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.

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Update frequency: every 7 days
Average duration: 23 minutes
Episodes: 453
Years Active: 2017 - 2025

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The Home Life of Henry Baker

“the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner” [BLUE] Poor Henry Baker has always been a sad, sympathetic character. Deprived of his hat and his peace offering to his wife at Christmast…

00:26:36 | Wed 28 Dec 2022

Mrs. Hudson: A Legend in Her Own Lodging-House

“a long-suffering woman” [DYIN] Have you considered how much (or little) we know about Mrs. Hudson, and what we take for granted? For example, her first name was Martha, she was widowed, an…

00:32:13 | Wed 21 Dec 2022

Lysanders

“Good old Dr. Starr!” [3GAR] One of the creepiest looking characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories was Col. Lysander Stark, who chased after Victor Hatherly with a meat cleaver in "The Engine…

00:27:08 | Thu 15 Dec 2022

The Route of the Blue Carbuncle

“found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China” [BLUE] The blue carbuncle had quite a journey. Before it even arrived in the action of the story, the piece of crystallized charcoal wa…

00:31:07 | Thu 08 Dec 2022

Rambling About

“devoted to a series of walks” [WIST] In at least four separate cases, we know that Holmes and Watson were out strolling around London. How does this square with Holmes's aversion toward exerc…

00:30:40 | Thu 01 Dec 2022

Revealing Costume

“revealing what they are” [ENGR] "By a man’s finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his s…

00:25:27 | Wed 23 Nov 2022

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

“That sounds a little paradoxical.” [BOSC] The fourth short story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," gives us a host of sayings and tenets of Sherlock Holm…

00:23:10 | Wed 16 Nov 2022

Doyle and Water

“a cry for help and a splash in the water” [FIVE] Water, water everywhere. And that just makes us think. Of the Sherlock Holmes stories, of course. Since England is an island, it stands t…

00:28:02 | Wed 09 Nov 2022

Our Client's Foot Upon the Stair

“heard upon the stairs” [SCAN] So much of how we think about Sherlock Holmes is due to the scenes where we find Holmes and Watson at home in Baker Street. And thanks to the illustrations …

00:30:45 | Thu 03 Nov 2022

Candles

“numerous candles did something” [HOUN] We equate gas lamps with Sherlock Holmes — even electric lights. But we don't often think about the number of candles in the stories. More than the…

00:32:12 | Wed 26 Oct 2022

The Colonel of the Matter

“the line of his pedigree” [EMPT] Colonel Sebastian Moran was called "the second most dangerous man in London" and was a formidable adversary of Sherlock Holmes. And yet, we know remarkably…

00:29:33 | Wed 19 Oct 2022

It Happened at Midnight

“to reconstruct this midnight drama” [MUSG] A quick look through the Sherlock Holmes stories finds a good number of incidents taking place around midnight. Why is this the case? Who could w…

00:28:16 | Wed 12 Oct 2022

Clients in Jeopardy

“the victim of an unfortunate accident” [FIVE] For our "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the theorist" episode, we take a step back into 1947 to "Clients in Jeopardy" by Henry C. Clark, appearing in The…

00:28:28 | Wed 05 Oct 2022

Langurtin

“the wondrous strength-giving serum” [CREE] For our 300th episode, we thought we'd do something just a Trifle different. Following the theme of our previous episode, we're focused again on …

00:24:16 | Wed 28 Sep 2022

Masters Class: Lowenstein of Prague

“an obscure scientist who was striving in some unknown way” [CREE] In this month's Masters Class, we turn to a Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article from The Baker Street Journal in 1973:…

00:32:21 | Wed 21 Sep 2022

The British Monarchy

“a regal and stately lady in Court dress” [CHAS] With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, we find ourselves in a similar place as Sherlock Holmes did in 1901 with the passing of Queen Victoria:…

00:31:17 | Wed 14 Sep 2022

The Arcadia Mixture

“You still smoke the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days then!” [CROO] When Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson first met, Watson noted he was not averse to strong tobacco and that he usually smo…

00:25:57 | Thu 08 Sep 2022

The Metaphysical Holmes

“I caught a glimpse of a great heart” [3GAB] Without a question, Sherlock Holmes was a master of his craft. When we look at his motivations for pursuing his career—at least on the surface—he see…

00:22:48 | Thu 01 Sep 2022

The Best Sherlock Holmes Stories

“the finest assorted collection” [STUD] For nearly a century, there has been a general concordance on which Sherlock Holmes stories are best. It was a tradition started by Sir Arthur Conan Doy…

00:28:15 | Wed 24 Aug 2022

James Watson, M.D.

“he was trying to hide his own identity” [RESI]

Over the years, there have been numerous theories about how Watson (or Mrs. Watson, rather) got his name wrong, substituting “James” for “John.” We …

00:20:21 | Wed 17 Aug 2022

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