stonepicnicking_okapi

And so we come to the end of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes with "The Final Problem" published in November 1893.

Here's the summary:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson encounter the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. Holmes is convinced that Moriarty is the "Napoleon of crime" and is determined to bring him down. After a confrontation with Moriarty, Holmes decides to flee the country with Watson to avoid Moriarty's retaliation. They travel to the Swiss Alps, but are eventually tracked down by Moriarty. In a climactic confrontation at the Reichenbach Falls, Holmes and Moriarty struggle and both fall to their deaths in the raging waters below.

There are many alternate-canon theories about the end of Holmes. They are organized into categories in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes.

1. Moriarty is imaginary. 2. Moriarty is innocent. 3. Moriarty lives. 4. Moriarty lives. 4. Holmes is guilty. 5. Holmes killed the wrong man and 6. Faith of the fundamentalist (Holmes did die and the later resurrected Holmes is an imposter).

A page from ACD's notebook. For December he writes 'Killed Holmes.'


The great thing about canon is that you can re-read them many times and always remember or find something new.

"Did you recognize your coachman?"
"No."
"It was my brother Mycroft. It is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence."

So I wrote a ficlet for vocab_drabbles about Mycroft as brougham coachman.

Title: The Brougham Driver
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
Character: Mycroft Holmes, original feline character
Prompt: 149: Alterity
Note: set in "The Final Problem"
Summary: Mycroft Holmes after dropping Watson off at the station.

( Read more... )

And I absolutely love the pool scene of BBC Sherlock, especially borrowing of the banter from canon at the confrontation in 221B between Moriarty and Sherlock and the Moriarty reveal. I thought this was really, really well done. Not so much the resolution in Season 2.



So the plan is to post irregularly through June, July, and August, focusing on The Hound of the Baskervilles and pick up with The Return of Sherlock Holmes the first Sunday in September.

"The Adventure of the Naval Treaty" was published in the Oct-Nov 1893 edition of The Strand.

Here's the summary:

Percy Phelps, a Foreign Office employee, seeks Sherlock Holmes' help after a valuable naval treaty is stolen from him. Holmes deduces it was taken by someone using the back stair. Phelps, still recovering from an illness and being cared for by his fiancée Annie, lays out the case. Holmes investigates, suspecting the involvement of the Tangeys and clerk Gorot. Lord Holdhurst reveals the treaty hasn't reached foreign governments yet. Returning to Briarbrae, Holmes discovers the hired nurse has been dismissed by Phelps. That night, someone tries to break into Phelps' room with a knife, but flees when caught. Holmes secretly orders Annie to stay in the room and has Phelps and Watson leave for London. After uncovering Joseph as the thief, Holmes retrieves the stolen treaty from him after a brawl.

I think this story is most notable for Holmes' Rose Speech:

'There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,' said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. 'It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.'

What the Annotated says about the moss rose: 1. intensely fragrant, 2. with large blossoms and many petals, 3. petals and sepals appear to be covered in green or reddish moss, 3. mutated from damask and cabbage roses, 4. in the language of flowers a moss rosebud means 'confession of love.' and in Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone Sergeant Cuff has thoughts on the moss rose not being grafted to the dog rose.

I think the subplot in BBC Sherlock's episode "The Great Game" was based on this. That why I kept thinking that it was a Mycroft story when it isn't in canon (in the show, Mycroft brings the case to Sherlock and Sherlock pawns it off on John).

The Annotated also says that the Oxford English dictionary credits this story with the first usage of the word 'snick' to mean a sound:

Then grew louder, and suddenly there came from the window a sharp, metallic snick.

And I think another feature of interest is the melodramatic flair of Holmes to put the recovered top secret documents under a covered breakfast of curried chicken. I mean, really:

"The Adventure of the Reigate Squire" was published in The Strand in June 1893.

I really like this story. It starts out with Holmes working himself to death in France and needed to go to the English countryside for a rest. He and Watson go to the home of Colonel Hayter (Watson's former patient) and get entangled in a case of local burglaries.

So, in the beginning, Doyle states that Holmes' hotel room was 'ankle-deep' in congratulatory telegrams on the success of the financial case he works himself to collapse about and someone (Carol P. Woods) has calculated that it would require 10,741 telegrams to do that and so claims that it wasn't the case that fatigued Holmes but the crumpling of ten thousand telegrams :)

I really love this illustration (by Gaston Simoes da Fonseca (Félix Juven, 1909):



So the solution to the case has Holmes delving into the graphology (or the study of handwriting) and he claims there are 23 more deductions he could've made from the unusual letter in the case. And someone (John Bell Jr.) has named them all:

1. The quality of the paper – costly, average, or cheap
2. The rag content of the paper.
3. Where the paper came from.
4. The quality of the ink.
5. The chemical nature of the ink.
6. Where the ink came from.
7. The age of the writing.
8. Was the paper folded? If so, how?
9. Had the fragment been torn from the whole, or the
whole from the fragment?
10. Was the tear started at the bottom or the top?
11. Was the first penman right or left-handed?
12. Was the second penman was right or left-handed?
13. The type of pen used.
14. Did both penmen use the same pen?
15. The size of the sheet of paper from which the frag
ment came.
16. Was the original sheet of paper notepaper, wrapping
paper, or what?
17. Were there any erasures on the paper?
18. Had the writing been blotted between writings?
19. Had the writing been blotted after the second
writing?
20. Did both penmen use the same ink supply?
21. Were there fingernail marks made when the paper
was torn?
22. Was there any scent on the paper?
23. Were there any other marks or stains on the paper?

One of the best stories I've written involved Holmes, Watson, and Colonel Hayter. I wrote it for Spook Me 2016:

Ghost Stories (4318 words) by okapi
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Colonel Hayter, Mycroft Holmes
Additional Tags: Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Suicidal Thoughts, Shipwrecks, Trains, Storytelling, Community: spook_me
Series: Part 7 of Spooky & Kooky (the Halloween fics)
Summary:

Holmes, Watson, and Colonel Hayter (of "The Reigate Squires") tell ghost stories by the fire.

ACD. For the LJ Spook Me Ficathon.

Today we are looking at two stories.

"The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk" was published in The Strand in March 1893.

The plot of this story is very near to that of "The Red-Headed League."

A person is lured from their designated place in order to further a financial crime. The poor victim is named...Hall Pycroft! He's lured from a new job so that someone else can take his place and rob his new employer and blame him.

"The Adventure of the Resident Patient" appeared in The Strand in August 1893.

Here we get a struggling doctor Percy Trevelyan who accepts a patient (a patient who lives with him in the practice offices) with A Past and two curious characters show up and take revenge on their former associate. This is very similar to the story of Victor Trevor's father and (in a way) to Mary Morstan's father.

I can't say either story is remarkable in my mind.

I found I had a horse sticker, so I did a collage of Silver Blaze.

"The Adventure of the Yellow Face" was published in February 1893 in The Strand.

We get mention of an early spring ramble by Holmes & Watson:

One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spearheads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves. For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately.

Much like the client in the Blue Carbuncle and his hat, Grant Munro leaves a pipe behind and Holmes does a bit of deduction (which I had forgotten about) which is solid.

BUT Holmes makes very bold speculations on practically no evidence with regard to Munro's domestic matter. He instructs Watson to whisper 'Norbury' in his ear whenever he becomes arrogant. I wonder if Watson ever made good on that suggestion.

But the mystery is race, Mrs. Munro had a black child by her first husband which she is endeavoring to conceal from her second husband. But Grant Munro does the right thing:

It was a long two minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and when his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He lifted the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held his other hand out to his wife, and turned towards the door.

'We can talk it over more comfortably at home,' said he. 'I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being.'

First 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.

( <b>Spoiler/Warning: discussion of Watson shooting the dog dead before it can kill the villain.</b> )

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!

So this Sunday, I thought I'd look at body parts, specifically lips and ears.

The most striking thing about "The Man with the Twisted Lip" is Watson's wife calling him James instead of John (as he is referred to in all the other stories). There are many theories about What it Means. I just think it's ACD being careless but I think the theories are fun.

So Watson does a favor for a friend of his wife's and pops the husband out of an opium den. In the process of this, he stumbles upon Holmes who is investigating the disappearance of Neville Saint-Clair. To cross over with my Edward Gorey collage, perhaps Neville died of ennui! Ha! No. It's a decent story, but it grates for 2 reasons: 1. the 'reveal' involves Holmes wiping Saint-Clair's face and removing his make-up/disguise. Theatrical make-up is not that easy to remove. and 2. I don't like the underlying assumption about homelessness. It smacks of that conservate myth that homeless people are making/could make a lot of money if they begged properly (so they shouldn't receive help, public or private, because they're really okay, leading to the 'welfare queens' myth).

Five years ago, I tried my hand at Paget's illustration of Holmes in his large blue dressing gown.



"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb" is from March 1892. One of Watson's patients acquires his injury by means that seem like a case, so Watson takes him to Holmes. The engineer almost gets squished by a hydraulic press used by counterfeiters. One source I read said ACD got the idea from Wilkie Collins' story about the mysterious bed, which I like a lot.



I posted this video back in the Sherlock 60 days. These guys prove that Hatherley could not have gotten his thumb chopped off the way ACD describes.

I'm jumping around a bit in the first collection of stories The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was published in February 1892. ACD got the idea for the story from an article in Nineteenth Century by Sir Joseph Fayrer about the Indian adder.

We get Holmes being kind to an abuse victim. And showing physical strength by unbending a bent fire poker. We get the deduction of the dog cart (which I think BBC Sherlock cribbed for the deduction of the Pink Lady's legs).

I once made the band an original character in the Inky Quill & Co 'verse. The band's name was Cyril Monteverdi No-Legs, and he liked opera.

Also, in real life, I have actually been even closer to a baboon than Holmes and Watson. When I visited Akagera safari reserve in Rwanda, a baboon entered the breakfast room and stole the jam off my table, the jam I was using! They really are fierce, strong, and intimidating creatures with a kind of blunt playfulness.

Quotes I like:

1. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. [This is the money quote, right? The jackpot. Say what you will about continuity, but when ACD turned a phrase he turned it!]
2. These are very deep waters...
3. 'It is not cold which makes me shiver... [said in the right voice, this is very effective]
4. This exchange between Roylott and Holmes [the sass!]:

'I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?'

'It is a little cold for the time of the year,' said Holmes.

'What has she been saying to you?' screamed the old man furiously.

'But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,' continued my companion imperturbably.

So I did a collage. I realized when doing the junk journals that I really enjoy doing the edges, finding fun ways to trim the outer edge of the page, but for some reason, I haven't done that with my collages so I am going to start because it really is great fun. So see the gold cord for the Valentine pink and this one on the other side.



The first episode (1979) of the old Russian Holmes (aka Livanov Holmes) dealt with this story, along with Holmes & Watson's introduction, and I thought that the (probably) practical considerations of production budget, the dousing a lot of the set of darkness produced an extra sinister and eerie effect, which works very well, I think.

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.



The real Sarasate.

Challenge #9

In your own space, create a fanwork.

This is my Sherlock Sunday entry #2 for 2025.

The Sign of Four is the second of four Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Interesting fact: Oscar Wilde and Doyle attended a party in 1899 sponsored by Lippincott Publishing and both ended up with book deals by the end of it. The Wilde book was The Picture of Dorian Grey and Doyle's was The Sign of Four

I listened to an audiobook version of The Sign of Four with David Timson as narrator who does a solid job. And I made a collage. (a physical collage made with sticker and paper in a notebook and scanned).

The Sign of Four is where Watson gets a wife and we see Holmes' cocaine addiction. We meet the Baker Street Irregulars and a certain dog named...?

The dog in the collage is the only dog sticker I had. He doesn't look like that in the book! I included 6 pearls for the ones Mary receives from an anonymous benefactor and a map of the Andaman Islands. It's unlikely that kind of shaped bottle would hold cocaine but the other ones were less likely.



One of the best parts of The Sign of Four is that we get the Watch deduction which BBC Sherlock riffed on in the first episode of that series. And the scene in the cab of Sherlock explaining the clues from John's phone has to be one of my very favorite scenes in all of fandom.



And a drabble I did inspired by the phrase 'neat Moroccan case' which we get in The Sign of Four

Title: Neat Moroccan case
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (ACD)
Rating: Gen
Length: 100
Prompt: confused
Notes: Angst. set during Hiatus (when Holmes is 'dead')
Summary: Watson tries to find a cause for his bad mood.

( Read more... )