Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

Latest Episodes:

The KKK of The Five Orange Pips Sep 27, 2017

Show notes

"this terrible secret society" [FIVE]

The Ku Klux Klan famously plays a role in "The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips." To British audiences, the 'K.K.K.' note would have seemed mysterious - something along the lines of a Dancing Men code. But to American audiences, it was a known entity.

The KKK was a secret society founded in the southern United States following the Civil War, which committed many outrages. But the KKK as portrayed in this particular Sherlock Holmes story: was it true to life? Or was it a case of literary license?

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Links

"The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips"
"Two Southern Exposures of Sherlock Holmes," Manly Wade Wellman, The Baker Street Journal, Vol 2. No. 4 (1947) - available on the eBSJ.

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

Photography Sep 20, 2017

Show notes

"fondness for photography" [REDH]

During the earliest days of the Sherlock Holmes stories, photography was still in its infancy. And yet, we are greeted with a number of instances in which photography plays a central or partial role in the plot.

Who were the Canonical photographers and why did they pursue this hobby? And how did photographs play into Sherlock Holmes's ability to solve crimes?

We also have a follow-up item from Episode 37, thanks to some listener feedback.

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Links

Stories mentioned in this episode:
- "The Red Headed League"
- "The Copper Beeches"
- "A Scandal in Bohemia"
- "The Veiled Lodger"
- "The Three Garridebs"
- "The Lion's Mane"
Arthur Conan Doyle, Photographer and the tale of "Chawles" - The British Journal of Photography
Evidence of Holmes's studies: Sherlock Holmes at Oxford (2nd edition 1981)
Fibber McGee and Molly
Walter Paget

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

The Student Days of Sherlock Holmes Sep 13, 2017

Show notes

"I have no idea what he intends to go in for" [STUD]

It's our Back to School Blowout Sale! Okay, not really. But since it's September and class is in session, we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about Sherlock Holmes's school days.

In his student days, Holmes said that he considered his habit of observation and deduction to be "the merest hobby." What subjects was he studying at college? What profession did he propose to follow before detective work lured him away? Wouldn't he have considered his skills at observation to be an asset in his main course of study, rather than a hobby unto itself? Or was he studying something where observation and deduction were not particularly useful to him?

And listen closely — particularly if you're Nick Utechin — there is a listener challenge.

Links

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

Tradesmen in the Canon Sep 06, 2017

Show notes

"I was already in debt to my tradesmen" [COPP]

With Labor Day just behind us, what do we find in the Sherlock Holmes stories in the ways of the working class? Holmes said that the public could hardly tell "a weaver by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb," [COPP] as two examples of the working class.

Certainly, Sherlock Holmes himself took on the guise of workers, such as "a drunken-looking groom" [SCAN] and "a plumber with a rising business." [MILV] And the Molly Maguires played a role in VALL. What other Canonical tradesmen were we exposed to?

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Links

The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana by Jack Tracy
The famous sniffing scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

The Real Greek Hero Aug 30, 2017

Show notes

"a Greek by extraction" [GREE]

"The Greek Interpreter" gives us our first glimpse of Mycroft Holmes, through the meeting with him at the Diogenes Club. But it's the introduction of the peculiar Mr. Melas, the Greek interpreter, that sets things in motion.

When you think about all of the activity in this case, couldn't we argue that Melas was really the hero of this story? Or was it Holmes, with his deductions and bravery? Or was it Paul Kratides, who endured torture in order to protect his sister?

We address the premise of the Greek hero in this episode of Trifles.

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Links

The Greek Interpreter

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

A Mysterious Box Aug 23, 2017

Show notes

"the matter is more mysterious" [CARD]

"The Cardboard Box" opens with an iconic diversion on a hot August day on Baker Street. And while the story was published in The Strand Magazine just following "Silver Blaze" and just prior to "The Yellow Face." And yet when the second collection of short stories was published in book form as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in 1894, "The Cardboard Box" did not appear (at least in British editions) until it was included the collection of short stories titled His Last Bow in 1917.

What's more, the famous "mind reading scene" originally included in "The Cardboard Box" was then inserted into "The Resident Patient" when The Memoirs were published. Just what is going on here?

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Links

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

Thumb Up for Engineers Aug 16, 2017

Show notes

"Very well thumbed, I assure you" [HOUN]

"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" marks the only time that Watson has been responsible for bringing a case to Sherlock Holmes. Go ahead and look it up. We'll wait.

Meanwhile, the few engineers we meet in the Canon are of varied types. But Bliss Austin, BSI, in his masterful magnum opus "Thumbing His Way to Fame," from the Baker Street Journal Vol. 1, No. 4 (Old Series) draws out one or two scientific details that seemed to have escaped Holmes but that may have been more apparent to a trained engineer.

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Links

The Engineer's Thumb
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 75: Bliss Austin

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

A Return to Normalcy via Norwood Aug 09, 2017

Show notes

"you will find your time very fully occupied" [NORW] In the opening of "The Norwood Builder," we find Watson back in Baker Street—he sold his practice and has moved back in with Sherlock Holmes. And we discover that it was Sherlock Holmes who made the financial arrangements that made it possible for Dr. Verner to purchase Watson's practice. What's going on here? Did Holmes tacitly indicate that he missed Watson and wanted his flatmate back? Was there a practical side to the partnership as well? Was this Holmes's way of saying that Watson was his ideal colleague and assistant? There are many questions to be answered regarding this particular trifle. Links

The Norwood Builder

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

Frederic Dorr Steele's Gift Aug 01, 2017

Show notes

"worthy of our steel" [HOUN]

Sidney Paget was the illustrator who first brought widespread visual recognition of Sherlock Holmes to the public. His American counterpart Frederic Dorr Steele got a later start, but made a lasting impact as well.

We discuss Steele's inspiration and the ultimate gift that he left us: an indelible impression of Sherlock Holmes through various publications for the better part of his career.

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Links

Frederic Dorr Steele (Wikipedia)
The Players

Music credits

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra

Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band

A Lengthy Treaty Jul 26, 2017

Show notes

"The chain of events is certainly one of extraordinary interest." [NAVA]

Nepotism, bullying, carelessness and a locked room mystery — "The Naval Treaty" has it all. A young government employee is given a top secret assignment that keeps him at his desk late at night, but the document he was working on goes missing. And it's up to Sherlock Holmes to find the culprit.

Clocking in at 12,701 words, this story is the longest of the 56 short stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon. But should it really have taken Holmes that long to figure out the mystery? We discuss some of the finer points of the story, including glaring plot point that you may have missed before.

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Links