The Red-Headed League

The Red-Headed League is the second of the twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1892. In it, Jabez Wilson, a flame-haired London pawnbroker, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Some weeks before, Wilson responded to a newspaper want-ad offering highly-paid work to only red-headed male applicants. Wilson is hired on the basis of the precise hue of his hair color and performs menial work at a decent wage. When this occupation is suddenly suspended, he enlists Holmes and Watson to find an explanation. One of his more lighthearted shorts, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ranked it as his second-favorite Sherlock Holmes story.