Dec 29, 2021
“nothing but a welcome for my friend and colleague” [TWIS]
The great heroes of literature are frequently teamed up with a
sidekick: Don Quixote with Sancho Panza, Robinson Crusoe with
Friday, Huckleberry Finn with Tom Sawyer. But the key to these
pairings is an underlying friendship.
In the final episode of...
Dec 22, 2021
“a curiously reptilian fashion” [FINA]
Aside from vipers, cobras, and adders, there are other
reptiles in the Sherlock Holmes stories that either have a bearing
on cases or are mentioned in passing. We're even able to find an
amphibian or two.
In this final episode of our Exotic Animals series in Season
5, we...
Dec 15, 2021
“Homes seldom laughed.” [MAZA]
Sherlock Holmes could be deadly serious. As in his encounter
with Professor Moriarty, his matter-of-fact explanations, and when
Watson wrote "Holmes seldom laughed" in "The Mazarin Stone."
But was Sherlock Holmes really all that humorless?
Fortunately, we have decades of...
Dec 8, 2021
“Holmes pointed to the street lamp” [SIXN]
It's impossible to think about Victorian London without
imagining street lamps. We're most familiar with the gas-powered
versions, but there were other iterations before.
What was the origin of London's famous gas-lamps, and which
Sherlock Holmes stories do they...
Dec 1, 2021
“she confessed with distress” [LADY]
Sherlock Holmes took on clients of all sorts, often when they
were puzzled, had nowhere else to turn, or were particularly
worried.
And three ladies in particular in the Canon were worried. But
they stand head and shoulders above some of the other female
victims we find. Who...