Story Profile: “Of Course He Pushed Him”

Story Profile: “Of Course He Pushed Him”

 

During my senior year of college, a friend of mine was slandered by a malicious gossip campaign.  Luckily, my friend’s innocence was easily established, but when mud gets slung about, it’s very difficult to clean it all up, and the truth is often a step behind false rumors.  Not long afterwards, I reread the Complete Sherlock Holmes, and the germ of an idea developed in my head.  

 

What if someone spread a false rumor about Doctor Watson?  What if a malicious person started telling all of London that that Watson’s account in “The Final Problem” was a lie?  What if that venomous individual started hinting that Watson had actually pushed Sherlock Holmes off of the cliff overlooking Reichenbach Falls?

 

I started to mull over this idea a lot.  What would the motive for the falsehood be?  Could Holmes and Watson have sent someone close to the rumor-monger to prison?  Might the lies be the ravings of a crazy person?  Or could it all have some connection to the remnants of Professor Moriarty’s gang?

 

I started writing the story, and after a few hours of typing, realized it was terrible.  So I tried again the next day, reviewed my work, and judged the result was even worse.  Further attempts proved similarly fruitless, so I abandoned the project.

 

But I never stopped thinking that the basic plot was a good one, and after several years had passed, I came back to the tale with a lot more experience in writing fiction.  In a few days, I’d produced a short story I rather liked.  I sent it around, received a rejection from one magazine, and then sent it on to Mystery Weekly, where it was accepted.

 

And so, the story which I titled “Of Course He Pushed Him” found a home.  It’s a tale of an innocent man whose reputation is targeted by a well-organized cadre of bad guys, who are assisted by people who love spreading juicy gossip without regard for veracity or thoughts of the consequences.  I enjoyed writing it, and I hope that others have an equally fun time reading it.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” will be released on August 27^th from MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website. 

 

“Of Course He Pushed Him” can be found in the October 2019 edition of Mystery Weekly, available in paperback and Kindle editions.