Baron Adelbert Gruner is one of the main antagonists of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, the final set of 12 out of a total of 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories. He serves as the main antagonist of the set's first short story, The Adventure of The Illustrious Client.
An Austrian baron, he is a shameless philanderer and murderer who killed his wife and only got away with his crime due to a legal technicality and the suspicious death of the witness (its implied Gruner killed him too).
History[]
Now living in England following multiple crimes throughout Europe, Gruner has won the affections of General de Merlille's daughter, Violet. The two met on a Mediterranean yachting voyage, and using a series of skillful lies and manipulation, as well as his own good looks, charm, and air of mystery and excitement, he has managed to convince her of his innocence in his past crimes, and convinced her to marry him.
A mysterious client contacted Sherlock Holmes through Sir James Damery. Aware of Gruner's past, Holmes takes on the case, and his first step is confront Gruner. Gruner, however, is unmoved by Holmes's investigation, comparing it to "play[ing] a hand with no cards in it" and arrogantly boasting of his own success at conditioning Violet to reject anything bad she hears about him. He also ends the meeting with an implied threat, telling the story of a French detective who was investigating him and was crippled for life after being beaten up by a gang of thugs a week after investigating Gruner.
However, Holmes, with the help of his friend and informant Shinwell Johnson, manages to find a Miss Kitty Winters, who was Gruner's last mistress, a woman whose life was ruined by Gruner and who is now bent upon revenge. It's reveled the baron shamelessly collects women, and keeps reports of this in a book he keeps. Knowing that reading this book in his own hand will break Gruner's hold over Violet, Holmes formulates a plan to steal it. But first, he takes Miss Winters to see Violet, to see if this will have any effect, which fails.
Following his warning, however, Gruner hires to thugs to beat Holmes up. Holmes being a strong man, he manages to come out of the fight relatively unharmed, but seeing an opportunity he has the newspapers reports he is seriously wounded and near death, so that Gruner will underestimate him. He also gives instructions to quickly remove Miss Winters in case Gruner tries to have her removed as well.
Several days later, as Gruner is leaving for America and will almost certainly take the incriminating book with him, Holmes is forced to act. He has Watson learn all he can about Chinese pottery in 24 hours, as the baron has an interest in and is an authority on the subject. Then, using a genuine piece of Ming pottery, Holmes has Watson pretend to be another collector there to sell it to Gruner, in order to distract him so Holmes can steal the book.
However, Watson is unable to fool Gruner for long, and Gruner confronts him. But before he can do anything, he is alerted by the sound of someone in his back room. Rushing in, he's just in time to see Holmes escape out the window. He rushes to the window, only to be doused with vitriol by the vengeful Miss Winters, severely disfiguring his face. Watson stayed on hand until his doctor arrived.
Following this, the plan is a success, and shortly afterwards Miss Violet calls off the engagement. Miss Winters is arrested for the assault, but after the evidence is heard, she is only given the most minimal sentence for her actions.
Other media[]
Sherlock Holmes Granada[]
Guner appears as the main antagonist of the television adaptation of "The Adventure of The Illustrious Client", which is part of Granada's Sherlock Holmes series. He is portrayed by the late Anthony Valentine, who has also portrayed Simon De Belleme and Major Volkmann.
Elementary[]
A modern day re-imagining named Del Gruner appears in the CBS adaptation Elementary. He is the vice-president of an insurance company and a serial killer, who Kitty Winter is attempting to track down with the help of Sherlock Holmes. He appears as the main antagonist of the second season and is portrayed by Stuart Townsend.
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