A Lesser-Known Nemesis

It's been some time since I last read a Sherlock Holmes short story. (You can thank George R.R. Martin for that; my re-reading of A Song of Ice and Fire was a lengthy undertaking.) But I haven't given up on reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's entire canon, and I recently picked up where I left off with "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton."

Holmes has taken up the cause of a woman being preyed upon by a serial blackmailer. Charles Augustus Milverton is said by the great detective to be one of the most odious men alive, and he proves it when he rejects Holmes' attempt to reason with him in person. Ultimately, Holmes concludes that the only way to do right by his client is to turn criminal himself; he and Watson break into Milverton's house to steal the blackmail material.

Most film and TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes got around to the character of Milverton at one point or another. Still, I had not actually heard of him prior to seeing the BBC Sherlock's third season finale (and one episode of CBS' Elementary). I find that both a surprise and a shame, because it seems like Milverton really ought to be a more generally known character. The villain everyone knows, Moriarty, also appeared in only one of Doyle's stories. (As did another somewhat known character, Irene Adler.) Yet Moriarty casts a far longer shadow. Sure, there's the whole "he 'killed' Sherlock Holmes" thing helping him there, but in this story, Holmes' contempt of Milverton seems about as great as any he ever had for Moriarty.

Adding to my interest is that Milverton is actually based on a real-life person, Charles Augustus Howell. (And you can see from the name that Doyle made no attempt to disguise the fact.) Howell was also a serial blackmailer, who turned up dead with his throat slit posthumously and a coin shoved in his mouth. That makes this story a sort of "Law & Order" episode of its time -- a "ripped from the headlines" adventure.

I also find it interesting that Milverton is so less prominent than Moriarty in Holmes lore, because so much of what Sherlock who he is derives from this story. It's here that Holmes becomes a criminal himself (noting that he'd make a good one), using his skills in lockpicking and safecracking instead of any deductive powers. The TV series Elementary in particular plays up this "darker side" to Holmes, having him cultivate criminal skills ostensibly to help him solve crimes. (And the BBC's Sherlock, of course, amplified Milverton's power to turn Holmes to darkness... by a considerable magnitude.)

The one flaw in the story is that it ultimately reaches a resolution that would have been the same even if Holmes and Watson had done nothing. But while they don't affect the plot outcome in anyway, the characters are certainly themselves changed by the actions they take during the story. That's enough to redeem the story to a fairly solid grade, a B+ in my estimation.