Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" [SIGN]  In our monthly discussion of an old piece of Sherlockian scholarship, we find ourselves in the back alleys of Whitechapel, discussing Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. Our source of this discussion is not one but two back-to-back articles from The Baker Street Journal , Vol. 17, No. 4 from...

"We shall then take you into partnership" [SIGN]  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are forever linked, thanks to that first meeting at Bart's. They were both looking for someone with whom to share rooming expenses, but found themselves thrust together on some of Sherlock Holmes's greatest cases, becoming one of history's greatest partnerships. But what of business partnerships that are scattered thr...

"a singular set of people, Watson" [WIST]  Image credit: The Baker Street Irregulars This podcast is a by-product of being active in the world of Sherlockians. But how did Sherlock Holmes societies first gain footing? What was the origin? In the inaugural episode of our new series on Morley-Montgomery Award winners (exceptional Sherlockian scholarship from The Baker Street Journal ), Robert Keith...

"the compliments of the season" [BLUE]  There is only one Sherlock Holmes story that takes place at Christmas: "The Blue Carbuncle," which took place on "the second morning after Christmas."  In his Gas-Lamp for the 1959 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual, editor Edgar W. Smith, BSI ("The Hound of the Baskervilles") entertained the idea of what was happening at Baker Street on Christmas Day. An...

"I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal" [CHAS]  In some cases, Sherlock Holmes was a bit of a vigilante in his pursuit of justice. He didn't mind breaking the law in a good cause. That led to him burgling various households.  Or did it? S. Tupper Bigelow, BSI ("The Five Orange Pips") was a lawyer by trade and disabuses us of the notion that Sherlock Holmes wa...

"You look like a general who is planning a battle" [HOUN]  The Battle of Marengo , by Louis-François Lejeune (public domain - Wikimedia Commons )   One simple sentence in "The Abbey Grange" served as the spark to the fuse of this Trifles episode. In one sentence, Sherlock Holmes referenced two of Napoleon's battles — each with a different outcome. But it made us curious: what other famous battles...

"He disappeared upon the 3d of December" [SIGN]    "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is inextricably linked with the month of December. But what about the other cases Sherlock Holmes handled in the final month of the year? Our research picked up only one other, and it isn't obvious by a careful reading of the Canon. Jay Finley Christ helps us out with a clever bit of detection and chronology t...

 "You seem to be a walking calendar of crime" [STUD]  Sherlock Holmes used the calendar to help him determine the significance of certain cluse and actions, noting phases of the moon and recurring events. But there was another calendar that was useful to Holmes, which he mentioned in passing: the Newgate Calendar. It wasn't a calendar the way we refer to calendars. What was it and why was it of us...

 "it was a dramatic one" [GLOR]  One of Sherlock Holmes's traits was that he was a master of disguise. And in the very first short story, "A Scandal in Bohemia," we find him in not one but two disguises. However, it's more than costuming that made him successful at subterfuge. Curtis Armstrong shares his insights on why Sherlock Holmes was able to fool so many people, including Watson.  And it's j...

 "the Continental express" [FINA]  When Sherlock Holmes was trying to outrun Professor Moriarty, the trail led from London to Switzerland. It was anything but a straight route. Our travel series traces their trip. What did Holmes and Watson's journey onto the Continent entail? How long did it take? And what might we say about their choices? It's just a Trifle. Do you have a topic you'd like to rec...

 "you have erred, perhaps" [COPP]  We have John H. Watson, M.D. to thank for the Sherlock Holmes stories, and we typically take them at face value. That is, we trust that Watson was telling us the truth. While Sherlock Holmes complimented Watson for his choice of cases, he also had criticisms of Watson's writing, taking issue with his storytelling process. Does this mean Watson's accuracy might al...

"gone—stolen, vanished" [BRUC]    A few episodes ago, we investigated various items that clients brought to Sherlock Holmes and items that acted as vital physical clues. It was something of a show-and-tell.   This time, we're flipping the idea on its head and considering various stories where something—or someone—goes missing. What and who will be it? Tune in for this Trifle.   Do you have a topic...

"with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit" [STUD]    There were a number of individuals who exhibited strength in the Sherlock Holmes stories, to varying degrees. But which of them would you classify as the strongest?   One of our listeners had an idea as to who it might be, so we surveyed the Canon and found a handful of others to make this a deeper discussion. Turns out it...

"the loss of the old black boot" [HOUN]    Brown boot, black boot — these two items of Sir Henry Baskerville's went missing at the Northumberland Hotel shortly after he arrived in London. And they begin to put Sherlock Holmes on the scent of The Hound of the Baskervilles .   However, there's a wrinkle regarding the old black boot that persists throughout the story. George Fletcher, BSI ("The Cardb...

"not the name of a young woman, Watson" [SUSS]    Here's a strange one. We hear of the Matilda Briggs in one story. Do you know which story and what it was associated with?   This entry in our Travel Series takes us on a mysterious sea voyage that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write a short story and then borrow a real name from this true tale and plant it in Sherlock Holmes story. What as the co...

"Look at that!" [3STU]    Sherlock Holmes had clients of all kinds. Some that visited him with vague fears. Others that were concerned about missing documents.   But when he had cases and clients that included a little show-and-tell — where a physical object was displayed — well, that is just a Trifle.   And listen closely, because we ask for some input from you on this one!   Do you have a topic...

"She responded beautifully" [SCAN]    Occasionally — very occasionally — there are flaws in Sherlock Holmes's reasoning. Or, if not flaws, then something that doesn't quite hold up when we put our own magnifying lens against it.   There is one such example in "A Scandal in Bohemia," as pointed out by a listener. One we had never considered before, but one that is just a Trifle.   Do you have a top...

"To a collector of fairy tales" [HOUN]    Of the many things we know about Sherlock Holmes — or think we know about him — his knowledge of chemistry and his violin-playing skills are probably most closely associated with him.   However, in 1952, Remsen Ten Eyck Schenck pulled the evidence together and compared it with what merely passed as opinion in a Baker Street Journal article. And what he fou...

"his attitude and manner told their own story" [SCAN]    The tragedies on September 11 ensured that it is a date that will forever be stamped in the history books. What to do when it coincides with an episode drop date for Trifles  on our monthly travel series?     As we glanced through the Sherlock Holmes canon, we found that a number of trips and voyages were associated with tragic outcomes. Par...

"his attitude and manner told their own story" [SCAN]    Last month, we lost prolific Sherlockian David Stuart Davies. But prolific doesn't quite cover it. He was insightful and delightful, he amused and schmoozed, he wrote and spoke, created and debated, was always elated.   In his memory, we're taking a deeper look at his article "First Encounters of the Holmes Kind" from Vol. 47, No. 1 of The B...

"he had actually won as much as four hundred" [EMPT]    It's hard to believe, but we've managed to notch our 400th episode of Trifles . And we can't think of a better way to celebrate than by highlighting some of our favorite episodes from throughout the show.   We put our usual amount of consideration and thinking into this effort, and we think it's something that will delight old listeners as we...

"private revenge" [CHAS]    In "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton," Watson tells us that a woman with a "dark, handsome, clear-cut face" lifted her veil and "emptied barrel after barrel into Milverton's body," leaving him dead on the floor.   But in the Summer 2024 issue of The Baker Street Journal  (Vol. 74, No. 2), Carla Coupe wonders if Watson wasn't giving us the whole story. It's ju...

"'journeys end in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says" [EMPT]    When it came to London, Sherlock Holmes preferred to stay put. That's what Paul Gore-Booth would have us believe. When he assessed the many tales, he found that most happened in London and its immediate suburbs.   But Gore-Booth went one further: he conjectured about the locales of various unpublished cases. If you know Trifles,...

"I did it clumsily" [DANC]    Sherlock Holmes was a man of great precision. We learn about his attention to detail and his preferences for improving the art of detection from the very first time we meet him.   But there were instances of clumsiness — his own and from others — that crop up throughout the Canon. It's just a Trifle.   Do you have a topic you'd like to recommend? Email us at trifles@i...

"I am much more anxious" [MISS]    Four episodes ago, we began a discussion about anxiety in the Sherlock Holmes stories. We managed to make from A Study in Scarlet up through The Hound of the Baskervilles. What about the rest of the Canon?   Worry not! We continue the journey from The Return through The Case-Book. While Sherlock Holmes shows some anxiety in this half of the Canon, we'll find that...