Sherlock Holmes: Discovering the Border Burghs...

So a few days ago a few headlines read that an unearthed and "unseen" (provided that we have someone 110 years old that happened to have lived in Selkirk that read it so many moons ago) story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was discovered in an attic.  Intriguing stuff, yeah.  It was definitely not available in any current compilation of extant stories of Sherlock Holmes, coming from a 1904 book of short stories, The Book O' the Brig.  The purpose of the book was a fund raiser for the new bridge in Selkirk, it having been destroyed in 1902 by a great flood.

There's a great many of us that are excited to get any new Sherlock story, fans having read the stories multiple times in multiple sittings (thus their popularity).  A new story would be a tremendous boon, an assured satiation.

The Daily Mail has the details, but it is a relatively fascinating story of a man, now 80, who was given the 48-page pamphlet 50 years ago.  It went into Walter Elliot's attic, and there it would remain.  Found recently, the gentleman was very kind to simply donate the story to the local museum and several sites have posted the story.

Simple text of "Sherlock Holmes: Discovering the Border Burghs, and, By Deduction, the Brig Bazaar"

It is a short story, and shouldn't take too long to read...

And, after reading it, I was struck like many, the look on my face a quizzical one of "da fuh?".  Perhaps there is something subtle at work which did not have me believe this was written by Doyle.  Perhaps it was a first draft.  Perhaps it was a bit of intrigue at the very Bazaar it is written about and the story was hastened out from someone's hands.  I am not the only one.  When I searched online, I have found others that believe the same.  [Or here.]

It does not have the tenor or gravitas you would typically find in a Holmes novel.  It is clunky, overly reflective.  Almost as if it was ghosted by a young fan that really believe he 'knew' the style of Doyle, but woefully falls short and makes potato chips when croquettes were asked for.

S'odd.  And the Daily Mail does little to really dig into the matter.  Oh, journalism, you've been boring for decades.