Latest Arthurconandoyle Podcast Episodes
The Geography of the Hound of the Baskervilles
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 11, 2024 02:12 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I flatter myself that I could find my way about.” [HOUN] Dartmoor and its surroundings provided the perfect setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles. Not only did the area have a sense of history (and prehistory) about it, but the sparse surroundings added to the mystique. And the won...
Anxiety
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - July 03, 2024 15:19 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“weighed down with some great anxiety” [FIVE] Where would Sherlock Holmes be without fear and anxiety? It was a common state of mind for a number of his clients, but Holmes himself also exhibited anxious behavior from time to time. In which stories can we find anxiety? Don't be nervo...
Maps & Floorplans
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 26, 2024 18:21 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I sent down to Stamford's for the ordnance map” [HOUN] In a number of instances in the Sherlock Holmes stories, we find ourselves guided by maps. Not only as critical elements of the plot, but also as visual aids to readers. In which stories do we find maps? And what about those that require...
Sherlock Holmes, Linguist
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 19, 2024 18:21 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“he is a remarkable linguist” [GREE] Sherlock Holmes has been translated into scores of languages all around the world (just ask Don Hobbs). But what languages was he fluent in or have passing familiarity with? This is the question Dean W. Dickensheet tackles in Vol. 10 No. 3 of The Baker...
Years of Mystery
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 13, 2024 03:54 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 the...
Elderly in the Canon
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - June 06, 2024 02:50 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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....
Linoleum
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 30, 2024 02:10 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 th...
Forests
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 23, 2024 02:46 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 loo...
The Long Road from Maiwand
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 15, 2024 12:01 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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, wher...
Sherlock Holmes, Cabby
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 09, 2024 03:17 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 wou...
Wordplay
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - May 02, 2024 03:04 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 s...
Will the Real Devil's Foot Stand Up?
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - April 25, 2024 03:35 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 t...
The Second Collaboration
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - April 18, 2024 02:18 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 on...
To Go to Norwood
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - April 11, 2024 03:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“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 wou...
The Manor House Case
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - April 04, 2024 03:45 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“consult me over that Manor House case” [GREE] 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, ...
B Is for Biscuit
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - March 28, 2024 03:19 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“one of biscuits” [GLOR] 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...
The Effect of Trades on the Body
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - March 21, 2024 03:08 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“the weaver by his tooth or the compositor by his thumb” [COPP] On the third week of every month, we look at a piece of Sherlockian scholarship in a series we call "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist." In this episode, the article "The Effect of Trades on the Body" by Remsen Ten Eyck Schenc...
Canonical Luggage and Railway Journeys
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - March 14, 2024 03:20 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“whatever luggage you intend to take” [FINA] We're back on the rails this week, with our monthly travel-related episode. This time, we turn to an article written by H.J. Curjel for The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 12, Nos. 3 & 4, Summer 1976. Specifically, we review his survey of...
Half Measures
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - March 07, 2024 02:37 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“half-humorous, half-cynical” [DEVI] Celebrate our terquasquicentennial with us as we take a full look at "half" mentions in the Canon. While there are nearly 400 instances of the word, there are a select few that tell us something about hte personality of Sherlock Holmes. Namely,...
Corpulence in the Canon
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - February 21, 2024 19:21 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“His body was absolutely corpulent” [GREE] Join us for another "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode, in which we bring a piece of Sherlockian scholarship about a trifling issue to you. This time, we look at Anna Brindisi Behrens' article "Corpulence in the Canon: Beyond Ster...
An Essex Adventure
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - February 15, 2024 04:29 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“not far from Frinton.” [RETI] It's travel time again! The second episode of every month in Season 8 is travel-themed, and we ride the rails again with "An Essex Adventure" by A. Godfrey Hunt from The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Winter 1992). Here we have the case of ...
Watson's Billiard Playing
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - February 08, 2024 03:28 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“chalk his billiard-cue” [MISS] Back in Season 3, when we did a series on Games and Sports, we had one episode on billiards in the Sherlock Holmes stories. In this case, we were inspired by an article in the Sherlock Holmes Journal specifically mentioning Watson's billiard-playing habits...
Hunting Crops
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - February 01, 2024 02:37 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“here’s a hunting crop handy” [IDEN] In the last episode, we reflected on Sherlock Holmes chasing James Windibank out of Baker Street. While he did so, he referenced his handy hunting crop. Hunting crops, do (ahem) crop up in the Canon from time to time. Who used them and why? Wha...
Hosmeric Hypocrisy
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - January 25, 2024 03:28 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“You’ll be interested to hear that I am engaged.” [CHAS] The name of this show was inspired in part by William Hyder, BSI ("A Most Valuable Institution"), who includes a half sheet of a trifling matter in the dinner packet of the Baker Street Irregulars each year. And as has become our t...
The Other Boarder
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - January 18, 2024 01:41 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“There was no other boarder” [VALL] The third episode of every month in Season 8 finds us revisiting familiar ground: episodes under the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" category, as we revisit old Sherlockian scholarship. This episode brings us to an overlooked chapter of a fami...
The Underground Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - January 10, 2024 07:21 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“We traveled by the Underground” [REDH] We're kicking off a new monthly series for Season 8: travel. Highly appropriate, as we travel to New York for the Baker Street Irregulars Weekend. In this case, our travel is local within London. That is, the Underground. For as much as ...
Soothing Elements
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - January 04, 2024 04:12 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere” [GREE] It's easy to think of Sherlock Holmes as an automaton — Watson himself called Holmes that exact word, remarking “There is something positively inhuman in you at times.” And yet, if we consider the detective's demeanor with cl...
Oh My!
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - December 27, 2023 14:36 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been!” [BERY] Well, this is it. The final entry of Season 7 and of 2023. And it marks our 365th episode. We reach the final episode in a quartet of episodes that took us as many months to complete, honoring Alfred Hitchcock as an inspirati...
Watson à la Mode
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - December 20, 2023 23:54 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“a charming coquettish intimacy” [3GAB] The final installment in this season's Masters Class is another Christopher Morley essay, "Watson à la Mode," from Vol. 1 No. 1 of The Baker Street Journal (1946). We discuss Morley's keen analysis of Watson's eye for fashion and an extraordin...
The 12 Trifles of Christmas
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles - December 13, 2023 19:21 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 90 ratings“the compliments of the season” [BLUE] Here it is, 12 days before Christmas — the perfect time to celebrate with you. So we're doing it in style. Listener Jim Zych was kind enough to share his trifling monograph "The 12 Sherlockian Days of Christmas," so we thought we might adapt it...
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