Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

As we glance around the sitting room at 221B Baker Street, the famous lodgings of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, there's no lack of seating. In fact, one might have the …

"My correspondence certainly has the charm of variety," said Sherlock Holmes in "The Noble Bachelor." He could have been easily referring to the medium as well …

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 littl…

Watson occasionally accompanied Sherlock Holmes onto the Continent (i.e., Europe), but there were many other instances when Holmes's work took him there w…

One of the most off-hand but arresting comments that Sherlock Holmes made was that he owned a Stradivarius violin. That…

The Sherlock Holmes stories are told from the perspective of a doctor. So it only stands to reason that he would notice other me…

John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department, had a number of medical practices throughout the Sherlock Holmes stories. He waffl…

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 th…

We know what you're thinking: The Sign of Four wasn't an unpublished case. You, as a Trifles listener, are very astute. W…

"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…

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 u…

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 Hol…

We've previously covered the tantalizing cases that Sherlock Holmes pulled out of his tin box. This time, we spend time thinking about some o…

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 Sherlo…

"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 Sherlo…

"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 mo…

"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 u…

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 Bake…

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 …

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.…