Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"it is a very sweet little problem" [BERY]    One of the more comical openings to a story occurred in "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet," in which the banker Alexander Holder raced his way through to snow to 221B Baker Street, which he followed by beating his head against the wall. You don't get much more dramatic than that. But when it comes to reporting the crime, would the criminal, Holder, o...

"what's amiss with the names?" [VALL]    One of the most puzzling passages in the Sherlock Holmes stories is when Mrs. Watson referred to her husband, the good Doctor, as "James." However, we know that his given name is John. What could be afoot here? Was it a typo? An impostor? A slip of the tongue? We review some of the longstanding theories and even provide a few of our own to see if we might g...

"a puzzled quarter of an hour" [MISS] The Sherlock Holmes stories are filled with hints of dates, places and people that cause them to be intertwined with reality. It is therefore natural to think that we can arrive at some certainty as to the date of an adventure when Watson gives us a specific month in which a case begins. It is also wrong to think so. "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter...

Charles Augustus Milverton was considered by Sherlock Holmes to be "the worst man in London." Watson tried to shield the date of the case — not to protect Milverton, but to protect his victims. And Holmes and Watson went to extraordinary lengths to defeat the odious blackmailer, from burglary to destruction of property, and even a faux engagement by Holmes. While reputation was everything in Victo...

"vox populi, vox dei" [ABBE] Sir Eustace Brackenstall met with a grisly, if appropriate end in "The Abbey Grange." Ultimately, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson let his killer go free. But was Captain Crocker solely responsible for Brackenstall's death? Other individuals were involved with the calm plotting of the aftermath of the death — but whose shoulders bear the ultimate brunt of the guilt in th...

"something a little nutritious at Simpson's" [DYIN]   Dr. Watson tells us that he and Sherlock Holmes visited one London restaurant two times. And while the gustatory habits of the famed Baker Street duo are not entirely well-documented, we have a good sense as to what they must have eaten at the famed Simpson's in-the-Strand. This is a case of fact meeting fiction, as Simpson's is very much a rea...

The opening lines of A Study in Scarlet are rich with details about Dr. Watson's past. His medical degree, his army service, even his injury. He recalls how he came to London without knowing anyone in the city and proceeded to blow through his cash reserves.   Just how far could one get on 11s. 6p. per day in 1881? And how fortunate we are that Watson couldn't keep to his budget. For his cash situ...

The new year usually brings resolutions and offers a new beginning. In our new podcast which begins in January 2017, we thought it was the ideal time to look at optimism in the Sherlock Holmes stories.   Was there more hope or despair in the Canon? Certainly, many cases began with despair, but which ones ended in optimism?   From "The Stockbroker's Clerk" to "The Copper Beeches," we have clients w...