A fixture

[Jedothek]

We know that Homes gives his profession as consulting detective, saying  that it is the exceptional case that requires him to go out and see things for himself. At the moment i can't think of an adventure where he does that  -- that is, does his job merely by talking to a client.  This is probably just amnesia on my part. Can anyone name such an adventure? 

[Caya]

Hello Jedothek and welcome!  
Presumably those are among the cases Watson never writes about. The Adventure of the Three-Hour Consultation might make for rather dull reading.

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 12/26/2025 at 5:49 PM, Jedothek said:

We know that Homes gives his profession as consulting detective, saying  that it is the exceptional case that requires him to go out and see things for himself. At the moment i can't think of an adventure where he does that  -- that is, does his job merely by talking to a client.  This is probably just amnesia on my part. Can anyone name such an adventure? 

Hmm, good question!  Well, there are several published cases where the initial consultation enables him to see that the client is mistaken about certain aspects of the situation, thus saving him the time it might have taken to ferret out this information in the field.  But I don't offhand recall any where he never leaves Baker Street, even though there may be some (especially considering that I haven't read all of them).

As you mention though, he does say in A Study in Scarlet that "Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes."  So, as Caya suggests, perhaps those complex cases are mostly the ones that Watson finds interesting enough to submit for publication.  Each of those cases would clearly take more of his time, including travel, whereas he could presumably handle something like ten mere consultations per week when he's at home.