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stonepicnicking_okapiFirst I want to show off this gift of a BBC Sherlock oversized coaster/quilt square from bethctg:
She says the fabric is available on etsy.
Now, we are looking at "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches." We meet the first of our Violets, Violet Hunter.
Miss Violet Hunter seeks advice from Holmes about his commitment as governess at The Copper Beeches, a house near Winchester. His employer Jephro Rucastle, offered her very high wages but ask strange requirements: having her hair cut and wearing a specific dress. She refused at first but Mr. Rucastle offered even more money. Holmes promises to help if the need arises and Violet accepts the job. A few days later, Holmes receives a telegram from Miss Hunter who asks him to come quickly to Winchester.
In this story we get some interesting parts of Holmesian canon. One of my favorite is Holmes' dread of the rural countryside. It's a quirky part of his personality which makes him more interesting to me. Here's a quote:
But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.
Also there is the recurring motif that if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. The job being offered to Miss Hunter is one based in wickedness and greed and cruelty. It is darker than the ruse in The Red-Headed League and even that the one in The Engineer's Thumb.
Another thing I noted was the use of language I would think was modern and which seems incongruous in the story. To-wit, this:
Running up, I blew its brains out. [he is talking about the dog]
That's not a sentence I would associate with 1892!
It is a dark, Gothic tale and I was thinking it might be a good choice for my werewolf/vampire AU when I read the last notation in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes which talks about what happened to Baby Rucastle, the 6-year-old Violet is hired to be governess for. He is kind of a creepy, cruel kid (his father first describes his tendences to kill cockroaches with a slipper very quickly) but it is never mentioned what happened to him after the case but the father is an invalid and the mother takes care of the father. Edward (the kid) has an abnormally large head and sadistic tendencies and Carlo (the dog) has projecting bones, so there is a specualtion among one Sherlockian critique that they are the same being and the boy is werewolf! *rubs hands together and mutters 'fits right into my plans'*
Here's Holmes lighting his pipe with a glowing cinder because he is EXTRA!
So that is the end of the first collection (except the Blue Carbuncle which, naturally, will be done at Christmastime so we are on the Memoirs!
bethctg:
She says the fabric is available on etsy.
Now, we are looking at "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches." We meet the first of our Violets, Violet Hunter.
Miss Violet Hunter seeks advice from Holmes about his commitment as governess at The Copper Beeches, a house near Winchester. His employer Jephro Rucastle, offered her very high wages but ask strange requirements: having her hair cut and wearing a specific dress. She refused at first but Mr. Rucastle offered even more money. Holmes promises to help if the need arises and Violet accepts the job. A few days later, Holmes receives a telegram from Miss Hunter who asks him to come quickly to Winchester.
In this story we get some interesting parts of Holmesian canon. One of my favorite is Holmes' dread of the rural countryside. It's a quirky part of his personality which makes him more interesting to me. Here's a quote:
But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.
Also there is the recurring motif that if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. The job being offered to Miss Hunter is one based in wickedness and greed and cruelty. It is darker than the ruse in The Red-Headed League and even that the one in The Engineer's Thumb.
Another thing I noted was the use of language I would think was modern and which seems incongruous in the story. To-wit, this:
Running up, I blew its brains out. [he is talking about the dog]
That's not a sentence I would associate with 1892!
It is a dark, Gothic tale and I was thinking it might be a good choice for my werewolf/vampire AU when I read the last notation in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes which talks about what happened to Baby Rucastle, the 6-year-old Violet is hired to be governess for. He is kind of a creepy, cruel kid (his father first describes his tendences to kill cockroaches with a slipper very quickly) but it is never mentioned what happened to him after the case but the father is an invalid and the mother takes care of the father. Edward (the kid) has an abnormally large head and sadistic tendencies and Carlo (the dog) has projecting bones, so there is a specualtion among one Sherlockian critique that they are the same being and the boy is werewolf! *rubs hands together and mutters 'fits right into my plans'*
Here's Holmes lighting his pipe with a glowing cinder because he is EXTRA!
So that is the end of the first collection (except the Blue Carbuncle which, naturally, will be done at Christmastime so we are on the Memoirs!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 09:35 pm (UTC)ACD was very fond of the 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is' plot.
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Date: 2025-03-16 09:38 pm (UTC)It won't be the last time we'll see it!
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Date: 2025-03-17 04:49 pm (UTC)I think of 'blow someone's brains out' as one I come across quite a lot in historical books. Hmm, Google Ngrams shows it in use from the mid-eighteenth century onwards.
OTOH, what I do remember being surprised by in this story was the description of the dress Rucastle gives Violet as 'electric blue'! But that apparently goes back to the 1870s or so. So there you go :D
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Date: 2025-03-17 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-18 09:31 pm (UTC)Yes! This would be an excellent choice for a werewolf au!
Have you ever read about the Tiffany Problem/Tiffany Effect? Basically it's historically accurate details that sound or feel anachronistic to modern readers/viewers. It's a fun topic for deep diving.
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Date: 2025-03-18 11:06 pm (UTC):)
Yes, I was too lazy to google what it was called, but I remember hearing about it. It's the same principle.
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Date: 2025-03-23 11:00 pm (UTC)I figured you probably did, but it's one of my favorite research things, so I had to bring it up :)
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Date: 2025-03-19 12:28 am (UTC)EXTRA!Holmes is my favorite. :) I do love how canon is so malleable for all sorts of AUs.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-19 02:47 pm (UTC)Yes, bending the fire poker, lighting his pipe with an ember, just normal dude stuff :)