First published in the November 1891 issue of The Strand Magazine

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

 

Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, John Openshaw, Elias Openshaw, Joseph Openshaw

Case Date: September 1887

 

Storyline:

Colonel Elias Openshaw was the first to receive, by post from Pondicherry, five orange pips in an envelope with ‘K.K.K.’ scrawled in red ink on its inner flap. Within a few weeks he was dead, apparently the victim of his own hand. The next recipient of orange pips was his brother Joseph. The letter this time came from less far afield-from Dundee-and Joseph Openshaw’s death followed correspondingly quickly.

No wonder, then, that young John Openshaw should hasten to 221B, Baker Street, so late on so wild a night. The envelope addressed to him and enclosing five orange pips has been posted only a matter of miles away; and two precious days have already been allowed to slip away through indecision and official incomprehension. The case is one of the most fantastic to come their way, Holmes assures his colleague and friend. Before much longer it has also become a personal matter; Sherlock Holmes’s pride has been hurt.