The Mystery Death of Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Aficionado

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Was Richard Lancelyn Green killed by a rival, an assassin, or by his own hands?

Lancelyn Green was probably the foremost collector of the personal papers and materials of the great detective writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Lancelyn Green also probably had the largest collection of memorabilia of Sherlock Holmes ever gathered too, and his death would ironically turn out to be most fitting for a plot in one of the Sherlock Holmes novels; though the solution to his death remains cryptically unsolved.

On the 24th of May 2004, Ricard Lancelyn Green was discovered dead in his home in Kensington London. A shoelace had been wound around his neck and then tightened with the handle of a wooden spoon. He had been garrotted. There was no sign of forced entry into his apartment. It almost appeared to be a locked-room mystery. Just prior to his death, Lancelyn Green had said “someone” was after him, yet his death looked more like a suicide. He was found lying on his bed, surrounded by stuffed toys and a bottle of Gin…

Said The London Times, ‘a mystery as tantalizing as any to unfold at 221B Baker Street.’

Was Richard Lancelyn Green killed by a rival, an assassin, or by his own hands?

Also featured in one of my books Tales of Mystery Unexplained