The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
A priceless gem turns up in the crop of a Christmas goose. Holmes follows the bird's trail through London to a desperate thief — and chooses mercy over the law.
The Christmas story, and the gentlest thing in the Holmes canon. A goose, a hat, a stolen gem, and an ending in which Holmes lets the thief walk out of the door because it is the season and prison would finish him. The chain of people the bird passes through gives this short story an unusually crowded cast — a commissionaire, a salesman in Covent Garden losing his temper about geese, a landlady, a thief who breaks down completely — and each of them appears for a page and has to register immediately. That is precisely the job a separate voice does better than a change of tone.
The voices that carry it
Breckinridge, the market salesman, is on for barely two minutes and steals them. James Ryder is cast small and thin, so that his collapse at the end is uncomfortable rather than satisfying.
Chapter one plays without an account. Start listening to The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
Voice cast
7 characters plus the narrator, each with their own voice. All the voices of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
- 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.
- Henry Baker — An absentminded, impoverished academic in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Scholarly, verbose, and entirely unaware that his goose contained a priceless gem.
- James Ryder — The frightened, dishonest upper-attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan in The Blue Carbuncle. Stole the gem and planted it on an innocent man before panicking completely.
- Breckinridge — A blustery Covent Garden poultry salesman who sold the goose that contained the gem, combative when first pressed about its origin.
- Peterson — An honest commissionaire who finds the abandoned goose and the gem inside it, and brings both straight to Holmes.
- Maggie — A servant girl in James Ryder's household, briefly recalled in his own confession to Holmes.
Chapters
- Chapter VII: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
About this recording
Is The Blue Carbuncle a Christmas story?
Yes. It is set in the days after Christmas, the plot turns on a Christmas goose, and Holmes lets the culprit go because of the season. It is the closest thing in the canon to a comfortable listen.
Is there a murder in it?
No. It is one of the few Holmes cases with no death at all — a theft, a frightened man and a decision not to prosecute.