The Six Napoleons
Complete textLestrade brings Holmes an odd sequence of incidents involving smashed plaster busts of Napoleon. What appears to be a peculiar obsession becomes more serious when violence accompanies the destruction, prompting Holmes to trace the objects through shops, owners, and their manufacture.
Continue readingAbout The Six Napoleons
The investigation shifts attention from a grand historical image to the ordinary commercial life of a cheap object. Similar-looking busts matter as individual things with separate histories. Watson follows a chain of practical inquiries, making the mystery a satisfying example of how patient tracing can reveal purpose behind behavior initially dismissed as madness.
Reading focus
Trace a series of broken busts through their commercial history as an apparently irrational obsession becomes a carefully structured detective puzzle.
This reading edition contains 8,332 words in 1 original section. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all that was going on at the police headquarters. In return for the news which Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to listen with attention to the details of any case upon which the detective was engaged, and was able occasionally, without any active interference, to give some hint or suggestion drawn from his own vast knowledge and experience.
Contents
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This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 1 section and 8,332 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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