stonepicnicking_okapi

It's February, a month often associated with red because of Valetine's day, so let's do "The Red-Headed League."

The moral of the story is one ACD comes back to over and over again: if it sounds too good to be true, it is. A worker who works for half wages is probably up to no good. And a scheme where you copy out an encyclopedia for four pounds a week, likewise.

We get a call-back to next week's case of Mary Sutherland even though this story was published a month before that one. This is another habit of ACD: 'these things happen' is what he said when someone pointed out he put a river in Utah many, many miles from where it actually runs, going forward that's what I will call it. 'These things happen.' James, John, Mary Morstan's mother, the case in a year when Holmes was dead, etcetera. 'These things happen.'

We also see in John Clay the dress rehearsal for Moriarty as the robbery was 'ripped from the headlines' in the form of the robbery of a Boston bank where Adam Worth bought the house next door and started tunneling. Worth (late 19th c. crime boss and fraudster) is said to be the inspiration for Moriarty.

We get a deduction of Jabez Wilson, which I like, and a lot of lines which often appear in later adaptations (e.g., 'I wouldn't miss it for the world!').

Listening to it yesterday in audio version, I noted the 14-year-old girl in the house of Jabez Wilson. She's only mentioned once, but I think it would be interesting to expore what role she might have in the case.

I think I wrote an AU of this with my Vampire Holmes/Werewolf Watson AU but I can't find it. :(

In this story, we get insight into Holmes' love of music, with him and Watson attending a performance by Sarasate. So have the Granada version of this.

Watch on YouTube

The real Sarasate.