Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"Very well thumbed, I assure you" [HOUN]    "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" marks the only time that Watson has been responsible for bringing a case to Sherlock Holmes. Go ahead and look it up. We'll wait.   Meanwhile, the few engineers we meet in the Canon are of varied types. But Bliss Austin, BSI, in his masterful magnum opus "Thumbing His Way to Fame," from the  Baker Street Journal  ...

"you will find your time very fully occupied" [NORW]    In the opening of "The Norwood Builder," we find Watson back in Baker Street—he sold his practice and has moved back in with Sherlock Holmes. And we discover that it was Sherlock Holmes who made the financial arrangements that made it possible for Dr. Verner to purchase Watson's practice.   What's going on here? Did Holmes tacitly indicate th...

"worthy of our steel" [HOUN]    Sidney Paget was the illustrator who first brought widespread visual recognition of Sherlock Holmes to the public. His American counterpart Frederic Dorr Steele got a later start, but made a lasting impact as well.   We discuss Steele's inspiration and the ultimate gift that he left us: an indelible impression of Sherlock Holmes through various publications for the...

"The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest." [NAVA]  Nepotism, bullying, carelessness and a locked room mystery — "The Naval Treaty" has it all. A young government employee is given a top secret assignment that keeps him at his desk late at night, but the document he was working on goes missing. And it's up to Sherlock Holmes to find the culprit.   Clocking in at 12,701 words,...

"there can be no question as to the authorship" [SIGN]    "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" took place in July 1903 and it shares a distinction with one other Sherlock Holmes story: like "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane," this is the only other story that is told by a third person. We review some theories, summed up by Leslie Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange") in his Daypark Press publication o...

"among the harpooners my research was nearing its end" [BLAC]  We have one of the most iconic openings in the Sherlock Holmes stories in "The Adventure of Black Peter" - the year '95, Holmes in disguise, returning from the butcher's with his weapon of choice: a harpoon.   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle pulled on his own knowledge of whaling vessels and voyages (as referenced in an earlier IHOSE episode),...

"there really was a plot" [GLOR]  Independence Day is celebrated in the United States on July 4. It marks the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that preceeded the American Revolution. This, as well as numerous other acts of rebellion in the years leading up to the war, represented a principled stand against British authority.   And we have rebellion against British...

"Saw through my game, I suppose" [3GAR]    Once again, we have a con man at work, eager to enrich himself. He finds his mark, manages to get him away from the scene where his work needs to happen, and is eventually caught red-handed by Sherlock Holmes. Does this plot device sound familar? It should. Or at least it did, once we got the names of the minor characters straight...   This tale has been...

"she will not believe me" [IDEN]    In the early stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , Dr. Watson was admittedly new to the bio-docu-drama genre that he was creating. And while we've gotten comfortable with putting "The Adventure of..." in front of nearly every short story about Sherlock Holmes, a handful of these early stories were not titled that way. "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "A Case...

"He had described his household" [WIST]    We're acutely aware of some of the fathers in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and the dastardly deeds associated with them. Individuals such as Jephro Rucastle and Grimesby Roylott spring to mind.   But what about figures who occupied a position as head of the household who weren't necessarily fathers themselves? With Fathers Day coming up this weekend, we t...

"not long after my marriage" [ENGR]  In this episode, we look at how married life was treating Dr. Watson in "The Adventure of the Boscombe Valley Mystery." William S. Baring-Gould placed this at June 6 or June 8, 1889. It was published as the fourth short story in the collection known as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . In the opening scene, Holmes sends for the recently married Watson to acco...

"back to the same establishment" [GOLD]  The last time we met, we were in the middle of a pub quiz. How were you doing? We're going to pick up where we left off, talking about various public houses, bars, taverns and inns that were mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Each played an important role in the story in which it was set. And as a bonus, we'll get you inside some of the real-life est...

"gone to the nearest public house" [SOLI]  We owe the entire Canon to Watson's drinking habits. Because he found himself at the Criterion Bar, he eventually found his way to Holmes. And just as importantly, public houses, taverns and bars play a role throughout the Sherlock Holmes stories. These locations are where they gathered intelligence, and met clients, or simply refreshed themselves. In the...

"His Grace is surprised, Dr. Huxtable" [PRIO] The opening of "The Adventure of the Priory School" is one of the best in the entirety of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Dr. Huxtable lands on the bearskin rug and from Watson's brandy administration to Holmes helping himself to the contents of Huxtable's pockets, it's vintage Sherlock Holmes. What do we know of Dr. Huxtable, an...

"by the honour of your mother" [SIGN]    There's no question that fathers play a significant role in many of the Sherlock Holmes stories. But what about mothers? As Mothers Day will be celebrated on May 14 in the United States, we thought it was an appropriate time to look at mothers and motherly figures in the Canon. From independent women to those who tragically lost their mothers, we see a comm...

"have a look at the horse" [SILV]  One of the best regarded stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon is "Silver Blaze." The story has so many elements to it that lend themselves to the lore of Sherlock Holmes: the Baker Street opening, the image of Holmes and Watson in the railway carriage, a number of famous quotes. We'll be revisiting this story again in Trifles. But for this time, our focus is on t...

"I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain" [3GAR] In "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," we're treated to a range of emotions and reactions from Sherlock Holmes. The opening scene is one of those Canonical gems: Outside, there is a thick fog, while inside, we see a cheery fire, the gleaming breakfast table, and an eloquently irritable Holmes with his cherry-wood pipe, exp...

"it is with a heavy heart" [FINA]  "The Final Problem" is a shocking tale, both for contemporaries of the Strand Magazine as well as for first-time readers of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Christopher Morley wrote: "Devoted readers have rarely had such a shock as the opening words of this story when it first appeared in the Strand Magazine." And so too did we. Some reflections on the drastic tur...

"tell me how you came alive" [EMPT]  While there is no explicit mention of Easter in the Sherlock Holmes story, we do have a story arc that follows the Easter mystery. While Holmes himself may not have been terribly religious (although he did express some acknowledgement of a higher power from time to time), he respected the tradition and the necessary belief in resurrection.    

"roused its snakish temper" [SPEC]    "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is consistently ranked as one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And in it, there are so many gems, so many possibilities to explore. We manage to delve into a few of them, including Dr. Roylott's clever yet poorly executed plan, the seemingly disparate time it took for victims to...

"quarter day is at hand" [WIST]    There are at least two instances in the Sherlock Holmes stories when we come across a mention of quarter day. Just what is quarter day, and what is the significance with regard to these two stories?  We delve into the history of quarter days, cross-quarter days and why the real estate market had such an impact on calendars and ultimately played into the plots of...

"To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman" [SCAN] It is the first story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and it is also the first of what we might call the stories of legend: those Canonical tales that have inspired our imaginations far beyond the events that Watson wrote down. We already have Holmes and Watson, legends enough for anyone, but just as "The Greek Interpreter" reveals brother...

"you could not celebrate him without being known yourself" [HOUN]    With mid-March upon us, we thought it was high time to investigate some of the Irish connections in the Sherlock Holmes stories. From the obvious to the subtle, we go from Belfast to Waterford to Skibbereen, across the pond to America, and back again.    Short stories and novels alike, there are glimpses of the Emerald Isle in a...

"He was clad in his dressing gown" [CREE]   You'll find Sherlock Holmes lounging in his dressing gown in no fewer than 14 of the original stories. And yet, its color changed from story to story. Sherlock Holmes's dressing gown was alternatively purple, blue and mouse — how can this be? We discuss the possibilities that scholars have put forth over the course of many decades and even add our own co...

"embrace the true faith" [STUD]  We see glimpses of religion in a number of stories, from plot devices to red herrings, saintly inferences to clever disguises. What role did religion play in the Sherlock Holmes stories? And Arthur Conan Doyle's own faith had some bearing on what we see as well. It's a chat about religion, faith, and their multitude of instances in the Canon.   Links The Adventures...