When Dr. Leon Sterndale said there was only one known specimen of radix pedis dioaboli – devil's foot root – in a laboratory in Buda, it was clear that it was a poison unknown to science.  

Just what was it that was "used as an ordeal poison by the medicine-men in...

There's a curious phrase in the beginning of A Study in Scarlet that requires a little more consideration. Do you know what it is? John Ball, Jr. did. 

And his theory about what that phrase signified is an intelligent and plausible one, lifted from a 1954...

In addition to fascinating cases and clients, the Sherlock Holmes stories saw some wonderful house names. How did some of them get their names?

 

We look at the history of house names, call out the story names that were also house names, and mention a few of our...

It's not often we find ourselves with a Muppets crossover, but after stumbling across a few trifling references in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we began to think about the Cookie Monster in Baker Street.

 

Of course, there were no cookies in Baker Street. Only biscuits. Where might we...