[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chabonfinal.JPG]]

Creator/MichaelChabon's ''The Final Solution'' (first published in the ''Paris Review'' in 2003) features an unnamed but strangely [[Literature/SherlockHolmes familiar]] detective, elderly and long-retired, investigating the case of a boy's missing African gray parrot. However, the boy is a mute Jewish refugee whose parents were taken away to a concentration camp, and the parrot keeps spouting mysterious numbers. Thanks to the numbers, the parrot attracts some unwelcome attention from more than one source--perhaps enough attention to lead to murder.

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!! This book contains examples of:

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Linus and the parrot are reunited, and the murderer is caught. But the other characters still don't understand the significance of the numbers--which refer to the railway cars in which Linus' parents were taken away to a concentration camp.]]
* CrazyJealousGuy: At one point, Mr. Panicker becomes a suspect in the murder investigation because his wife was clearly attracted to the victim. Even Mr. Panicker admits to himself that his feelings on that score were violent.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: The detective puffs away on one.
* DoubleMeaningTitle: Both referencing the Holocaust, which was called the "FinalSolution" by the Nazis, and mirroring Doyle's ''The Final Problem''.
* GloryDays: The detective is naturally given to contrast his present circumstances, in which his body is slowly failing and his mind, while far from decrepit, is nevertheless not what it once was, with his abilities when he was working in his prime.
* GoodIsNotNice: The detective is cranky at the best of times, despite his emotional response to Linus.
* GrumpyOldMan: "Crotchety" would be an understatement for the detective's general demeanor.
* InspectorLestrade: Inspector Bellows fills this role for the old man -- as did his grandfather during some of the old man's investigations in his glory days.
* MythologyGag:
** [[spoiler: [[Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion This isn't the first time in one of Chabon's works that a conspicuously out of place diary has covered up a conspiracy.]]]]
** The story also contains numerous allusions to the detective's prior adventures, some of which are recognisably from the Sherlock Holmes canon and others of which are original.
* NoNameGiven: The retired detective, although he is obviously Literature/SherlockHolmes.
* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: A rather dark example. [[spoiler: Though the human characters do not realise it, it is heavily implied that the numbers the parrot keeps reciting are the numbers of train cars carrying people to Nazi death camps. Including Linus's parents.]]
* SwissBankAccount: [[spoiler: The murderer committed the crime and stole the parrot because he believes the numbers that the parrot keeps reciting are the account numbers for a Swiss bank account where Linus' parents have hidden their wealth from the Nazis. He's very wrong.]]
%%* TitleDrop: At the end.
* TheUnsolvedMystery: Sort of. [[spoiler: The detective identifies the murderer and retrieves the parrot, but does not figure out what the numbers mean.]]
* TheVoiceless: Linus Steinman. [[spoiler: He gets better at the end.]]
%%* TheWatson: Mr. Panicker, but not very well.
* {{Xenofiction}}: Not a full example, but one important chapter is narrated from the perspective of Bruno the parrot.
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