The People's Detective Hunter Juarez College

“You see but you do not observe” explains Holmes to a frustrated Watson, as he can’t figure out how Holmes comes to his conclusion (Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia). This seems to be the common scenario throughout Doyle’s stories, as more often than not, Sherlock Holmes is able to focus on clues and put different pieces of the puzzling cases together, almost impeccably. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adds a middleman, or stepping stone to Holmes’ mind and way of thinking, in the ordinary John Watson. This gives Doyle’s audience a character to relate to and take a perspective from, as we are clearly not to the same interpretive degree as Holmes. The superiority of Holmes’ intellect can be seen time and time again throughout his career. Thus, throughout Doyle’s The Red-Headed League, Sherlock Holmes uses his exceptional skills and abilities of observation and analysis to solve the complex case he is put to, all while displaying his authority to be a detective through experience and reputation.

The talents and extraordinary case-solving abilities of Sherlock Holmes make his adventures certainly intriguing. In The Red-Headed League, Holmes faces an uncommon series of events, “the most singular that [he has] ever listened to” (Doyle, 264). A...