How does Conan Doyle sustain the interest of the reader Throughout “the Adventure of the Speckled Band”?

Conan Doyle keeps the reader in suspense throughout the story.  He does this by giving the reader clues, which don’t make sense when they’re first given, and lead you down the wrong path completely.  These are called red herrings, something that make you think one thing when it’s actually something completely different.  In the end all the clues Conan Doyle has given make sense.  

The story keeps the reader in suspense because it’s a mystery story.  As its to do with a murder, that makes the story more exciting and makes you want to read on and find out what actually happens at the end and what conclusion Sherlock Holmes comes to at the end and whether or not its correct.

I thought this story was a bit boring, as it was 19th century.  Back then it would probably have been thought to be a very good story, but I prefer more up-to-date stories.  I didn’t find it that bad or that good.  I’m glad it wasn’t too long because I would probably have got very fed up of it if it had gone on and on and on.  It gave you all the facts and information you needed and didn’t go on and on about one thing for too long.  It was kept short and sweet.  In that way I thought it was ok.

In the story the stepfather is a doctor and worked over in India but got sent back to England because of his violent temper, as he struck a person for something that wasn’t their fault.  The doctor had animals imported from countries he’d worked in, e.g.) India.  He kept a cheetah, an orangutan, which everyone knew about in the village, and an Indian swamp adder, (the speckled band), which no one except the doctor, knew about.  In the story the doctor rents out some of the land he owns to some gypsies.  At first when people hear about the mysterious death at the manor, some think that it was the cheetah or the orangutan that had killed Julia, and some think “the speckled band” was a bandanna that the gypsies wore and that it was one of them that had murdered her.  Others didn’t know what to think.  After some investigating, Sherlock Holmes solved the mystery, with the help of his assistant, Dr Watson, and the story had a happy ending.  Helen, Julia’s sister got married and the doctor, her stepfather, got killed by the swamp adder he was going to use to kill Helen like he did Julia.