive dishes so it's hard not to picture the other rooms of 221 Baker Street decked out in some kind of decorations, and no doubt a tree, if not necessarily its most famous apartment (B).
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So many pastiches and parodies have been written over the years deliberately situated as 'sequels' of one sort or another - we've had The Return of the Speckled Band in The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, an entire novel Revenge of the Hound (featuring the return of Stapleton, avec or sans actual Hound I am unable to recall... yes it was that good a novel...) and Professor Moriarty has been depicted as everything from a timid schoolmaster to a demented atomic scientist. But what of the sequel opportunities in BLUE? Did Ryder flee to live a lawful life or did he betray Holmes' compassion and become 'a jailbird' regardless? Did Holmes keep the Blue Carbuncle, necessitating a duel to the death with an impassioned and financially envious Watson, perhaps over the Thames Bridge (Reichenbach having been pre-booked for 1893)? Was Horner sent to his death in a miscarriage of justice only for his heirs to seek bloody revenge when they came of age?
Or... what of the events of BLUE as depicted from the geeses' points of view? No doubt the goose was startled by a human suddenly thrusting a blue stone into its crop (wherever the crop in a goose might actually be... see the New Annotated for debates!) and even more startled by the weird train of events that lead it to be pursued across London. Perhaps the goose had a presentiment that, even as Mrs Oakshott had it killed in readiness for someone's Christmas dinner, that tall aquiline detective chap on Baker Street might yet see justice delivered?
In modern fiction, anything is possible, and most of it is improbable!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
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