John, James and Mary

"what's amiss with the names?" [VALL] 

One of the most puzzling passages in the Sherlock Holmes stories is when Mrs. Watson referred to her husband, the good Doctor, as "James." However, we know that his given name is John. What could be afoot here?

Was it a typo? An impostor? A slip of the tongue? We review some of the longstanding theories and even provide a few of our own to see if we might get to the bottom of this mystery.

• "The Adventure of the Man with the Twisted Lip"
• Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Sources by Donald A. Redmond

Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0