Tonight, we'll read the full, Snoozecast-adapted version “A Case of Identity”, a story from “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, written by Arthur Conan Doyle and first published in 1892. Snoozecast has aired this story in two sections previously.

In general, the stories in Sherlock Holmes identify, and try to correct, social injustices. In this story, a wealthy woman’s fiancé disappears and she hires the detective to help find him.

This tale stands out among the Holmes stories for the quiet, almost domestic nature of its mystery. Rather than a murder or theft, the puzzle at hand is one of manipulation and emotional deceit. Holmes must unravel a curious vanishing act that seems, at first glance, too mundane for criminal interest—but which conceals a twisted motive rooted in control and inheritance.

Though not as famous as some of Holmes’s more sensational cases, this one is a compact study in character and motive, and a fine example of how Doyle could draw drama from even the most seemingly ordinary circumstances.