Meanwhile, in the ex-con arrested by the police for stealing in “The Blue Carbuncle” turns not to be the criminal after all, despite appearances to the contrary. The titular, filthy street beggar in rags that spouts Shakespeare in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” takes off his disguise, cleans himself up and goes back home to his nice house with his pretty young wife none the wiser. “A Case of Identity” actually involves a plot in which the suspect tries to deceive his stepdaughter by disguising himself. The nature of appearance and identity is a common theme running throughout this collection. The characters who are tempted by the glitter of a golden opportunity are taught a lesson on avoiding things that are probably way too good to be true. Violet Hunter is appropriately worried about taking a job that pays beyond all reason for the sacrifice of her luxurious hair an hour a day sitting with her back to the window. Jabez Wilson falls for a wildly improbable opportunity to make an incredible sum of money on the basis of nothing more than having red hair and copying sections of the encyclopedia. Many characters in the stories in this Holmes collection learn that the following proverb is true: if it seems too good to be true, it’s probably not worth the effort. Every Holmes story is a recurring motif of the knowledge that can be gained about a person or situation by doing nothing more than actually looking rather than merely seeing. What Sherlock Holmes teaches is that the power of observation creates knowledge that leads to more power. The old saying is that knowledge is power.