Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"his military challenge" [STUD]  November 11 marks Veterans Day in the United States, when we honor our men and women who have served in the military. From the very first Sherlock Holmes story, we're exposed to the military:  A Study in Scarlet  opens with "(Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department.)"   And from there, we find other member...

"The world is big enough for us." [SUSS]    With Halloween just behind us, it's natural to reflect on the supernatural. The Hound of the Baskervilles and "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" loom large in our consciousness as stories whose central premise was focused on spectral occurrences. But what of other references? And of the most curious case of all: Arthur Conan Doyle's belief in otherwor...

"Why do you not write them yourself?" [ABBE]  Aside from the untold tales which are hinted at occasionally by Watson, the most intriguing writings in the Canon are those penned by Sherlock Holmes himself. We of course refer to his famous monographs. In his earliest published cases, Holmes himself admits "in fact, I have written a monograph on the subject" [STUD] and "I have been guilty of several...

"a quite epicurean little cold supper" [NOBL]    In "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor," Lord Robert St. Simon assumed that Holmes was going up in the world by taking him on as a client; Holmes replied that he was actually descending, as his previous client was something of a king. But it was still a royal feast set out at 221B Baker Street for Lord Robert and the assembled guests.   Just what w...

"several successful voyages" [BLAC]    The second week of October marks the remembrance of Christopher Columbus in the U.S.. Long thought to be the individual who "discovered" America, we've come to understand that claim to be overblown and his tendencies less than flawless.   Still, he was a brave voyager. What about some of the great voyages we know that took place in the Sherlock Holmes stories...

"Sarasate plays at St. James's Hall this afternoon" [REDH]  We know Sherlock Holmes enjoyed music. From his own violin playing to a few mentions of concerts he attended, he often escaped from the woes of the world and the problems he was trying to solve through music. In "The Adventure of the Red Headed League," he says "Sarasate plays at St. James's Hall this afternoon," and he and Watson make th...

"this terrible secret society" [FIVE]  The Ku Klux Klan famously plays a role in "The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips." To British audiences, the 'K.K.K.' note would have seemed mysterious - something along the lines of a Dancing Men code. But to American audiences, it was a known entity.    The KKK was a secret society founded in the southern United States following the Civil War, which committ...

"fondness for photography" [REDH]    During the earliest days of the Sherlock Holmes stories, photography was still in its infancy. And yet, we are greeted with a number of instances in which photography plays a central or partial role in the plot.   Who were the Canonical photographers and why did they pursue this hobby? And how did photographs play into Sherlock Holmes's ability to solve crimes?...

"I have no idea what he intends to go in for" [STUD]  It's our Back to School Blowout Sale! Okay, not really. But since it's September and class is in session, we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about Sherlock Holmes's school days.   In his student days, Holmes said that he considered his habit of observation and deduction to be "the merest hobby." What subjects was he studying at col...

"I was already in debt to my tradesmen" [COPP]  With Labor Day just behind us, what do we find in the Sherlock Holmes stories in the ways of the working class? Holmes said that the public could hardly tell "a weaver by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb," [COPP] as two examples of the working class.   Certainly, Sherlock Holmes himself took on the guise of workers, such as "a drunken-look...

"a Greek by extraction" [GREE]     "The Greek Interpreter" gives us our first glimpse of Mycroft Holmes, through the meeting with him at the Diogenes Club. But it's the introduction of the peculiar Mr. Melas, the Greek interpreter, that sets things in motion. When you think about all of the activity in this case, couldn't we argue that Melas was really the hero of this story? Or was it Holmes, wit...

"the matter is more mysterious" [CARD]    "The Cardboard Box" opens with an iconic diversion on a hot August day on Baker Street. And while the story was published in  The Strand Magazine  just following "Silver Blaze" and just prior to "The Yellow Face." And yet when the second collection of short stories was published in book form as  The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes  in 1894, "The Cardboard Box"...

"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...