The Other Investigators at 221B …
It is only fitting that my next book club pick coincides with this Sunday’s Sherlock Holmes Day, memorialized on the birthday of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I chose The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to share some of my favorite quotes that directly apply to our work as investigators. Who better should 221B Partners get advice from than the legend and the man of the most peculiar qualities from the other 221B - 221B Baker Street.
In A Scandal in Bohemia Sherlock Holmes says, somewhat paternalistically, to Watson, “You see, but you do not observe.” These seven words from 1891 couldn’t be more true in my profession more than 130 years after they were first written. As a researcher and investigator, it isn’t enough to just see something, someone, or some data point. We have to observe it, remember it, be able to recite it later, and absorb the details and collect the dots that might not make sense now but which might allow us to connect the dots and advance or solve our case. Observation is a theme (and activity) for Holmes as evidenced in this snippet from The Red-Headed League wherein he says to Watson, “My dear Doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk.”
Another great line from A Scandal in Bohemia relates to preconceived notions as well as what today we call confirmation bias. The best investigators I’ve encountered and worked with over the past 30 years are those who go into an investigation with their eyes wide open and ready to follow the evidence instead of “fitting” it into a neatly packaged narrative to get a desired - yet possibly incorrect - result. As Holmes rightly says, “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
In The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Sherlock notably writes, “Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing. It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.” By its definition, circumstantial evidence can be anything from physical evidence and scientific evidence to human behavior and indirect witness testimony. I’ve seen this time and time again across dozens of cases both when I worked in law enforcement and in the private sector conducting corporate investigations. During my time in the private sector I’ve also had a unique opportunity to work with several Innocence Project chapters across the U.S. I can’t think of where Holmes’ words ring more true than in myriad wrongful conviction cases wherein most I’ve worked on involved some circumstantial evidence that made its way front and center apparently closing off the other potential avenues of investigation leading to the conviction of an innocent person.
In The Five Orange Pips, Watson discusses what we at times face as investigators: some or other detail or part of a case that will just never make sense. He notes one such case in 1887, “There is, however, one of these left which was so remarkable in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are points in connection with it which never have been, and probably never will be, entirely cleared up.” As investigators, we all have that one case (or more) that will bother us. We couldn’t solve it, we couldn’t find that necessary clue, or that witness. Or, we could not reach a satisfying resolution. There are simply those cases where evidence was lost or not saved, someone crucial to our investigation is now deceased, or the technology that could have helped solve the case simply didn’t exist yet.
Finally, I especially like this one from The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” At 221B Partners, we conduct a wide variety of investigations and research projects. We endeavor to learn and identify things our clients should know. Our work includes due diligence investigations looking into the profiles of potential business partners, research to pinpoint the true identity behind an anonymous email or social media account posing a potential threat to our client. We also gather intelligence on our clients' competitors in the marketplace and locate assets on behalf of creditors.
Investigators of our stripe are the information geeks who prove to be interesting interlocutors to some (and tedious pedants to others) around the table at a raucous and colorful dinner party. Our work exposes us to a broad array of data and information from events that are reported on and discussed globally to more innocuous moments that may pass unnoticed between two people. Make sure you pick us for your team for a game of Trivial Pursuit after dinner!
What’s your favorite anecdote or quote from Sherlock Holmes?
Photo credit: Bryan Costin