The Adventure of the Repeated Murder

"I must confess", Lestrade told Holmes, "that we at the Yard can't make head nor tail of it. We were hoping you might shed some light on it for us"

Lestrade continued to tell Holmes the mysterious occurrences surrounding the theft of the Farlinger Diamonds from the Museum.

A week after Museum curator Septimus Mundy convinced millionaire J.L. Farlinger to display his diamond collection at the Museum, they were stolen.

The police, after some investigation, were sure that jewel thief Phineas Wolper, recently released from jail, had taken part in the robbery. Before they could question him, however, a fire broke out at his home next to the Newsagents, burning it to the ground and charring Wolper's body beyond recognition. If it were not for the scraps of clothing and identification found they would not have known it was him. The police are sure it was a case of arson, due to the speed of the conflagration.

Then the next day, a man was discovered dead in one of the cabins on the steamer Odysseus, having been shot in the head. It was, to the surprise of Scotland Yard, Phineas Wolper. He had booked passage on the ship which was bound for France. When the captain of the ship, Mylo Caldwell, found him, the cabin was in a mess, having been completely searched. Police then searched the cabin also, but found nothing except Wolper's empty suitcase, the clothes having been scattered about.