The House of Fear, And the Orange Pips

The House of Fear
And the Orange Pips

It had been raining a great deal, which limited Ginger and I circumnavigating the lake on which we live. Therefore, when we woke up on a bright sunny day, we decided to take our hour journey around Lake La Mancha the first thing in the morning before breakfast. The evening before we had watched The House of Fear, which was another Sherlock Holmes adventure.

The House of Fear

Ginger and I often will allow one of the Sherlock Holmes thrillers to mull around in our minds until the next day before commenting about the film. Therefore, as we began our sojourn around the lake, Ginger wanted to know what I thought about the film.

I merely mentioned that I couldn’t figure out who the killer was until the very end of the film.

Ginger replied, “From the beginning of the film, I tried to determine, which of the seven Good Comrades was the murderer. They would meet at the Drearcliffe House, which was located near Inverneill. Inverneil is a village in Argyllshire, Scotland. That isn’t too far from Inveraray where your family was from many generations ago.”

Drearcliffe House

I agreed with Ginger about the Campbell Clan coming from Inveraray. However, various Campbell Clans were scattered all over Argyll.

“Drearcliffe House looked very dreary to me. I’m lucky that I live with you. Our home doesn’t look dreary at all.”

I merely nodded in agreement.

“The Good Comrades had a tradition that they would toast one of the group that died due to old age. However, the movie is about a murderer of them…one at a time. As I tried to determine who the murderer was, the most likely killer wasn’t the killer. That person was the next to go. It made the movie difficult to figure out who the murderer was.”

The seven Good Comrades…then there were six.

“It was a strange thriller. I couldn’t figure out what the envelope with seven orange pips meant. However, that evening, the recipient of the envelope was murdered. Someone found him mutilated. I watched the seven orange pips come out of the envelope. Nonetheless, when the others said that he had been mutilated, I didn’t take note that the victim had been mutilated.

“Several days later, the maid delivered another Good Comrade an envelope like she had to the first member. This envelope contained six orange pips, and he was murdered also having been pushed over a nearby cliff.”

Ginger continued, “The Good Comrades had a group insurance policy. The agent wanted Sherlock Holmes to investigate the murders. Apparently, he thought something was up since the last comrade would get all the insurance proceeds. Holmes went to Drearcliffe House only to discover another murder.”

I agreed with Ginger. I couldn’t figure it out. One after another of the Good Comrades was being murdered. It seemed quite apparent that one of them was killing the others. I only added that there seemed to be some bickering between the Good Comrades about which of the remaining comrades was the killer.

“This movie was different from the other Sherlock Holmes films. As it turned out, the Good Comrades had faked being killed. They hid in a nearby smugglers’ cave. They were waiting for the actual murder of the one who they were going to kill. Then the one remaining Good Comrades would receive the life insurance money. He would return to the cave and divide up the money six ways.”

It was a great movie for Ginger and me to watch after our dinner and date night. We really enjoyed our attempt to out investigate the Consulting Detective as we walked along the moors at the end of the lake. I told Ginger that we should head home and have breakfast.

Then Ginger paused and said, “I learned a great deal from the movie. We need to be aware all the time about things in life. Don’t take for granted details or overlook them. However, I still have one remaining question.

“When the Good Comrades were narrowed down to two, why didn’t the bad guy kill the other comrade, get the insurance money, and leave his comrades waiting for him in the cave? He would have had all the money…not just one sixth of it.”