Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"Have you ever had occasion to study character in handwriting?" [SIGN]    More than once, Sherlock Holmes used someone's handwriting to guide him toward a solution. Whether it was a hastily-scribbled legal document or a red herring of a note, he was able to discern certain facts by observing the handwriting.    But was this a mere fiction, a literary license to make his powers seem more impressive...

"Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands" [WIST]    Sherlock Holmes enjoyed breakfast. But it was often interrupted. He had a variable knowledge of botany but knew enough to feel chagrined for missing green peas at 7:30. What can we tell about Sherlock Holmes's food habits from Earle Walbridge's essay from 1940 titled "The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes"? It's the monthly installment of our "Mr. S...

"Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands" [WIST]   Did Sherlock Holmes care about teeth? There's evidence that he cared about his own teeth, as seen through his recommendation of dental hygiene, and through his remark about losing a tooth.   But what about the potential of dental science as applied to the art of detection? Sherlock Holmes had the potential to be the world's first forensic dentist. Did...

  " sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations," [DEVI]  It's not quite a holiday for Sherlock Holmes in "The Devil's Foot," but rather a time away from London to be able to recuperate. "The villages which dotted this part of Cornwall" gave a quaint, other-worldly feeling to the setting.   But so too did the traces of "some vanished race which had passed utterly away, and left as it sole record stra...

    "I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street "  [STUD]    In the first part of this two-episode series, we looked at the Baker Street area of Victorian London and the changes that it has seen in the century and a half since that time.   This time, we sharpen our powers of observation and search for the specific address that must have stood in for 221B Baker Street in Holmes's time. Many Sherlocki...

  "we made our way back to Baker Street " [3GAR]    The address is legendary. Synonymous with its famous inhabitant, just as the deerstalker and meerschaum pipe. But it may be just as fanciful as those two accoutrements.   This is the first in a two-part discussion of Baker Street of the Victorian era, and where Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have lived. What was different then? It's just a Trifl...

  "Holmes, a child has done this horrid thing " [SIGN]    Many of us find our way to the Sherlock Holmes stories as children, yet there is a decided absence of children in the Canon. When we do find them, they tend to be in service of furthering a plot point rather than as fully developed characters.   There are perhaps one or two exceptions, but children in the Sherlock Holmes stories are there i...

  "I d esire you to spare no expense and no pains " [WIST]    Sherlock Holmes had to go places, see people, investigate things. And doing so meant that he incurred expenses. If we itemized what some of these were—absent the specific amount—what would that tell us about Sherlock Holmes?   Where did he go? How did he travel? Where did get get the funding when there wasn't a well-off client behind hi...

 "Yes, this is the great Agra" [SIGN]  It's where Jonathan Small met Mahomet Singh, Dost Akbar and Abdullah Khan and together they made a pact known as the Sign of the Four. The Fort of Agra, in the city of the same name.   Small described it as a queer and enormous place, with deserted halls and winding passages. In other words, the perfect setting for a treasure hunt and murder. We explore the i...

 "You have been cruelly used" [SPEC]  We're at the end of our four-part series on Women in the Canon from The Best of the Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 2. This time we look at "The Victims."   That may seem a broad topic for a 20-something minute podcast. And it is. But we hit some of the highlights on which women were the most cruelly used and Conan Doyle's take on women's rights.  It's just a Tr...

"we did not meet to talk about the cut of my socks" [3GAR]    When you think of attire in the Sherlock Holmes stories, the mind usually turns to the deerstalker and Inverness, and perhaps Sherlock Holmes's disguises.   But what about day to day attire, specifically of Holmes's clientele? We picked up on an article from The Sherlock Holmes Journal and ran with it.  It's just a Trifle. Find Trifles...

  "Have you the dates of those letters? " [HOUN]  The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Sherlock Holmes's most famous cases. But what can we say about the date of the case? Watson never specifically mentions a date, but many chronologists fix it in October 1889.    How did they come to that conclusion? And what else do we know about Holmes and Watson that make such a date worthy of questioning?...

"something further from Brook Street " [RESI]  When Percy Trevelyan went to open up his practice, he found that he had more in brains than he did in his pocketbook. Until a shrewd businessman came along and made a business proposition that suited them both nicely.   All was well until that benefactor-cum-landlord met an untimely end. What became of the good doctor after that? And of his residence?...

"forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours" [HOUN]     One of the most iconic characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories is not a character at all. It's Dartmoor. As Holmes himself said of it, "Never been there? Ah, well, I don't suppose you will forget your first visit."    Dartmoor is a land that's filled with beauty, mystery, and intrigue. In other words, the perfect setting for a Sherl...

   " Title and money—who could carry them better  than she? " [ABBE]    We've investigated which women were influential in their own right in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and then those who had to work for a living. Next up, we look at women with titles. In her article in  The Sherlock Holmes Journal , Vol. 10, No. 3, Pat Dalton reviewed some such ladies.   Of course the term "lady" is a title gra...

" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession " [SPEC]    When he was facing off against Dr. Grimesby Roylott, Sherlock Holmes asserted "When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession."   Claiming that Roylott struck even deeper, we wondered: just what did Palmer and Pritch...

" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, " [FIVE]  Sherlock Holmes called Professor Moriarty "a genius, a philosopher, and abstract thinker" in "The Final Problem." But what did Holmes know about philosophy? According to Watson's initial list titled  Sherlock Holmes—His Limits , his knowledge of philosophy was "Nil."   But Holmes called out a few philosophers by name, and had an...

"once a clergyman, always a clergyman" [SOLI]    We see influences of religion here and there in the Sherlock Holmes stories. From Biblical references in "The Crooked Man" to the then-mysterious religion of Mormonism, we see the world of Holmes and Watson as it occasionally intersects with these influences.    But what about the men of the cloth we encounter? Who were they? Which stories did they...

"in the capacity of governess" [SIGN]  Sherlock Holmes had a number of clients who were women, and in certain cases, they were gainfully employed. In her article in  The Sherlock Holmes Journal , Vol. 10, No. 2, Patsy Dalton takes us through some of these clients.   What was the status of the "working girl" at the time, and what range of professions do we see from them? How do these roles bear on...

"My old friend Charlie Peace was a violin virtuoso" [ILLU]    No, Charlie Peace was not a colleague of Norman Neruda or  Sarasate . He was a notorious criminal, convicted of killing a policeman and the husband of a neighbor with whom he became obsessed.   How did Sherlock Holmes know him? Were they acquainted through the world of music, or perhaps in the underground world of crime? Come with us: i...

"I have made a small study of tattoo marks" [REDH]  Tattoos. A rare topic in the Sherlock Holmes story, yet they're key in helping Sherlock Holmes to discern a little more about a few individuals.   How common were tattoos in Victorian England? Where did they originate? And who in the Canon had them? It's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: T...

"there never was a man who deserved punishment more" [IDEN]  There are certain instances in the Sherlock Holmes stories where the villain is so foul, so deserving of punishment, that it's a relief to see them get theirs. It's justice served.   We can think of a couple, off the tops of our heads. Perhaps you have others in mind? It's just a Trifle.     Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts:...

"This is unworthy of you, Holmes" [SIGN]  Sherlock Holmes wasn't an easy man to live with. Still, it's impressive that Watson didn't unload on him more frequently. Or perhaps he did and just didn't report it... What is it about Holmes's personality that made him caustic? And about Watson's that allowed him to endure it. It's just a Trifle.   Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to...

"accomplished, a wonder woman in every way" [ILLU]   Each month, we look at a piece of Sherlockian or Holmesian scholarship that might be outside of your ken, and discuss its merits or faults. This month, we look at Mollie Hardwick's "Women of the Canon: 1 - Women of Influence" from  The Sherlock Holmes Journal , Vol. 10, No. 1 (Summer, 1972). Hardwick thought it was worth delving into who some of...

"I do not feel justified in doing it" [HOUN]    In the last episode, we talked about the uncertainty of justice at the conclusion of some stories. Did the perpetrators find justice raining down on them? In some cases, it was left up to the reader's imagination.   This episode we're looking at some instances of justice that may not have been in proportion to the crime – or non crime, as the case ma...