Sherlock Holmes: Trifles
You know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 23 minutes
- Episodes
- 453
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
The Three Moriartys
“I can tell a Moriarty when I see one.” [VALL] Quick: in "The Final Problem," what is the name of Sherlock Holmes's arch-rival? Yes, we know it's Professor Moriarty, but what's his first name? If …
00:22:19 |
Wed 27 Jan 2021
Langur
“the great black-faced monkey of the Himalayan slopes,” [CREE] It's only mentioned in passing, but the langur played an important role in "The Aventure of the Creeping Man." It showed you could ma…
00:25:19 |
Wed 20 Jan 2021
The Three Professors
“His life as been academic” [CREE] Sherlock Holmes and academic affairs are, well, elementary. [Sorry] But have you considered those who hold the title "professor" when it comes to the stories? …
00:26:17 |
Wed 13 Jan 2021
Sherlock Holmes's Birthday
“you could not celebrate him without being known yourself.” [HOUN] Every year, the Baker Street Irregulars meet in early January to celebrate Sherlock Holmes's birthday. Why January, or more specif…
00:22:31 |
Wed 06 Jan 2021
Typography
“As I expected, his reply was typewritten” [IDEN] While handwriting was and is distinctive enough for a detective like Sherlock Holmes to draw some inferences, typography isn't quite so forgivin…
00:23:28 |
Wed 30 Dec 2020
Handwriting
“Have you ever had occasion to study character in handwriting?” [SIGN] More than once, Sherlock Holmes used someone's handwriting to guide him toward a solution. Whether it was a hastily-scribbl…
00:22:06 |
Wed 23 Dec 2020
The Care and Feeding of Sherlock Holmes
“Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands” [WIST] Sherlock Holmes enjoyed breakfast. But it was often interrupted. He had a variable knowledge of botany but knew enough to feel chagrined for missing g…
00:28:12 |
Wed 16 Dec 2020
Smile When You Say That
“Holmes smiled and rubbed his hands” [WIST] Did Sherlock Holmes care about teeth? There's evidence that he cared about his own teeth, as seen through his recommendation of dental hygiene, and thr…
00:21:06 |
Wed 09 Dec 2020
The Setting of Cornwall
“sinister atmosphere of forgotten nations,” [DEVI] It's not quite a holiday for Sherlock Holmes in "The Devil's Foot," but rather a time away from London to be able to recuperate. "The villages whic…
00:23:14 |
Wed 02 Dec 2020
The Location of 221B, Part 2
“I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street” [STUD] In the first part of this two-episode series, we looked at the Baker Street area of Victorian London and the changes that it has seen in the cen…
00:23:40 |
Thu 26 Nov 2020
The Location of 221B, Part 1
“we made our way back to Baker Street” [3GAR] The address is legendary. Synonymous with its famous inhabitant, just as the deerstalker and meerschaum pipe. But it may be just as fanciful as thos…
00:25:19 |
Wed 18 Nov 2020
Child Pscyhology
“Holmes, a child has done this horrid thing” [SIGN] Many of us find our way to the Sherlock Holmes stories as children, yet there is a decided absence of children in the Canon. When we do find t…
00:25:57 |
Wed 11 Nov 2020
Spare No Expense
“I desire you to spare no expense and no pains” [WIST] Sherlock Holmes had to go places, see people, investigate things. And doing so meant that he incurred expenses. If we itemized what some of…
00:22:01 |
Wed 04 Nov 2020
The Setting of Agra
“Yes, this is the great Agra” [SIGN] It's where Jonathan Small met Mahomet Singh, Dost Akbar and Abdullah Khan and together they made a pact known as the Sign of the Four. The Fort of Agra, in the c…
00:22:02 |
Wed 28 Oct 2020
The Victims
“You have been cruelly used” [SPEC] We're at the end of our four-part series on Women in the Canon from The Best of the Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 2. This time we look at "The Victims." That ma…
00:26:42 |
Wed 21 Oct 2020
Clothing in the Canon
"we did not meet to talk about the cut of my socks" [3GAR] When you think of attire in the Sherlock Holmes stories, the mind usually turns to the deerstalker and Inverness, and perhaps Sherlock H…
00:25:14 |
Wed 14 Oct 2020
The Dates in The Hound of the Baskervilles
"Have you the dates of those letters?" [HOUN]
The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Sherlock Holmes's most famous cases. But what can we say about the date of the case? Watson never specifically …00:26:14 |
Wed 07 Oct 2020
The Brook Street Business
"something further from Brook Street" [RESI] When Percy Trevelyan went to open up his practice, he found that he had more in brains than he did in his pocketbook. Until a shrewd businessman came al…
00:25:05 |
Wed 30 Sep 2020
The Setting of Dartmoor
"forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours" [HOUN] One of the most iconic characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories is not a character at all. It's Dartmoor. As Holmes himself said of it…
00:23:24 |
Wed 23 Sep 2020
Ladies of Title
"Title and money—who could carry them better than she?" [ABBE]
We've investigated which women were influential in their own right in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and then those who had to work …00:26:32 |
Wed 16 Sep 2020
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