Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

Latest Episodes:

Years of Mystery Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

"We have three years of the past to discuss" [EMPT]

Once again, we pack our Gladstone bags and prepare for an episode where we travel. This time, we head to Sussex Downs and then across the Atlantic to New York in some of the early years of Sherlock Holmes's retirement.

What brings us there is from the fertile imagination of Les Klinger, who posits a connection between Sherlock Holmes, Wilson Hargreave, and Andrew Carnegie. It's just a Trifle.

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Baker Street Rambles by Leslie S. Klinger
Floradora (Wikipedia)
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Elderly in the Canon Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

"his age, and an affliction" [STOC]

The panoply of elderly individuals in the Sherlock Holmes stories is impressive: Mr. Frankland, the old crank in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the miserly Josiah Amberley in "The Retired Colourman," Old Mr. Farquhar, the previous owner of Watson's practice.

But there were many others, some of whom go almost unnoticed. What similarities do we see among them? How did Conan Doyle's writing about them change over time? It's just a Trifle.

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Linoleum May 30, 2024

Show notes

"the flooring was also thoroughly examined" [SPEC]

Cocoanut matting, bearskin rug, carpets — there are a number of notable floor coverings mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But flooring itself is less notable.

Case in point: linoleum, which appears as a passing mention in just three stories, was a popular alternative at the time. What do we know about the history of linoleum, how was it manufactured, and what role did it play in the Canon? It's just a Trifle.

Previous episode mentioned:

Episode 102: Inside 221B: On the Floor

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Forests May 23, 2024

Show notes

"Vast sections of it have been cleared" [BLAC]

When you're really down in the details about something — something trifling, perhaps — it's difficult to see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.

Well, we've discussed trees in two previous episodes, so we thought it was time to look at the forests. There were scant mentions of forests in the Sherlock Holmes stories, but they're worth a Trifle.

You can make topic suggestions to us — if we choose something you recommend (like the one today!), we'll send you a Sherlockian prize. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today. Links / Notes

Forest Row
New Forest
Weald
Previous episodes mentioned:

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The Long Road from Maiwand May 15, 2024

Show notes

"at Maiwand without losing my nerve" [STUD] Maiwand: Saving the Guns by Richard Caton Woodville, 1883 (Wikimedia Commons)

It is generally accepted that A Study in Scarlet, when Dr. Watson first met Sherlock Holmes, took place in 1881. Watson was just back from the war in Afghanistan, where he had been wounded at the Battle of Maiwand.

But in 1940, Edgar W. Smith took a closer look at the timing between the battle, Watson's recovery time, travel to London and hotel stay, and came to a much different conclusion. He wrote it up in a pamphlet and it's just a Trifle.

You can make suggestions as well — if we choose a topic you recommend, we'll send you a Sherlockian prize. All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community on Patreon or Substack today. BONUS: a digital scan of Smith's original pamphlet is available to our Patreon or Substack supporters. Links / Notes

The Long Road from Maiwand: an examination of the evidence bearing upon the dating of a certain encounter in the chemical laboratory at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in London by Edgar W. Smith (Abebooks)
The eBSJ
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Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Sherlock Holmes, Cabby May 09, 2024

Show notes

"Stop at a telegraph-office, cabby!" [SIGN]

Cabbies are everywhere in London – indeed, so common in some cases that they're simply overlooked (we see you, Jefferson Hope!). Could Sherlock Holmes have passed himself off as a cabby?

There are certainly points in his career when it would have made sense. And a paper given at a Sherlock Holmes society in Denmark points in that direction. Hop on board with us in this monthly travel series episode! It's just a Trifle.

"The Thomas Hogram Letters" by Sven Ranild is an expanded and translated version of a paper delivered in Copenhagen on September 19, 1987, at the Centenary Dinner of the Sherlock Holmes Klubben i Danmark and it appeared in the Summer 1991 issue of The Sherlock Holmes Journal.
Episode 124 - Odd Jobs
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Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

Wordplay May 02, 2024

Show notes

"very curious phraseology" [WIST]

Here's an interesting little subject that ought to intrigue many Sherlock Holmes fans: words. We are a literate bunch, and when we get to learn more about words — especially words with which we're unfamiliar — that makes us happy.

This topic was suggested by listener Jennifer Cassasanto, who was curious about some of the foreign and antiquated terms in the Canon. Fair warning, though: this is a pun-filled zone. Word nerds unite! It's just a Trifle.

An Irregular Anglo-American Glossary of More or Less Unfamiliar Words, Terms and Phrases in the Sherlock Holmes Saga by S. Tupper Bigelow
Episode 124 - Odd Jobs
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Will the Real Devil's Foot Stand Up? Apr 25, 2024

Show notes

"kept as a secret among them" [DEVI]

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 certain districts of West Africa"? Dr. Robert Ennis had an idea related to a substance we know well today, based on his observations in emergency rooms. And it's anything but a Trifle.

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The eBSJ
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Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com
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Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

The Second Collaboration Apr 18, 2024

Show notes

"His collaboration may be very necessary" [ILLU]

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 issue of The Baker Street Journal and The Baker Street Reader. Along the way, we uncover a surprising fact about Ball. And it's anything but a Trifle.

All of our supporters are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers receive thank you gifts. Join our community today. Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts. Links / Notes

John Ball Jr. (Wikipedia)
The Baker Street Reader (Abebooks)
The eBSJ
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Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

To Go to Norwood Apr 11, 2024

Show notes

"we shall certainly have to go to Norwood" [SIGN]

The latest in our travel series takes us to Norwood. In particular, the Norwood in The Sign of Four. Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Mary Morstan take a cab to a seedier part of London, and then a four-wheeler south to Norwood.

How long would it have taken them? And what else might we find in this London suburb? Michael Harrison assists with an essay from In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes, and it's just a Trifle.

All of our supporters on Substack and Patreon are eligible for our monthly drawings for Baker Street Journals and certain tiers on Patreon receive thank you gifts.

Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts.

Links / Notes