 The Norwood Builder
 Synopsis
Young JOHN HECTOR MCFARLANE runs into 221B Baker Street, in a panic. He tells Holmes and Watson that he is about to be arrested for murdering JONAS OLDACRE, but that he is innocent. Sure enough, INSPECTOR LESTRADE is just behind him, and does indeed arrest him. Holmes persuades Lestrade to give McFarlane time to tell his story.
McFarlane, a solicitor, was hired by Oldacre to draft his will. McFarlane was surprised, as Oldacre had been an old friend of McFarlane’s parents, but they had drifted apart. McFarlane was even more surprised to discover that Oldacre had left all his money to him. That night, Oldacre’s house was burgled. Now Oldacre is nowhere to be found, there are bloodstains and signs of struggle in his house and piles of charred bones in the outside woodpile, which has been set on fire. McFarlane claims he knew nothing of these events until he saw the morning papers, which named him as the chief suspect in Oldacre’s murder.
Holmes and Watson visit McFarlane’s mother, who tells them that Oldacre had been a suitor of hers, but that she had turned him down due to his cruelty. They also examine Oldacre’s house. When Lestrade finds a final piece of evidence (McFarlane’s bloody thumb print) which Holmes knows was not there before, his case is complete. He fakes a fire, and Oldacre runs out of his secret hiding place. With the help of his housekeeper, he has been hiding, intending to get his revenge on McFarlane’s mother by having her son arrested for his own murder. He had burnt animal bones in the woodpile, and hidden his money under fake bank account names. He swears revenge on Holmes, who is not at all afraid.
Comments
Shows how lucky we are to have modern forensic technology – and how easy it was to frame somebody in the old days! |
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