The Great Pegram Mystery Flashcards
by Robert Barr — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Great Pegram Mystery
What is Sherlaw Kombs doing when the narrator arrives at the beginning of the story?
Playing the violin with a look of serene calm, which the narrator knows means he has been deeply annoyed -- in this case, by a newspaper article praising Scotland Yard.
How does Kombs know a visitor is about to arrive before anyone knocks?
He sees the reflection of a man in the street looking at one of his scarlet calling cards in a mirror opposite his chair.
What commission does the journalist Wilber Scribbings bring to Kombs?
The Evening Blade newspaper wants Kombs to investigate the Pegram mystery and publish the results. Kombs promises the full solution by 8 a.m. the next morning.
How did Barrie Kipson die according to the facts presented by the journalist?
He was found dead with a bullet in his head in a first-class compartment of the Scotch Express at Brewster, with his 300 pounds in banknotes missing.
How does Kombs get the compartment where Kipson was found to himself?
He bribes the guard to casually tell the current occupants that the murder took place in that compartment, causing them to flee in horror.
What does Kombs find at the end of his tape measure beside the tracks?
The pistol -- exactly where his calculations predicted it would be, ten feet six inches from the rail.
What does Scotland Yard discover after Kombs hands over the pistol?
They trace the pistol to a known criminal, who turns Queen's evidence and reveals Kipson was murdered and robbed in the lane to his house, not on the train.
What is Sherlaw Kombs a parody of?
Sherlock Holmes. The name is an anagram-style play on "Sherlock Holmes," and Kombs shares all of Holmes's signature habits in exaggerated form.
How does the narrator Whatson function in the story?
As a gullible, endlessly admiring straight man -- a parody of Dr. Watson who accepts every deduction uncritically and exclaims "Wonderful!" at Kombs's pronouncements.
Who is Barrie Kipson?
A stockbroker who lived in Pegram and was found dead on the Scotch Express. He had recently recovered from influenza and withdrawn 300 pounds from his office.
How does Kombs react when Scribbings compares him favorably to Gregory of Scotland Yard?
He draws his six-shooter in fury, viewing the comparison as an insult. Whatson has to intervene to prevent him from shooting.
How does Kombs deduce that Scribbings is a journalist?
From his ink-smeared fingers (too carelessly smeared for a clerk), a Special Edition newspaper not yet on the streets, and a blue-pencil-marked book review.
What does the story suggest about the relationship between logic and truth?
That a logically consistent theory can be entirely wrong. Kombs's chain of reasoning is internally coherent but based on false premises, while mundane police work finds the truth.
How does the story portray intellectual arrogance?
Kombs's absolute contempt for Scotland Yard is played for laughs throughout, but the ending reveals that the methodical investigators he mocks are the ones who solve the case.
What is ironic about Kombs finding the pistol exactly where he predicted?
Despite the apparently miraculous confirmation of his theory, the pistol was dropped by the murderers while loading the body -- his correct prediction was based on a completely false explanation.
What does the story suggest about readers' willingness to accept brilliant deductions?
That audiences uncritically accept elaborate reasoning simply because it sounds convincing, mirroring how readers of Holmes stories rarely question the detective's conclusions.
What type of irony drives the central plot twist?
Situational irony -- the detective's elaborate, confident deduction turns out to be completely wrong, and the institution he despises (Scotland Yard) solves the case correctly.
How does Robert Barr use dramatic irony in the story?
Readers familiar with Holmes stories recognize every exaggerated trope and may initially trust Kombs's deductions, only to be fooled along with Whatson when the truth emerges.
What is bathos, and how does Barr use it in the story?
Bathos is an abrupt shift from the elevated to the absurd. Barr uses it when Kombs's grandiose pronouncements (calculating arrival times to the second) are deflated by the mundane truth.
What narrative point of view does the story use, and why is that choice significant?
First person, told by Whatson -- mirroring the Watson-narrated Holmes stories. This lets the reader share Whatson's misplaced admiration and be equally fooled by Kombs's deductions.
What does "seraphic" mean in the phrase "seraphic calm"?
Resembling an angel; blissfully serene. The narrator notes that this angelic expression on Kombs's face actually signals deep annoyance.
What does "ennui" mean as used to describe Kombs on the train?
A feeling of listlessness and boredom. Kombs shows ennui because he considers the case too simple to be interesting.
What does "Queen's evidence" mean in the context of the story's ending?
Testimony given by an accomplice against fellow criminals in exchange for a lighter sentence. One of Kipson's murderers turns Queen's evidence hoping to avoid execution.
Who says "There is no such thing" as a mystery, and what does it reveal about his character?
Kombs says it, dismissing the Pegram case as beneath him. It reveals his supreme arrogance -- the same overconfidence that leads him to construct an entirely wrong solution.
What is the significance of Whatson's exclamation "Wonderful!" followed by Kombs's reply "Commonplace"?
It directly parodies the Holmes-Watson dynamic where Watson marvels at obvious deductions. Here it's doubly comic because Kombs's "commonplace" deduction is actually wrong.
What is the final insult Scotland Yard delivers to Kombs?
They send him a pass to watch the actual murderers be hanged -- a pointed reminder that his suicide theory was wrong and their conventional investigation was right.