First published in the January 1892 issue of the Strand Magazine

First published in a collection in 1892 in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, James Ryder, Henry Baker, Peterson, Mrs Oakshott, Mr Windigate, John Horner

Case Date: December 1887, 1889 or 1890

 

Storyline:

Calling to wish Holmes belated Christmas greetings, Watson finds him contemplating a disreputable hard felt hat. This, together with a fine, fat goose, has been brought to Holmes by Peterson, a commissionaire, who had picked them up after their owner had fled from a street brawl. While Holmes is reading the character of the owner, Henry Baker, from his hat, Peterson returns with a jewel, found by his wife in the crop of the goose, which Holmes had given back to him to eat. Holmes recognises it as the Countess of Morcar’s priceless blue carbuncle, believed to have been stolen from her hotel room by a plumber who had been left alone there to repair the fire-grate. Holmes’s and Watson’s inquiry takes them to an inn near the British Museum and to the stall of a poultry dealer, in Covent Garden market.
After losing a bet, Holmes can still retain sufficient fellow-feeling to compound a felony at the season of forgiveness.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle was ranked third on the list of favourite stories of the readers of the Baker Street Journal in 1959