Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are visited by John Hector McFarlane, a young lawyer from Blackheath who has been accused of murdering one of his clients – builder Jonas Oldacre. McFarlane explains to Holmes that Oldacre had come to his office the day before and asked him to draw up his will in proper legal form. To his surprise, Oldacre was making him the sole beneficiary to a considerable bequest. Later, McFarlane went to Oldacre's house in Lower Norwood to deliver the will and go over some additional documents. McFarlane left quite late and stayed at a local inn. On the train the next morning, he read in the newspaper about the apparent murder and that the police were looking for him.
The evidence against McFarlane is quite damning: his bloody stick was found in Oldacre's study, and outside is a pile of dry timber burnt to ashes, smelling of burnt flesh. Inspector Lestrade, who comes to arrest McFarlane, gloats in the apparent knowledge that he is on the right track. Holmes begins his own investigation by going to Blackheath instead of Norwood. There he learns that McFarlane's mother was once engaged to Oldacre, but broke up with him once she found out his cruel nature. Holmes also notes that Oldacre's draft will was written in a very haphazard fashion, as if he didn't care about it. Holmes also discovers large payments from Oldacre's bank account to a "Mr Cornelius". Holmes then visits Oldacre's house, where he inspects the study. Lestrade produces Oldacre's trouser buttons, found in the ashes of the fire. Holmes fears the worst: "All my instincts are in one direction, and all the facts are in another." Still, Holmes suspects Oldacre's housekeeper is deliberately withholding information.
Holmes examines the thumbprint, 1903 illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier'sOldacre appearing, 1903 illustration by Sidney Paget
The next morning, a bloody thumbprint is found at Oldacre's house that matches McFarlane's. This seems to be conclusive, as Lestrade smugly notes. However, Holmes is sure the thumbprint was not there in his previous inspection, and McFarlane has been in gaol.
Holmes tells Lestrade there is another important witness to see, whom he offers to produce. Lestrade is dismissive, but lets Holmes proceed. Holmes starts a small, smoky fire in the upper hall of the house and has the constables shout "Fire!" Oldacre emerges alive from a hidden chamber at the end of the hall. Holmes had deduced its existence by measuring the halls. Oldacre staged his apparent murder to gain revenge against McFarlane's mother. He tries to pass off his actions as a practical joke but is taken into custody, along with the housekeeper as an accomplice. "Mr. Cornelius" is an alias to be used by Oldacre to evade his creditors. Holmes remarks to Lestrade that Oldacre's plot was nearly perfect, but he went one step too far by planting the thumbprint (from a wax seal that McFarlane had pressed). "He wished to improve what was already perfect", says Holmes, "and so he ruined everything."
Background
Conan Doyle lived in South Norwood from 1891 to 1894, and so was very familiar with the area. There is however a good deal of ambiguity as to specific settings within the story. The Norwood where Oldacre lives for instance is called "Lower Norwood", which until around 1885 would have been the term used for what is now West Norwood. The story however was penned some time after this date, and Oldacre is described as living in "Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham end of the road of that name". South Norwood itself might be a logical candidate for Lower Norwood, however the only discernible connection between the story and South Norwood is that Norwood Junction railway station is used by Oldacre. McFarlane spends the night in The Anerley Arms, a pub that still exists and which has a derelict upper floor (no more overnight guests). It is now one of the Samuel Smith's family of pubs and celebrates its connection with Sherlock Holmes.[2][3]
This is one of the few Holmes stories in which a fingerprint provides a good clue to the nature of the problem. The wax thumbprint reproduction idea was devised by, and bought from, Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870–1907), who also helped plot The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901).[4]
At the start of the story, Watson mentions two unrecorded cases that Holmes investigated around the same time as this story:
A reference to Professor Moriarty prefaces the story. "'From the point of view of the criminal expert', said Mr Sherlock Holmes, 'London has become a singularly uninteresting city since the death of the late lamented Moriarty'". Moriarty is mentioned in two other 1903 stories: "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter" and "The Adventure of the Empty House".
Publication history
"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" was first published in the US in Collier's on 31 October 1903, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in November 1903.[6] The story was published with seven illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand.[1] It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes,[1] which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.[7]
The GranadaSherlock Holmes television series with Jeremy Brett was faithful to the original story with a few exceptions. In the adaptation, Oldacre kills and burns a tramp, but in the book, he refuses to admit what flesh was burned. Mrs. McFarlane is a recent widow instead of her husband being alive but away. Watson instead of Holmes traces payments to Cornelius, and finally, Holmes instead of Lestrade, warns McFarlane that his words may be used against him.
In the first episode of season two of Elementary, Holmes mentions the Norwood Builder as a case he and Lestrade worked on in London.
The story was adapted as an episode titled "The Tale of the Norwood Builder" in a series of radio adaptations starring John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson. The episode aired on the BBC Light Programme on 23 November 1954 and NBC radio on 20 February 1955.[12]
"The Norwood Builder" was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 1993 by Bert Coules, as part of the 1989–1998 radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. It featured Peter Sallis as Jonas Oldacre, Donald Gee as Inspector Lestrade, and David Holt as John McFarlane.[14] In it, because of his change of attitude towards fame (acquired while traveling in Tibet during his "death"), Holmes, at the beginning, informs Watson that "there must be no more stories" but that Watson should continue to keep notes on their cases to stockpile them for possible future publication. Also, after his capture, Oldacre reveals that he also believed Holmes to be dead.
