The Norwood Builder

The Adventure of the  Norwood Builder is set in 1894 and is one of 13 Sherlock Holmes short stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in 1903.  Holmes and Watson are interrupted at Baker Street by a young solicitor John Hector MacFarlane who has been accused of the murder of a retired wealthy builder Jonas Oldacre of Deep Dene House in ‘Lower Norwood’ whose acquaintance he only made the day before and who has named him as heir in his will. MacFarlane visited Oldacre at his home to review the legal papers. The police believe that he bludgeoned Oldacre to death and burnt his body in the adjoining builders’ yard. But nothing is what it seems.