Can Sherlock Holmes, the world’s sharpest detective, catch the cheater before the big exam?
Based on the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Learning Objective: Students will read a play adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes mystery and analyze how Holmes uses inferences to identify and understand clues.
Scene 1
Sherlock Holmes’s apartment in London, England, April 1903
N1: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are enjoying a steaming cup of tea.
Dr. John Watson: This unseasonal chill is biting into my bones. We need a holiday in the sun.
Sherlock Holmes: A holiday? And leave the business of solving mysteries?
Watson: Well, it’s been quiet lately . . . we’ve got nothing brewing right now but this tea.
N2: The quiet is shattered by loud knocking.
N3: Watson crosses the room and swings open the door.
Hillary Soames: Dr. Watson? Mr. Holmes? Sorry to interrupt, but I have an urgent matter.
Holmes: And you are?
Soames: Hillary Soames. I teach French at St. Luke’s.
Watson: Ah, that fancy private boarding school down the street.
Soames: Exactly. We have a very important French exam in three days. The highest-scoring student will win a scholarship to study in France this summer.
Watson: How delightful!
Soames: But someone broke into my office today—and copied the exam!
Holmes: A mystery, just in the nick of time. I think you’ve saved me from a holiday, Ms. Soames.
N1: Watson groans.
Holmes: Tell us what happened.
Soames: Well, I’d just received the exam this morning, but I had to leave for a meeting. So I put the exam on my desk and locked the office door on my way out. When I returned two hours later . . .
Scene 2
Hillary Soames’s office at St. Luke’s Middle School, earlier that same day
Soames: Mr. Bannister! Quick!
N2: The custodian, Mr. Bannister, rushes down the hall.
Mr. Bannister: What’s happened?
Soames: My office door is open! And the exam papers are all over the desk.
Bannister (gasping): I must have left the key in the lock after I cleaned. I’m so sorry!
N3: The two walk toward Soames’s desk.
Soames: Someone’s been looking at the exam. And what’s this?
N1: Soames points to a few splotches of bright-blue ink staining her desk.
Bannister: Did someone . . . copy it?
Soames: I’m afraid so. The ink is fresh, and it’s not a color from one of my fountain pens.
N2: Bannister looks around, then turns pale.
N3: He rushes through the open door to Soames’s private meeting room, collapsing on a chair.
Bannister: I feel weak. What a shock—a St. Luke’s student cheating!
Soames: Let me fetch you some water.
N1: When Soames returns with a glass, Bannister meets her at the door.
Bannister: This is my fault.
Soames: No, it was just a mistake.
Bannister: What can be done?
Soames: We must find the culprit. And we need the help of London’s best detective.
Scene 3
Back at Holmes’s apartment
Soames: So can you help, Mr. Holmes? It is unthinkable that a cheater should win this scholarship.
Holmes: You can’t change the exam?
Soames: No! It’s given at schools all across England.
Holmes: I must say, I’m intrigued by your story. We’ll need to investigate your office.
Soames: I didn’t move anything
Holmes: Good. We’ll meet you at St. Luke’s first thing tomorrow.
Scene 4
St. Luke’s courtyard, the next morning
N2: Holmes, Watson, and Soames gather outside a stone building.
N3: Soames points at a window on the ground floor.
Soames: That’s my office. The window next to it is my meeting room.
Holmes: The windows are too narrow for anyone to climb through.
Watson: Did anyone know the French exam was in your office?
Soames: Only Mr. Bannister.
Holmes: And you trust him?
Soames: Completely. Mr. Bannister has been at St. Luke’s longer than I have. He was hired by Mr. Gilchrist, the founder of the school.
Holmes: The papers are quite scattered, as if someone left in a hurry.
Soames (surprised): You can see that through the window?
Holmes: An advantage of being tall. Let’s go inside.
N1: Holmes, Watson, and Soames enter the building.
Holmes: This outside door locks. Who has keys?
Soames: Only myself, Mr. Bannister, and the three students who live on the floors above.
Watson: Then we’ve narrowed down the suspects to three.
Holmes: Tell us about them.
Soames: Two girls live on the second floor, and a boy on the third.
Holmes: Anyone you view with suspicion?
Soames: Perhaps. Two seem unlikely to me. Ben Gilchrist is the grandson of the school’s founder. He’s a lovely fellow.
Holmes: Good student?
Soames: Top-notch, and a champion athlete too. Divya Ras is new at St. Luke’s, so I don’t know her well. But she seems hardworking.
Watson: That leaves?
Soames: Well, Millie McLaren is an extremely social little thing. She prefers a party to the classroom. And she struggles with French.
Watson: Our top suspect!
N2: The three head to Soames’s office, where Bannister greets them.
Holmes: I see those bright-blue ink stains. What about this scratch on the desk? It looks fresh.
Soames: Why, it is.
Holmes: And what’s this?
N3: Holmes picks up some black specks from the desk surface.
Soames: Dirt . . . that’s strange. Mr. Bannister had just cleaned.
Holmes: Mr. Bannister, Ms. Soames said you took ill and needed to sit.
Bannister: Yes, I felt faint.
Holmes: But you didn’t sit in the chair right here by the desk?
Bannister (hesitating): Well, no . . . I went into the meeting room.
Soames: He collapsed. I was concerned enough to get him water.
N1: Holmes enters the meeting room.
Holmes: Look here.
N2: He bends down and picks up a few black specks from the carpet.
Soames: The same dirt!
Holmes: The cheater likely saw you through the window as you were heading back and rushed to hide . . . probably in this closet.
N3: Holmes yanks open the closet door. More dirt covers the floor.
Holmes: Now Watson and I must question the students.
Scene 5
St. Luke’s Middle School, a short while later
N1: Holmes and Watson go upstairs.
N2: Holmes knocks on the first door in the hallway. Divya Ras answers, clutching a book.
Holmes: Mr. Bannister offered us a tour of this lovely old building. Might we see your room?
Divya Ras (frowning): I’m busy studying.
Watson: We’ll be quick.
Divya: All right, but I have an important exam in two days.
N3: She paces nervously, reading her book.
N1: Holmes and Watson survey the small bedroom.
N2: They thank her and leave.
Holmes: No sign of that bright-blue ink.
Watson: All that pacing . . . she certainly seemed guilty!
Holmes: Many students pace while they’re trying to learn something.
N3: They knock on the next door.
Millie McLaren (from inside): Who is it?
Holmes: We’re visitors, touring the school. Could you show us your room?
Millie (annoyed): I’m changing from gym class. Come back later.
N1: Holmes and Watson exchange glances.
Watson (whispering): Hiding something, for sure.
N2: They climb the stairs to the top floor and knock on Ben Gilchrist’s door.
N3: A tall boy answers promptly, smiling.
Holmes: We’re touring St. Luke’s. Could we see your room?
Ben Gilchrist: Sure!
N1: Holmes scans the bedroom. He notices a soccer jersey and a pair of cleats thrown across the dresser.
Watson: Soccer, eh?
Ben: I’m the team goalie.
Holmes: I hear your grandfather founded St. Luke’s.
Ben (blushing): He did.
Holmes: And Mr. Bannister is a family friend?
Ben: Oh, he’s the best.
Holmes: We won’t trouble you further. Thank you!
N2: Holmes and Watson return downstairs.
Scene 6
Soames’s office, the next day
N3: Holmes, Watson, Soames, and Bannister gather in the French teacher’s office.
Soames: Have you found anything?
Watson: I had no luck with the ink. It’s a special order. No recent purchases.
Holmes: It doesn’t matter. I know who copied the French exam.
Watson, Soames, and Bannister: You do?
Holmes: Mr. Bannister, care to change your story?
Bannister: Excuse me?
Holmes: After the break-in, when you felt faint, why go all the way into the meeting room? There’s a chair right here, by the desk.
Bannister: I . . . well, I . . . wasn’t thinking.
Holmes: I believe you were thinking. There was something on the chair you chose, something you needed to hide.
Soames: I don’t understand.
Holmes: Who’s the tallest of the three students living here?
Soames: Ben. He’s almost your height.
Holmes: Whoever copied that exam knew it was in your office. They had to be tall enough to see your desk through the window.
Soames (nodding slowly): Like you did.
Holmes: That eliminates Divya as a suspect. We didn’t meet Millie in person, but you called her a “social little thing.” She’s short?
Soames: Yes, but . . . Mr. Holmes, it can’t possibly be Ben!
Holmes: There’s more. The scratch on your desk? It’s from a metal soccer cleat. Ben dragged his cleats across the wood in his rush to hide.
Watson: How can you be sure, Holmes?
Holmes: It’s quite elementary, my dear Watson. The black dirt. It’s from the St. Luke’s soccer field.
Soames: I can’t believe it.
Holmes: Then let’s call Ben Gilchrist himself.
N1: Minutes later, Watson returns with Ben, who is visibly shaken.
Holmes: Time for the truth, lad. You were coming back from soccer practice and you saw the exam through the window, didn’t you? The key was in the office door, so you let yourself in to copy it.
Soames: Oh, Ben! When I surprised you, you hid in my meeting room?
Ben (looking down): I grabbed my cleats from the desk when I ran to that closet, but I accidentally dropped one of my goalie gloves.
Holmes: On the chair.
Watson: That’s why Mr. Bannister sat down over there!
Ben: He was protecting me.
N2: Bannister looks at the floor.
Soames: You both deceived me. Ben, cheating is very serious.
Ben (miserably): I know. I’m so sorry.
Holmes: You made a mistake. Now you need to make up for it.
Bannister (nodding): We both do.
Soames: I’ll have to talk to the head of the school about this.
Holmes: Ben, one question: the blue ink?
Ben: It came from my grandfather. I always carry it in my backpack.
Soames: Case solved! Incredible, Mr. Holmes.
Watson: Time for our holiday!
Holmes: Solving mysteries is a holiday for me, Watson.
Watson: Well, this scholarship gives me an idea. Let’s see if there’s a mystery to solve in France.
Soames: Oui, oui!
N3: Even Ben smiles at that.
Puffin Books
Write to Win
Write a journal entry from Sherlock Holmes’s point of view. Explain how you used clues to solve the mystery at St. Luke’s Middle School. Entries must be submitted to “Sherlock Contest” by a teacher, parent, or legal guardian.* Three winners will each receive a copy of The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Contest Deadline: June 1, 2025
*Entries must be written by a student in grades 2-8 and submitted by their teacher, parent, or legal guardian, who will be the entrant and must be a legal resident of the U.S. age 18 or older. See the Teacher’s Guide or visit storyworks.scholastic.com/contests for details.
This play was originally published in the May/June 2025 issue.
1. Preparing to Read
Build Background, Preview Vocabulary, and Set a Purpose for Reading
Build background knowledge about Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective known for his exceptional powers of observation, by showing the Background Builder Slideshow.
Distribute the Vocabulary Skill Builder to review challenging words. Highlighted words: brewing, culprit, deceived, eliminates, holiday, intrigued, scholarship, survey, suspicion, visibly.
Call on a volunteer to read the Up Close box on page 23.
2. Reading and Discussing
Assign parts and read the play aloud as a class.
Click here for great ideas for reading as a whole class, in small groups, or independently! Students can also listen to our Read-Aloud with author Elise Broach.
Close-Reading Questions
1. What is the play’s main setting? What details in the play and its illustrations let us know that the story is set in a different time and place from our own? (setting) Based on the scene information, we know that the play is set in April 1903, in England. Most of the play takes place at St. Luke’s Middle School, a fancy boarding school. The clothing worn by the adults in the illustrations and the use of ink to fill up pens shows us that the story takes place in the past. Holmes and Watson also talk about “going on holiday,” which lets readers know that these characters are British. Americans use the expression “going on vacation” instead.
2. Read Scene 1. What does Sherlock Holmes’s attitude about taking a vacation show you about his character? (character) When Watson suggests that he and Holmes go on a vacation, Holmes is not interested. Instead, he is relieved when Ms. Soames comes to him with a mystery to solve and says that she “saved” him from having to take a vacation. This shows us that Holmes likes to be focused on solving mysteries and seems happiest when he’s working on a case.
3. In Scene 1, what does Dr. John Watson mean when he says, “we’ve got nothing brewing right now but this tea”? (figurative language) The word brewing has more than one definition. It can mean “preparing tea by soaking it in hot water” or “about to happen.” Watson uses wordplay in Scene 1 to mean that he and Holmes have no new cases to solve.
4. Scene 2 is a flashback (a scene that shows action that happened at an earlier time). Why do you think the author includes a flashback scene here? (text structure) The author probably uses a flashback scene here because it’s more interesting than just having Soames talk about what happened. Also, it makes it easier to imagine the events that took place in her office and to look for clues about what exactly happened and who the cheater is.
5. What is unusual about Mr. Bannister’s behavior in Scene 2? (inference) Bannister goes into a different room to rest on a chair when other chairs are closer to him. Also, he meets Soames at the door when she returns with the water instead of waiting in the chair.
6. Choose three details that Holmes notices in Scene 4 and explain what inferences he makes based on these details. (inference) Answers should include three of the following: Holmes notices the height and width of the windows and infers that no one could have climbed into Soames’s office through them, but a tall person could have looked through them and seen the exam. The cheater, therefore, is someone who could have a key to the building and might be tall. Holmes also notices blue ink splotches, a fresh scratch, and dirt on Soames’s desk. From these observations, he infers that the cheater used blue ink to copy the test but spilled some after being interrupted. Once Holmes sees Ben’s cleats, he infers that the shoes made the scratch on the desk and that the dirt is from a sports field.
7. In Scene 5, Watson says that Divya “certainly seemed guilty” and Millie is “hiding something, for sure.” Explain whether his beliefs are the result of thinking carefully about clues or from making assumptions. Why is it important to know the difference? (inference) Watson’s beliefs come from making assumptions, or deciding something without having any proof. He thinks that Divya is guilty because she is pacing. But as Holmes points out, many people pace while they study. Because Millie doesn’t want to let Watson and Holmes into her room, Watson assumes she’s hiding something. But Millie could simply be changing out of her gym clothes, as she says. It’s important to know the difference because assumptions can get innocent people in trouble.
8. In Scene 6, why does Holmes ask Bannister if he wants to change his story? Why did Bannister initially mislead Soames, Holmes, and Watson? (character’s motivation) Holmes asks this because he has figured out that Bannister is hiding the truth. Bannister misled Soames, Holmes, and Watson in the beginning of the play because he felt loyal to the Gilchrist family and wanted to protect Ben from getting into trouble.
Critical-Thinking Questions
9. Details in mystery stories that seem like clues but later turn out to be unimportant—like the fact that Millie struggles with French—are called “red herrings.” Describe another red herring from the play. Why do you think mystery writers include red herrings in their stories? (genre) Answers to the first question may vary. Sample answer: Ben is described by Soames as a “top-notch” student. This seems like a clue that Ben is not the cheater, although it turns out that he is. Mystery writers include red herrings to keep their stories interesting and to keep readers guessing about the truth of the mystery.
10. How do the illustrations help us understand the play? (text features) The illustrations help us understand the play by giving us a sense of where and when the story takes place. They also give us visual clues about the mystery as we read which helps us interpret the text.
3. Skill Building and Writing
Featured Skill: Inference
Distribute or digitally assign the Inference Skill Builder (available on two levels), which will guide students to respond to the writing prompt on page 27.
After students complete their journal entries, you can send their work to our writing contest (see our contest page for details).
Differentiate and Customize
Before reading, review how to make an inference by showing students our “What is an Inference?” video (in the Resources tab). Afterward, read the play with your students and pause at key points to discuss what inferences can be made.
In addition to responding to the writing prompt on page 27, have students write a second journal entry from the point of view of another character in the play.
Before reading, use the Background Builder Slideshow about Sherlock Holmes to build students’ knowledge about the famous sleuth. Ask: “Why do you think people would want Sherlock Holmes’s help solving mysteries?”
Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Are your students eager for more of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson? Enjoy our dramatic adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Mystery of the Red-Headed League.”
One reason Sherlock Holmes is a great detective is that he closely observes the world around him. Help your students improve their memories and powers of observation by delving into this Neuroscience for Kids webpage from the University of Washington. It includes a fun online memory test with pictures as well as ideas for other activities that require attention to details.
Students can watch this 2-minute video to learn about the basic elements found in mystery stories. Share this list of mystery genre words to aid their understanding of this literary type. (Note: Video begins after a short advertisement.)
Literature Connection
On the Case With Holmes and Watson, graphic novel adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock stories
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
