The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

John Madden again brings a cinematic quality to The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax.

Dr Watson is in the Lake District and recounts the tales of the eccentric Lady Carfax to Holmes in London. She had a near miss when she fell of a boat that she used to attend church. A disabled war veteran swam out to rescue her.

However Holmes then joins Dr Watson as he senses this independent minded lady might be in danger from a missionary who is in Britain to raise funds.

By the time Holmes arrives, Lady Carfax has gone missing after she encountered a face from her past.

A solid story with a hint of a dark ending with Holmes finding himself temporarily flummoxed with his analytical skills. However you cannot keep a lid on a good detective.

The way the story is presented, it could initially go several ways, the villain here is devious and quick to improvise.

The story is rather weak, but the original was actually one of the weakest stories. As far as a mystery, it's not much of one. More of a drama than anything. The adaptation done here is pretty well rewritten to at least make it more interesting, but it's still not very good from a mystery standpoint. If you skip this one, you aren't missing much.

Dr Watson is holidaying in the Lake District. A notable personality at the hotel is Lady Frances Carfax, an independent-minded, bohemian single woman. She appears to be being harassed by a mysterious bearded man. After one of his appearances she disappears. Holmes now joins his friend to investigate.

The first episode of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, the third series of the Jeremy Brett-starring Sherlock Holmes mysteries (the others being The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Return of Sherlock Holmes). It makes for an excellent start as the episode is filled with drama, tension and romance.

The solid, intrigue-filled plot is the backbone of this but as always it's Jeremy Brett's performance as Holmes that lifts it to another level. Another positive in this episode is some of the settings: quite picturesque.

I wondered why a man would travel on vacation to enjoy himself, but instead focus on an eccentric woman he barely knows? But, Watson enjoys the art of observation. It makes sense once Watson explained his interest. He was interested even before any sign of her danger. I thought it was a well laid out story. Watson breaking the case was an interesting angle.

Solving the puzzle many times is very simple. It's staring right at me. But I think human nature leads us to a more complex possibility. Then, comes Holmes with a brilliant, but sometimes simple solution.

Because Brett's health was so visibly in decline. Despite that, I think he fully inhabits the role of Sherlock Holmes in the later seasons even more than at the superb beginning. Cumberbatch is not 1/10 the Sherlock Holmes that Brett was-- and that even accounts for the wretched writing in Sherlock.