The Solitary Cyclist pt. 1 | Sherlock Holmes

by

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The second half will air next week.

In this adventure, Holmes and Watson are visited by a young lady named Violet Smith. She explains that her father's recent passing left her financially destitute and that her only other relative, an uncle named Ralph Smith, lives in Africa.

One day, she meets two men visiting from South Africa, who claim to be friends of her now-deceased uncle. They claim that Ralph also passed on in poverty like his brother, but asked them to take care of his relatives.

This was not one of Doyle’s favorites- he criticized himself for mentioning in this story that Violet Smith's visit to Holmes occurred on Saturday, April 23, 1895. In actuality, the 23rd of April that year fell on a Tuesday.