In The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, Inspector Lestrade consults Sherlock Holmes about a peculiar series of incidents--someone is smashing plaster busts of Napoleon across London. The first bust is destroyed in Morse Hudson’s shop, and two more, previously sold to Dr. Barnicot, are also smashed after burglaries at his home and office. Nothing else is stolen, leading Lestrade to suspect a lunatic obsessed with Napoleon, but Holmes quickly doubts this theory, noting that all the busts came from the same mould, despite thousands of similar busts existing in London. The situation escalates when Mr. Horace Harker is found murdered outside his home, and his Napoleon bust has been stolen. A photograph of a suspicious man is discovered in Harker’s pocket. Holmes observes the pattern of the smashed busts and deduces that the destruction is not random but connected to a hidden object inside the busts.