Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"either a very bad joke or an insult" [SILV]    We occasionally hear "Mr. Cocksure" and "jack-in-office" thrown about as epithets in the Sherlock Holmes stories. But by and large, there is very little profanity in these Victorian and early Edwardian detective tales.   But Sherlock Holmes manages to insult and put down some of his rivals, in a decidedly cool and casual way. Explore the sometimes harsh language that was meant to insult in this episode of Trifles.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles91   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  

"come on to the Continent with me" [FINA]    Watson occasionally accompanied Sherlock Holmes onto the Continent (i.e., Europe), but there were many other instances when Holmes's work took him there without Watson. And we, along with Watson, were later treated to tantalizing hints as to what happened.   What were some of these places and what were the untold and exotic tales that Sherlock Holmes was involved with? They are the topic of this episode of Trifles.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles90 Episode 66: Sherlock Holmes's Honorifics The Alternative Sherlock Holmes: Pastiches, Parodies, and Copies The Island of Uffa identification by James O'Leary via Doyleockian Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United S

"off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony" [REDH]    One of the most off-hand but arresting comments that Sherlock Holmes made was that he owned a Stradivarius violin. That he had purchased for a mere 55 shillings!   What do we know of Stradivarius instruments, and about Holmes's own ability on the violin?    Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles89 Stradivarius (Wikpedia) The tale of Roman Totenberg's stolen Stradivarius (NPR) Top image via the Falk Archive - KFA Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  

"when a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals" [SPEC]     The Sherlock Holmes stories are told from the perspective of a doctor. So it only stands to reason that he would notice other medical men throughout his adventures with the great detective.   As we look at doctors across the Canon, we find heroes, villains, suspects, victims, clients and more. This episode takes a closer look at who some of these medical types were, and what roles they played in the plots.       Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles88 Sherlock Holmes Reference Library: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes William Palmer Edward Pritcher     Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution

"the good doctor took us to the yew alley" [HOUN]       John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department, had a number of medical practices throughout the Sherlock Holmes stories. He waffled between being a flat-sharing colleague of Holmes and a doctor with his own thriving practice.   From Paddington to Queen Anne Street, we follow Watson's rise. But what of his methods? Did he dispense reasonable medical care of the age? Or was he too far removed from the practice of medicine by the time he took on his own practice in the mid- to late-Eighties?    Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or  PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles87     Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"any other spirit but rum" [BLAC]      We're accustomed to thinking about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson being associated with whiskey and brandy. But there are plenty of other kinds of alcohol in the Canon.   More than the infamous Imperial Tokay of "His Last Bow," or the ancient and cobwebby bottles, there are some curious references to wine and spirits that warrant your attention. Even if they're a trifle.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? Every review helps more people find the show.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles86   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. Cecil Forrester" [SIGN]    We know what you're thinking: The Sign of Four wasn't an unpublished case. You, as a Trifles listener, are very astute. We should have expected nothing less.   However, within The Sign of Four, we do have a glimpse of a number of unpublished cases: including one with Mrs. Cecil Forrester, with whom Mary Morstan lives in Camberwell. Could this be a connection to a later case mentioned in "The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips"? Or perhaps it's a reference to "the most winning woman" Holmes ever knew, who is also mentioned in The Sign of Four?   These trifles await your consideration.     Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles85   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington,

"neat morocco case" [SIGN]  We all know that Sherlock Holmes used drugs. "A seven-per-cent solution" of cocaine is what he recommended to Watson in The Sign of Four. But in the prelude to that, we're told that Holmes took "his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case." This case must have graced the interior of 221B Baker Street. But just what is it? And what do we really know of Holmes's drug mania? Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles84 Morocco leather   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  

"I trust you have no objection to tobacco smoke" [SIGN]    Sherlock Holmes is probably the most famous smoker in the world. But in popular culture, he's always pictured with a pipe. The Canon tells us that he also smoked cigars and cigarettes.   What was the frequency with which he smoked each? Did he tend to favor one form of smoking over another? And was there something that cause him to choose a pipe versus a cigarette versus a cigar? Step into the smoking room with us as we investigate.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or   PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles83 The eBSJ   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"the irregulars are useful sometimes" [RETI]    Homeless children. A gossip columnist. A dog. What do all of these have in common? They're part of the underground network of helpers that Sherlock Holmes cobbled together.    With these individuals and more, Holmes was able to fan out across the great metropolis and gather information that helped him solve his cases. And they're the subject of this week's Trifles episode.     Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or  PayPal.    Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles82 The Bakerloo line The Baker Street Irregulars Episode 58 - Sherlock Holmes's Index Episode 62 - Reference Sources   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"before my biographer had come to glorify me." [MUSG]     We've previously covered the tantalizing cases that Sherlock Holmes pulled out of his tin box. This time, we spend time thinking about some of his other clients before he met Dr. Watson.   There's one we know by name, but the speculation begins fairly early on, as we try to use Holmes's methods to determine who some of his other clients might have been in those first years of his consultancy.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.       Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles81 Tit-Bits (Wikipedia) Sherlock Holmes at Oxford by Nick Utechin (2nd edition 1981) "The Adventure of the Clapham Cook" by Agatha Christie   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"a wax-coloured model of my old friend" [EMPT]    One of the handiest items found at 221B Baker Street has to be the wax bust of Sherlock Holmes. More than once it played a role as a decoy for Sherlock Holmes.    But when did Holmes commission it and how did it get to Baker Street? And was it even the same bust between the two tales? These questions and more await in the latest edition of Trifles.      Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles80 The House of Wax The Tingler New Sherlock Holmes Wax Figure   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"the streaming umbrella" [FIVE]  London is supposed to be a decidedly rainy place. The place where one might expect to find an umbrella or two carried about.   But only a handful of stories of Sherlock Holmes included the mention of umbrellas, galoshes, waterproofs or other rain gear. We investigate the trifling matter of the few umbrellas in the Canon.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles79 Episode 60 - Unpublished Cases: James Phillimore Fox Umbrellas (London)   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"the smartest of the Scotland Yarders" [STUD]  When you think of a Scotland Yard inspector in the Sherlock Holmes stories, odds are your thoughts immediately go to Inspector Lestrade. He makes the most appearances in stories and certainly gets the most name recognition, in part thanks to Dennis Hoey's portrayal of the bumbling but capable policeman.   But what about good old Inspector Gregson, who appeared alongside Lestrade in the very first Sherlock Holmes story? He manages to make a number of appearances, but doesn't rise to the same level of household awareness. We look at his trifling (and non-trifling) appearances in the Sherlock Holmes stories.     Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles78   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United Sta

"pulling a large tin box behind him" [MUSG]  We're accustomed to referring to Watson's famous tin box, held in the vaults of Cox & Co. Inside were contents that we were not meant to see: heretofore unseen tales of Sherlock Holmes. But Holmes himself was in possession of his own tin box, and boy did it contain a few surprises. We take an inventory and surmise what some of the contents meant. Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.  And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles77   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"a shocking habit,—destructive" [SIGN]    It's June, which is the month of the Queen's birthday. What a perfect time to look at the "patriotic V.R." that Sherlock Holmes adorned the wall of 221B Baker Street with.   But Sherlock Holmes didn't stop there. He had some other habits that were rather destructive when it came to his rooms. What were they and why did Holmes do that? We discuss these in the latest episode of Trifles.   Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles76   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  

"I pocket my fee" [STUD]    How much money did Sherlock Holmes make from his clients? And when did he begin making money?    We went back to an early piece of Sherlockian scholarship by Robert Keith Leavitt, first published in Vincent Starrett's 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes for inspiration. We run through Leavitt's assessment, commenting on certain cases and even finding a few points where we disagree with his analysis.      Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.     Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles75 "Nummi in Arca, or The Fiscal Holmes" by Robert Keith Leavitt, as originally appeared in 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"Bring me the books" [BLUE]   Sherlock Holmes was a consultant—or more properly, a consulting detective—but he was a consultant, nonetheless. And consultants need clients, who in turn pay the bills.    But have you ever stopped to think about how Holmes went about collecting his fees? We don't know anything about his fees, other than a handful of high profile cases with rewards, and that (he says) he didn't vary them save for when he remitted them altogether.      Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon  or PayPal.   Links / Notes   This episode: ihose.co/trifles74 I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 140: Sherlock Holmes and the Elusive Ear       Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

 "I could easily dispose of the mythical" [SILV]    There are assumptions and myths mentioned throughout the Sherlock Holmes stories. Whether they're believed by clients, Scotland Yard inspectors, or others, they throw our attention elsewhere.    And the Sherlockian world has had its own fair share of myths to deal with over the years as well. Join us as we try to identify and bust a few myths.    Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help.    Links / Notes This episode: ihose.co/trifles73 A Scintillation of Scions I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 52: Sherlockian Mythbusters   Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  

"the dreadful affair of the Abernetty family" [SIXN]    Among the published cases, there are a handful that can be identified by a simple reference. If we said "a tale for which the world is not yet prepared," you'd say the Giant Rat of Sumatra.  Similarly, if we mention "the depth to which the butter had sunk on a hot day," you'd think of the Abernetty family, as mentioned in the opening of "The Six Napoleons." But what was going on there? And what have scholars said about it over the years?    Have you left us a rating and review on the podcast player of your choice yet? We could really use your help. And please consider supporting our efforts through Patreon or PayPal.   Links This episode: ihose.co/trifles72 "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street by William S. Baring-Gould Parsely (Wikipedia)   Credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0