Sussex Downs Beekeeping Retirement
From the fog-choked streets of London to the sun-drenched Sussex Downs: where the Great Detective trades deduction for the quiet hum of the hive.
In His Last Bow, the reader is told that Sherlock Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken up beekeeping as his primary occupation. The move is not dated precisely, but it can be presumed to be no later than 1904, since "The Adventure of the Second Stain", first published that year, refers back to it.
Quick Facts
- Character
- Sherlock Holmes
- Location
- Sussex Downs, England
- Primary occupation
- Beekeeper
Lore & Background
Two adventures are set in the retirement years. "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", which Holmes narrates himself, takes place in 1907, some time after his move to the Sussex Downs. In "His Last Bow", set on the eve of the First World War, Holmes and Watson come out of retirement to aid the British war effort, and the German agent Von Bork is handed a book titled Practical Handbook of Bee Culture.
More in Deduction & Methodology
Elsewhere in Sherlock Holmes
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