The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Even a hat, figuratively speaking, will speak in the hands of an experienced detective like Sherlock Holmes. But even a more intriguing story the goose—whose crop holds a blue carbu ncle—has in store.

On the third day of Christmas I went to Sherlock Holmes to congratulate him on the holiday. He lay on a sofa in a red dressing gown; on his right was a stand for pipes, and on his left—piled up stacks of crumpled morning newspapers that he was apparently just looking through. Next to the couch stood a chair; on its back hung a heavily worn, felt hat, clearly lost its original shape. Holmes must have been studying that hat very carefully, because right then a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass lay on the seat of the chair…