Title: 'Phone Plans
Author: Pompey
Universe: ACD Canon
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word count: 461
Summary: Holmes takes exception to one of Watson's publications.
Prompt: July 8 – unreliable narrator
"Watson, are you quite well?"
"Perfectly fine, Holmes. Why do you ask?"
"I ask, my dear fellow, because I have just looked over your latest publication and your opening sentence states that the Wisteria Lodge case happened in 1892, a mere ten months after Reichenbach."
"Actually, Holmes, the story opens by saying I have it recorded in my notebook that it was in 1892, not that the events truly took place in 1892."
"Do you have it recorded in your notebook that the case occurred in 1892?"
"Ah . . . . . no. I do not."
"And that is merely the first of many discrepancies I find between your story and the true course of events. You left out all mention of Murillo's papers, which was at the very heart of the case. You have changed Inspector Baynes so thoroughly I barely recognized him. There were positively no elements of voodoo left anywhere in that house. As for Signora Durando . . . well, I can understand wishing to give her a happier ending than what befell her real-life counterpart, but that was certainly a creative liberty if ever I read one. I know you have changed names and dates and locations for the purpose of protecting the innocent but here you have embellished facts and created fantasies whole-cloth for mere sensationalism. It's simply not like you."
" . . . . . No, it's not."
" . . . . Oh, Watson. It was that Doyle fellow, wasn't it? He thought your original account lacked sufficient luridness and altered it accordingly.
" . . . . Yes."
"Are there no actions you can take?"
"None that would be worth the effort. It's already been published. Even a retraction wouldn't have much of an effect."
"Can you break the contract with him?"
"After delivering only one story out of a promised seven? Not easily. Or cheaply."
" . . . . I'm sorry, Watson."
"It's all right, Holmes. If Doyle wants lurid stories, I can rise to the occasion. The December issue of The Strand is going to feature us assisting your brother Mycroft in solving a murder, retrieving stolen government papers, and unmasking a spy."
"Watson, that sounds vaguely like the case involving the Bruce Partington submarine plans. But Mycroft was barely involved and there was no murder."
"No, but the readers have been clamoring to see more of Mycroft. As for the murder, I took inspiration from the death of Mary Money back in '05."
"The end result sounds like it will not bear much resemblance to the original case, Watson."
"That cannot be helped. If my writings are going to be altered with fictional details, I will be the one to do the altering from now on."
A/N: "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" was published in Sept-Oct 1908 in two parts. It is likely that Doyle really was inspired by the unsolved death of Mary Money in 1905 when writing BRUCE.