The Greek Interpreter pt. 1 | Sherlock Holmes

by

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Tonight, we’ll read the first half to "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”.

Out of all 56 Sherlock stories, Doyle ranked "The Greek Interpreter" seventeenth in a list of his nineteen favorites. This tale is especially notable for introducing us to Sherlock Holmes’s older brother, Mycroft, whose intellect may even outshine Sherlock’s own, though he lacks his brother’s energy for detective work in the field. Mycroft instead spends his days in government offices and evenings at the Diogenes Club, a setting that itself became an iconic part of the Holmes universe.

When it was first published in 1893 in The Strand Magazine, the story added an intriguing new dimension to the detective’s world, showing readers that Holmes’s brilliance was not entirely unique within his family. The case itself revolves around a kidnapped interpreter and a sinister plot, combining Doyle’s flair for atmosphere with clever twists of reasoning.