Sherlock Holmes -- Discussion Group Questions

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND

1.    Why has Helen Stoner decided to visit to Sherlock Holmes at that particular time?

2.    Why is Helen Stoner afraid when she comes to see Holmes in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”?

3.    Why does Holmes quickly suspect that Dr. Roylott is the criminal?

4.    What, if any, significance does Dr. Roylott’s interest in Indian animals have as evidence in solving the mystery?

5.    What does the following statement in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” mean?

Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another. 

6.    Explain which relevant clues you were able to identify in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and which false clues may have led you astray. Did you know how the crime was committed before Holmes explained it in the end? Why or why not?

7.    Which of the five senses (touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight) are used by Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the speckled band? Give details from “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” to support an analysis of the ways in which Holmes uses his sensory abilities to assist him.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER’S THUMB

Answer 3 of the following questions on a separate piece of paper.

1.    What details make the mood of the story spooky?  Find five details that contribute to the mood.  

2.    Do you think that the engineer in this story should have know something illegal was going on at Colonel Stark’s home?  What clues might have led him to this conclusion?

3.    If he did suspect an illegal operation before he agreed to take the job, would that make the engineer at least partly guilty of a crime himself for agreeing to repair the press?

4.    If you had been the engineer at the beginning of the story, needing a job desperately but offered such unusual conditions, what would you have done?

5.    Watson begins the tale by noting that this is not a typical case, for it gives Holmes few opportunities to use his deductive methods of reasoning.  Does the story still meet the requirements of a good detective story?  Why or why not?

VOCABULARY WORK

For each book:

Select 8 words from each short story that are unfamiliar to you.  List them (along with the page number), give any roots, and give a definition that fits with the meaning used in the story.