In this intriguing crossover pastiche, Sherlock Holmes Solves the Mystery of Edwin Drood, Arthur Conan Doyle's famed detective tackles the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The premise assumes that Holmes, at the request of Watson (an admirer of Dickens), takes it upon himself to finally unravel what happened to young Edwin Drood. The short piece is structured as Watson's account of Holmes applying his deductive genius to the clues left by Dickens. Holmes treats Dickens's text like a real case file: analyzing inconsistencies in characters' testimonies, re-examining evidence such as Edwin's last known movements and his watch and scarf found by the river. Through a series of brilliant inferences, Holmes identifies the solution that Victorian readers long speculated about – typically that John Jasper, Edwin's opium-addicted uncle, indeed murdered Edwin in a fit of mad jealousy. Holmes likely stages a re-creation or uses forensic logic to explain how Jasper could have disposed of the body (perhaps hidden in the cathedral crypt). In Doyle's hands, Holmes provides a conclusive ending: Jasper is exposed, and the motive and method made clear, thus giving literary closure to Dickens's fragment. This clever pastiche allowed Doyle to pay homage to Dickens while indulging the public's love of Holmes in an unexpected arena. The piece is sprinkled with sly humor (Holmes wryly "consulting" with Dickens's spirit or lamenting the lack of physical evidence in a book) and ends with Watson praising Holmes for succeeding where no one else could. Sherlock Holmes Solves the Mystery of Edwin Drood is a delightful what-if exercise, showcasing Holmes's powers in the realm of classic literature's greatest unsolved mystery.
