A Double Barrelled Detective Story

"A Double Barrelled Detective Story" by Mark Twain is a satirical novelette that places Sherlock Holmes in the American West. The story weaves two revenge plots: a woman trains her son, who possesses an extraordinary bloodhound-like sense of smell, to destroy his abusive father's reputation. Years later, when a murder occurs at a California mining camp, Holmes arrives to solve the case using his famous logical methods—only to be spectacularly proven wrong by the son's supernatural abilities. Twain playfully mocks detective fiction while breaking the fourth wall to address readers directly.

A Double Barrelled Detective Story, by Mark Twain. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #3180.