The Adventure of Foulkes Rath

The Adventure of Foulkes Rath is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery by Adrian Conan Doyle. The story was published in the 1954 collection, The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes.

Dr. Watson wonders why Holmes has not been involved in the investigation of the apparent murder of Colonel Matthias Addleton by his nephew Percy Longton, only to find that Holmes already has a telegram in his hand from the family attorney. Holmes learns that the uncle and nephew had quarreled over the sale of property belonging to the estate after the uncle had returned from a late night horse ride. Servants, aroused by a scream later that night, found Longton standing over his dying uncle with an axe in his hand. The evidence is overwhelming, but Holmes agrees to look into the matter and join forces with Lestrade of Scotland Yard.

"Hullo, what have we here?"

Holmes had scraped something from the mat and was closely examining it through his lens. Lestrade and I joined him.

"Well, what is it?"

Without a word, Holmes passed him the lens and held out his hand

"Dust," announced Lestrade, peering through the glass.

"Pine–wood dust," replied Holmes quietly. "The fine grain is unmistakable. You will note that I scraped it from the traces of the boot–mark."