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Audiobook edition · 6 h 40 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A host vanishes, a lodger hides his face, and Sherlock Holmes seems to be dying.
In His Last Bow, Arthur Conan Doyle gathers eight cases in which strange private troubles meet wider dangers. John Scott Eccles wakes in a country house to find his host gone. Mrs Warren brings Holmes the puzzle of a lodger who never shows his face. Elsewhere, a dead government clerk and missing submarine plans put national secrets at stake.
Holmes and Dr John Watson are older now, and their world is changing. Most tales follow Watson's view, leaving you to share his doubts and gaps in understanding. The Dying Detective brings fear to Baker Street, while The Devil's Foot turns a Cornish rest into horror. In the title story, the shadow of the First World War draws close.
What you’ll discover
- An unsettling country visit Enter Wisteria Lodge with John Scott Eccles, whose invitation leads to a silent house.
- A lodger without a face Follow Mrs Warren's unease in The Red Circle, where an unseen tenant raises questions.
- Fear at Baker Street Join Watson as Mrs Hudson calls him to Holmes's bedside in The Dying Detective.
- Horror on the Cornish coast Watch a quiet holiday darken in The Devil's Foot as a family suffers something dreadful.
- Secrets as war approaches Meet Von Bork in His Last Bow, gathering secrets while preparing to leave England.
Who will love it
For readers who love clear puzzles, Victorian and Edwardian London, and the friendship of Holmes and Watson, with mysteries of strange houses, stolen secrets and quiet dread.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Strange houses open the book
- Secrets in lodgings and in government
- Holmes dying and Watson sent abroad
- A Cornish horror in the Devil's Foot
- What the stories are really about
- How the book is told and its last bow
Who’s who
- Sherlock HolmesThe London consulting detective whose reasoning solves each case, and who now faces threats to his country as well as to private clients.
- Dr John WatsonHolmes's friend and the usual teller of the tales, a loyal doctor who follows his friend into danger and sometimes works alone.
- Mycroft HolmesSherlock's older brother, a quiet and powerful government adviser, who brings the case of the Bruce-Partington plans to Baker Street.
- Inspector LestradeA Scotland Yard detective who brings Holmes the troubling case of the parcel sent to a woman in Croydon.
- Mrs HudsonHolmes's landlady at Baker Street, who fears for his life when he lies ill and refuses help.
- Von BorkA German spy living in England who is gathering secrets and preparing to leave as war approaches.
- Dr Leon SterndaleA noted lion hunter and explorer living in Cornwall, whose link to the Tregennis family draws Holmes's attention.
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- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Read and hear Son dernier coup d'archet in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Son dernier coup d'archet
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1917
A government clerk lies dead beside a railway line, and Holmes must trace the missing plans of a secret submarine.
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In short
His Last Bow gathers eight Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in book form in 1917. Doyle had tried to end Holmes's career years earlier, but readers would not let him go, and the tales kept coming.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Strange houses open the book
The collection opens with Wisteria Lodge, a tale in two parts. John Scott Eccles, a quiet and rather fussy man, accepts an invitation to stay at a country house near Esher. His host is a Spaniard named Garcia. Eccles goes to bed in a house full of oddly nervous servants and wakes to find it empty. Soon after, a body is found out on the common, and Eccles finds himself an awkward witness.
Holmes takes up the case with the help of a local policeman, Inspector Baynes, whom he comes to respect. The second part of the story widens the view. The trouble reaches far beyond Surrey and into the politics of a distant land. Doyle uses the setting to show how a small domestic oddity can hide something large and cruel.
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What is His Last Bow about?
It is a collection of eight Sherlock Holmes stories. They include a deserted house, a mysterious parcel, a stolen submarine plan and a Cornish horror, and they end with a spy story set at the start of the First World War.
Which stories are in His Last Bow?
The collection holds Wisteria Lodge, The Red Circle, The Bruce-Partington Plans, The Dying Detective, Lady Frances Carfax, The Devil's Foot and the title story. Many editions also include The Cardboard Box.
When was His Last Bow published?
It was published as a book in 1917. The stories had appeared earlier in magazines, and the title story is set in August 1914, just as the First World War begins.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
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