The Little Things

 "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."  That is what Sherlock Holmes  conveys in his home above Baker Street while he was asking about Mr. Hosmer Angels disappearance.   I believe that Mr. Holmes was quite right because of the fact that most of his cases have been solved by Mr. Holmes finding the little things that the criminal was not aware enough to find.

There are many little things that Mr. Holmes picks up that make his cases a success.   In  "A Case of Identity", Sherlock Holmes looks into the disappearance of Mr. Hosmer Angel, the fiancé of Mary Sutherland who disappeared right outside the church on their wedding day.  Sherlock Holmes discovers that Mr. Hosmer Angel was Mr. Windibank, the girl's stepfather. Mr. Windibank did not want his stepdaughter meeting other men  so he tricks her into pledging herself to him.  Sherlock Holmes solves this case by looking at the little things related to it.  The little thing Mr. Holmes found that was most influential to the case was the defects in the typewriter that Mr. Windibank used to write the letters to Miss Sutherland and the letter to Mr. Holmes.  The defects in the typewriter were tailless t's and slurred e's.  Mr. Holmes found that the tailless t's and slurred e's occurred in every letter that Miss Sutherland received and the one that Holmes received and that lead Holmes to deduce that the letters were written by the same person.  It is so amazing how Sherlock Holmes can solve a case by just looking at a couple letters.

 Sherlock Holmes isn't always helping women find their lost lover, in "The Red-Headed League", Sherlock Holmes deals with one of the most cunning and dangerous criminals in the country, John Clay.  How Sherlock catches John Clay is a matter of the little things.  Originally Sherlock Holmes is investigating why a mysterious league had vanished out of thin air.  Sherlock takes Watson to the house of Holmes' client and takes a look at his assistant who is known as Vincent Spaudling.  Then, Holmes taps the pavement and leaves.  Eventually Holmes' observations lead to them thwarting John Clay in his attempt to steal all of London's French gold.  Holmes did this by looking into the little things like the knee of Vincent Spaudling trousers to know that he had been digging and he tapped the pavement in the back to see if it was hollow so then he knew that there was a tunnel underneath.  Finally, he looked farther and saw the bank of London not too far away so then Holmes deduced that the Red-Headed League was a way to get Jabez Wilson out of the house and so John Clay and his accomplice could dig.  Holmes stopped what would have been one of the most devastating robberies that London has ever known and it would have happened if Holmes had not looked at the little things.

From something as innocent as finding a women's missing lover to something as serious as a bank robbery.  Sherlock Holmes can solve them all by looking at the little things.