The Adventure of the Retired Colourman

Synopsis: The short story “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman” by Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the stories of the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. One of the characters named Sherlock Holmes in this story is investigating on a missing case. He is hired by an old retired man, Josiah Amberley, to investigate about his wife’s missing with a neighbor, Dr. Ray Ernest. Mr. Josiah also claims that two people are missing along with his cash and securities and therefore he wants to catch both of them. Holmes gives this case to Dr. Watson to handle and find as much as evidences for this case. Holmes gives this case to Dr. Watson because he is busy with other cases and therefore he does not have enough time to take care of this case. Dr. Watson goes to Lewisham as Holmes directed him to go with Mr. Amberley. Dr. Watson observes many things such as Amberely painting his house even in his grief; he also observes Mr. Amberely’s wife’s ticket that was not used and the ticket number. He hears a story form Mr. Amberely that Mrs. Amberely and Dr.Ernest eloped when Mr. Amberely went to watch the movies at the theater. Mr. Amberely also tells him that Mrs. Amberely made an excuse to not go to the movies because she had a headache. From the story of Mr. Amberley, he noticed that Mr. Amberely and Dr. Ernest played chess together. Chess being a hobby of Mr. Amberely. Dr. Watson noticed the strong room that has iron door and shutter doors. Mr. Amberely mentioned that his wife took his seven thousands pounds worth of cash and securities from this room, it seemed like she had a duplicate keys to this room. During his visits with Mr. Amberely to Lewisham, he noticed a man was following him. He later found out that Dr. Ernest family hired him to investigate about the case of missing. From the story it also shows that Mr. Amberely is a chess player and Dr. Ernest is a chess player as well and this is how they got together, it also shows that Mr. Amberely is an eccentric and a jealous man