# Colonel Barclay — The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes character guide

> Colonel Barclay in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** James Barclay, James, Colonel James Barclay, Barclay, Sergeant Barclay, Sergeant James Barclay

**First appearance:** 0007-the-crooked-man

## Snapshot

A decorated colonel found dead in his own home, whose respectable public face conceals a past that refuses to stay buried.

## Who they are

Colonel Barclay is the kind of man whose reputation precedes him into every room: soldier, husband, pillar of the community. But his marriage to a younger, striking woman carries an undercurrent of strain, and the locked-room circumstances of his death make his private life the real crime scene. Holmes must read the man through the household he left behind, where every servant and every silence has something to say.

## In the story

### [The Crooked Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_memoirs_of_sherlock_holmes_se/chapters/the-crooked-man)

The deceased; his death is investigated, and his past betrayal of Wood is uncovered.

## Links

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