A Cardboard Story

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" appears at different points in the complete Sherlock Holmes, depending on which version you're reading. For some reason, American editions remove it from its original inclusion in the second collection of short stories, and instead use it to open the collection published after The Valley of Fear.

It's one of the Holmes tales that hasn't aged particularly well. It involves a woman who has inexplicably been sent a box containing two severed human ears -- a tantalizing premise that's surprisingly gory compared to most of what Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. But (at the risk of spoiling the ending a bit; but it's been well over a century, people) the big clue in the case turns on a detail that seems like a stretch today. The fact that the ears are both pierced, despite one being male, leads Holmes to conclude he must have been a sailor -- and from there the whole puzzle quickly snaps into place.

While the case itself ultimately disappoints, there's an oddly fun little vignette that opens the story. As Watson sits reading the paper, his thoughts meandering, Holmes jumps in and essentially reads his mind. The detective launches into a virtuoso chain of observation from which he has inferred every turn in Watson's winding train of thought. It strains credulity a bit, but it's awfully fun, and it hints at what a career as a con artist Holmes might have had.

Overall, however, I'd say the Adventure of the Cardboard Box doesn't stand out much in canon of Sherlock Holmes. I'd rate it a middle of the road C.