Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

“the best and only final clue” [3STU]  In "The Adventure of the Three Students," Holmes has a litany of clues at his disposal. From balls of doughy clay to a tear in the leather of a desk, and more. And yet, he's fixated on this one clue that he claimed was "the best and only final clue." What was it? And was it truly the definitive clue in the story? It's just a Trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts: Listen to Sherlock Holmes: Trifles  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles171 The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance by Henry Petroski (Amazon)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attributio

“my heart jumped so with joy” [STUD]    We commonly see clients who come to Sherlock Holmes riddled with despair and grief. But if we look closely enough, we can also find happiness and sheer joy in the Canon. The Sherlock Holmes stories contain the full range of human emotion, from anger to relief and from  anguish to jubilance. The more we looked for the upbeat, the more we found. It's just a Trifle. Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  Find Trifles wherever you listen to podcasts.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles170   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0   --  

“helped a little to fill up the gap of loneliness and isolation” [MAZA]    There are many tragic figures in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and more than a handful are lonely or isolated in some way. This is either features in their predicament or gives us a better understanding of their personality. As many of us may be entering a period of isolation or loneliness now, we thought it was an apt topic to discuss. It's just a Trifle. Bonus: We recorded this live while on video, and you can find the link below.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles169 Our live episode, with bonus content (YouTube)   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music cr

“Watson, the fair sex is your department” [SECO]   There was a scandal in Sherlockian circles in the early 1940s. Author Rex Stout, BSI ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery"), creator of Nero Wolfe, after careful research, determined that Watson was a woman. He presented his facts in the Saturday Review of Literature and let them sit. They didn't sit well with all Sherlockians, and Julian Wolff, BSI ("The Red-Headed League") took up his pen to offer a retort in "That Was No Lady." Both essays appeared in Edgar W. Smith's Profile By Gaslight, and we discussed them in our monthly feature "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode. It's just a Trifle.    Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Link

“I made every disposition of my property before leaving England” [EMPT]   After Holmes "died" at the Reichenbach Falls, wouldn't people have looked for a funeral or memorial service? Watson, in particular, would have expected to assist in such an arrangement.   As next of kin, Mycroft would have been expected to handle it, but that would have put him in an awkward position. If he was reluctant, that would have seemed suspect; but if he did, he knew how mischievous his younger brother could be, possibly disguising himself and witnessing his own funeral. What happened here? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles167   Spon

“he contracted some loathsome disease” [YELL]   Dr. Watson was a general practitioner, and one "with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications," as Holmes blurted out in "The Dying Detective." It's the reason he called for a specialist in rare diseases. With global news being filled with talk of coronavirus, we thought it might be the perfect time to reflect on what we know about infectious diseases in the Sherlock Holmes stories. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles165   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington

“work which will cut deep at the very foundations” [GOLD]  "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" first appeared in print in 1903 as part of The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was the second story in the collection, after Sherlock Holmes was resurrected from what many thought was a watery grave. We can forgive the muddled minds of the time then, for missing a couple of key points in "The Norwood Builder." Key points that, had Holmes been on his game, would have given the whole charade away. It's just a trifle. Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.    We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or  PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles165   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violi

“I saw the American stamp” [DANC]  For all of his familiarity with American cities, American police forces, American language and attire, Sherlock Holmes may very well have been American. A number of scholars have taken up the argument, including Christopher Morley in his famous essay. Even President Franklin Roosevelt tried his hand at it. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles164 A Baker Street Folio: Five Letters About Sherlock Holmes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Abebooks.com)   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: 

“the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant” [REDH]  We have plenty of instances of animal flesh on the side-board, whether it's a couple of brace of grouse, Henry Baker's Christmas goose, or a joint of beef. There was one lone vegetarian restaurant mentioned in the Canon. It had a real-life inspiration. But what else do we know about vegetarianism in Victorian times? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles163 The Strand Magazine and Sherlock Holmes by Robert Veld (Wessex Press) Veggie Victorians (History Extra) The famous "pea-squashing" scene in Murder By Decree   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music

“should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighborhood.” [YELL]  Steve Dixie in "The Three Gables," Lucy Hebron in "The Yellow Face," and the unnamed mulatto in "Wisteria Lodge" are notable black people in the Canon. Actually, they're the only ones. What does this say about Arthur Conan Doyle's attitude and treatment toward them?  We know about the shocking way he chose to portray Steve Dixie – at least shocking by our standards. What were prevailing attitudes of the day? And how does Conan Doyle fare? It's just a trifle. Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles162 Black British People in the 19th Century (Wikipedia) IHOSE Episode 44

“I had only one confidant—my brother Mycroft.” [EMPT]  Why did Mycroft put himself in harm's way for Sherlock Holmes when the latter faced his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty? Mycroft put Sherlock up for a night, drove the brougham that took Watson to Waterloo, and kept the rooms up at 221B during the hiatus that ensued.    But why didn't Moriarty go after Mycroft? What made him think that "the British government" didn't know about his activities? We explore the role of Mycroft Holmes in "The Final Problem." It's more than a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles161   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Perfo

“enormous sums of money” [SILV]   Here's one of those things that lends itself to the title of this podcast. We were thinking about Professor Moriarty and his ignominious fall from grace. After he left the university where he was Mathematical Chair, he came to London, where he became an army coach. Army coach? That brought a number of things to mind. But surprisingly little has been written about it. We explore this trifle and reach a couple of reasonable conclusions.     Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles160 British Army During the Victorian Era (Wikipedia) "Professor James Moriarty, 1836-91" by Nicholas Utechin (The Baker Street Journal

“As to your dates, that is the biggest mystification of all.” [CREE]   With Season 4, we're starting a new monthly series that we're calling "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist." Each month, we'll be taking a look at what some early Sherlockian scholars had to say about certain trifling elements in the Sherlock Holmes stories. In this case, we're looking at "The Date of The Sign of Four" from H.W. Bell's Baker Street Studies, first published in 1934.  It's more than a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles159 Baker Street Studies by H.W. Bell The Grand Game from the BSI Press   Sponsor The BSI Press   Music credits Performers:

“cuisine is a little limited” [NAVA]   We find a smattering of food references throughout the Sherlock Holmes stories. But which can be considered consummate British dishes?   We don't come across toad in the hole, bubble and squeak, or cock-a-leekie soup, but there are other meals that are considered British. And by more than the virtue of appearing in British stories. Which food might this be? It's more than a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles158 Episode 42: A Noble Supper I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 103: Al and Julie Rosenblatt Superb English Plum Pudding (Epicurious) William Banting (Wikipedia) Food Timeline: Sandwic

“befogged in mind” [SIGN]   Weather conditions not only play a part in the settings of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but in some cases, they determine the plots as well. Fog, London and Baker Street seem to go hand in hand in 1890s London, but London's fogs are more than weather conditions. How did fog color Sherlock Holmes's view of the criminal world, and which stories saw an impact from this misty and mysterious phenomenon? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles157 Great Smog of London (Wikipedia) Pea-souper (Wikipedia)   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US M

“I am a born sportsman” [LAST]   In a lifetime crammed with high adventure, his brilliant achievements in crime detection obscured his remarkable skills as an athlete. He was an expert with singlestick and foil, a fine boxer, equally accomplished with rifle and small arms and had a knowing eye for horseflesh. In this final installment in our 2019 series on games and sports, we turn to William S. Baring-Gould, the subject of this year's Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual, and talk through his landmark article for Sports Illustrated article from 1963. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles156 "Sherlock Holmes, Sportsman" 

“his whole Bohemian soul” [SCAN]   The last in our series of episodes on international interactions with Sherlock Holmes brings us to the now-defunct kingdom of Bohemia. It was so important that it got its own scandal. What do we know about this land from which the masked king came? And of the adjective "Bohemian"? How did Bohemians come to signify the unconventional? It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles155 Bohemia (Wikipedia) Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored t-shirts. HURRY! Get your holiday orders in now. This store closes at the end o

“I was alone.” [BLAN]   Sherlock Holmes was occasionally without his Boswell. Watson was married at least twice – some scholars even claim there was a third Mrs. Watson. Was Holmes truly affected by Watson's absence? There is a subtle time lapse that may give away how Holmes dealt with a matrimonial Watson. And a look at how Holmes dealt with solitude earlier in his life. It's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic.   And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles154 Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective by William S. Baring-Gould Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a vari

“the only selfish action which I can recall in our association” [BLAN]   Sherlock Holmes was a loner. An independent consultant. An automaton. But he also shared rooms with Dr. Watson off and on for over 20 years. When Watson went off and got married, how did this affect Holmes, really? And Watson had how many wives? It's just a trifle. Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles153 Baker Street Elementary – One Is the Loneliest Number Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored t-shirts. HURRY! Get your holiday orders in now. This store closes at the end of 2019.  

“his strange headgear” [SPEC]   Sherlock Holmes is synonymous with a certain type of hat. We don't need to mention the kind. You know what it is. But he never wore one in the stories, which you probably also know. But what about some of the other hats that were mentioned by name in the Canon? It's kind of a hat check name check in this episode. And it's just a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts yet? You don't need to own an Apple device, and every review helps more people find the show.  We're available everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and RadioPublic. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles152 Bowler hat Wideawake hat Get your own "Signs of Four" merchandise from our store. Over 20 designs to choose from on mugs and a variety of colored t-shirts. HURRY! This store closes at the end of 2019.   Sponsor The Baker Street Journal