The Adventure of the Red Circle is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Released in 1911, it is the fourth short story in the Sherlock Holmes anthology His Last Bow and tells of Holmes' investigation of a mysterious lodger.
Characters[]
- Sherlock Holmes
- Dr. Watson
- Giuseppe Gorgiano
- Emilia Lucca
- Inspector Gregson
- Leverton
- Mrs. Warren
- Gennaro Lucca
Plot[]
Mrs. Warren, a landlady, comes to 221B Baker Street with some questions about her lodger. A youngish, heavily bearded man, who spoke good but accented English, came to her and offered double her usual rent on the condition that he get the room on his own terms. He went out the first night that he was there, and came back after midnight when the rest of the household had gone to bed. Since then, neither Mrs. Warren, her husband, nor their servant girl has seen him.
After the landlady leaves, Holmes remarks to Dr. Watson that it seems likely that the person in Mrs. Warren's house is not the bearded man who made the arrangements. Holmes suspects that messages are being sent to the lodger.
Holmes and Watson go to Mrs. Warren's house and spy on the lodger, who they discover to be a young woman with a dark complexion. That evening, Holmes and Watson are on hand to see the lodger's confederate send messages by a waving candle.
Holmes and Watson meet Inspector Gregson and a Pinkerton detective from the United States named Leverton. They are lying in wait for Giuseppe Gorgiano, a vicious killer. Going into the room where the signalling came from, they discover Gorgiano lies on the floor in a pool of blood from having been impaled with a large knife. The lodger is revealed as Emilia Lucca, and her confederate is Gennaro, her husband. She confirms that the Luccas were seeking refuge from the dangerous Giuseppe Gorgiano, who was out to kill Gennaro for betraying the Red Circle, a secret Italian criminal organization that they had both been involved in. Gennaro decided to leave the organization in spite of the threatened consequences. He and his wife fled Italy and went to New York to escape the Red Circle, but Gorgiano tracked Gennaro down. Gregson takes Emilia down to the police station.
Sources[]
- Wikipedia