“1.written by a goy vs written by a Jew” So?
“2.implied immorality. even in S Holmes there is often intrigue, murder, because of a woman, because of lust etc.” See below, Speckled Band plot summary, from Wikipedia. Yes, it involves attempted murder and can be scary for kids, but that’s not any different from many Jewish books. Anything problematic here? Oh, the name “Stoner”. Yeah, that’d be a problem, maybe 😉 I’d say there’s a great mussar that can be learned from the story…
“A young woman named Helen Stoner consults the detective Sherlock Holmes about the suspicious death of her sister, Julia. One night, after conversing with her twin sister about her big day, Julia suddenly reappeared in Helen’s room, struggling to breathe, and died soon afterwards. Julia had been engaged to be married and, had she lived, would have received an annual 250 GBP annuity from her late mother’s income. Now Helen is engaged to be married. Holmes’ investigation of the mother’s estate reveals that its value has decreased significantly, and if both daughters had married, Dr. Roylott, Helen’s ill-tempered and violent stepfather, would be left with very little, while the marriage of even one would be crippling. Therefore, the main suspicion falls on him.
After Helen leaves, Dr. Roylott comes to visit Holmes, having traced his stepdaughter. He demands to know what Helen has said to Holmes, but Holmes refuses to say. Dr. Roylott bends an iron poker into a curve in an attempt to intimidate Holmes, but Holmes is unaffected as he maintains a rather jovial demeanor during the encounter. After Roylott leaves, Holmes straightens the poker out again, thus showing that he is just as strong as the doctor.
Having arranged for Helen to spend the night somewhere else, Holmes and Watson sneak into her bedroom without Dr. Roylott’s knowledge. Holmes says that he has already deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns out to be successful. They hear the whistle, and Holmes also sees what the bell cord is really for, although Watson does not. Julia’s last words about a “speckled band” were in fact describing “a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India”. The venomous snake had been sent to Julia’s room by Dr. Roylott to murder her. After the swamp adder bit Julia he called off the snake with the whistling, which made the snake climb up through the bell cord, disappearing from the scene.
Now the swamp adder is sent again to kill Julia’s sister Helen. Holmes attacks the snake, sending it back through an air ventilator connected to the next room. The angry snake bites Dr. Roylott instead, and, within seconds, he is dead. Grimly noting that he is indirectly responsible for Dr. Roylott’s death, Holmes remarks that he is unlikely to feel much remorse because of it.”