The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
A banker entrusted with a priceless coronet finds it damaged and his son suspected. Holmes exposes the true culprits and clears an innocent name.
A banker, a coronet, a son who will not defend himself, and a niece nobody suspects. The story is built almost entirely out of a family talking past each other in one house, which makes it one of the clearest demonstrations of what a cast does: Alexander Holder's panic, Arthur's furious silence and Mary's careful answers are three quite different kinds of speech, and they overlap constantly. Doyle plays fair — everything needed to solve it is said aloud by someone in the first twenty minutes.
The voices that carry it
Mary Holder is cast calm. She is the only person in the house not shouting, and the recording leaves her that way, which is what makes the ending reread the whole story.
Chapter one plays without an account. Start listening to The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet.
Voice cast
6 characters plus the narrator, each with their own voice. All the voices of The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet.
- Sherlock Holmes — The world's only consulting detective. Razor-sharp analytical mind, cold precision, theatrical wit. Alternates between lethargy and explosive energy. Speaks in crisp, certain pronouncements.
- Dr. Watson — Holmes's loyal friend and biographer. A former army surgeon, warm, practical, earnest. Speaks with admiration for Holmes and genuine concern for clients.
- Alexander Holder — A distressed, pompous senior partner at a banking firm in The Beryl Coronet. Arrives in a state of frantic agitation after a priceless coronet in his care is damaged.
- Mary Holder — Alexander Holder's niece and ward in The Beryl Coronet. Composed and devoted, caught between loyalty to her uncle and her cousin Arthur, with a secret connection to Sir George Burnwell.
- Arthur Holder — Alexander Holder's son in The Beryl Coronet, wrongly accused of stealing and damaging the coronet in his father's care. Proud and wounded by the accusation, he refuses to defend himself.
- Sir George Burnwell — A polished, charming, and dangerous seducer in The Beryl Coronet who manipulates Mary Holder and orchestrates the theft of the coronet.
Chapters
- Chapter XI: The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
About this recording
Is this a fair-play mystery?
Yes. Every clue Holmes uses is available to the listener, most of it in the banker's own account in the opening scene. The solution turns on who was believed rather than on information withheld.
How many characters speak?
Seven, which is a lot for a story of this length, and most of them are one family. That crowding is the reason it benefits from a full cast more than a longer, quieter book might.