However Improbable

Disguise, duped doctors, and deadly retribution. "The Adventure of the Resident Patient" is the first of many cases Holmes and Watson solve together in 1886. Today, we tackle Watson the true crime chronicler, Holmes's questionable sense of humor, a convenient shipwreck, and John le Carré.

Read le Carré's introduction to The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-nov-14-bk-lecarre14-story.html

Content warning: Our discussion includes descriptions of a suicide by hanging, as well as a depiction of a dead body.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/transcripts

Find recommended reading, more stories, info about the show and more on our website:

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"The Adventure of the Resident Patient" from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. 

"Having secured him, it is evident to me that a consultation of some sort was held. Probably it was something in the nature of a judicial proceeding."

Please note that there's some variation in editions of this story. In many editions, it begins with the "mind reading" scene from "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box," something Doyle added to this tale after deciding CARD wouldn't be published in this collection of short stories. This narration includes that scene. 

This story was narrated by Nathan Comstock. Nathan is a writer, voice actor, and audio producer based in Boston. He is a co-creator of the Science Fiction Audio Sitcom Solutions to Problems, where he also plays the role of the alien radio host known as Loaf. His voice can also be heard in Superstition and Wizard Seeking Wizard, and he hopes to debut a new urban fantasy audio drama, Electromancy, in 2021. Find him on Twitter @nathancomstock.

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of a suicide by hanging, as well as a depiction of a dead body.

Find recommended reading, more stories, info about the show and more on our website:

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/

https://twitter.com/improbablepod

Encrypted letters, old college friends, and murderous mutiny. “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott” takes us back in time to the story of Sherlock Holmes’s very first case. Today, Marisa & Sarah discuss men on boats, queer allegory and how to approach it, the lasting impact the very first great friend you make can have on your life, and Stephen Sondheim. 

Content warning: Discussion of violence and gore, death, blackmail, and homophobia.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/transcripts

Find recommended reading, more stories, info about the show and more on our website:

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/

https://twitter.com/improbablepod

"The Adventure of the Gloria Scott", from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, narrated by Ryan James Horner.

“You never heard me talk of Victor Trevor?” he asked. “He was the only friend I made during the two years I was at college."

This episode was narrated by Ryan James Horner, a writer, podcaster, and voice actor from SoCal with a lifelong passion for storytelling. Find him buried under his many cats, scattered fragments of notepaper, or a pile of blankets with a scary movie. You can follow him on Twitter (@wilsonlives) or find out more at https://ryanjameshorner.carrd.co/.

Content warning: This episode includes scenes of violence, specifically a gunshot wound to the head. Depiction of death, violence and gore, and blackmail.

Find transcripts, recommended reading and more on our website:

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Welcome to our first Case File episode! Today, Sarah and Marisa take a look at the man behind the canon: Arthur Conan Doyle. We want to discuss Conan Doyle as a person and writer before we get too far into the stories. Besides creating Sherlock Holmes, what else is Conan Doyle known for? What was his life like? And what were his opinions about detective fiction and the world he lived in?

Content warning: Discussion of racism and misogyny.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/transcripts

Find us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/improbablepod

Serpents, sinister step-fathers, and sisters dying in the dead of night. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is usually considered one of the best Holmes stories—and one of Doyle’s favorites. Sarah & Marisa discuss Gothic heroines, racist red herrings, fear and the British empire, and geographically confused baboons.

Question of the episode: What's your favorite locked room mystery? Share it with us in a voice memo at [email protected], or let us know on Twitter.

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/transcripts

Content warning: We discuss the story's allusions to sexual and domestic abuse in this episode, as well as the two murders by a poisonous snake. Contains discussion of abuse, racism, colonization, death and violence, and incest.

Find transcripts, recommended reading and more on our website:

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"The Adventure of the Speckled Band, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

“Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime.”

“Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals."

This episode is read by Kira Apple! Kira is the voice of Jack St. James on Superstition and the Narrator on The Way We Haunt Now. When she's not voice acting, Kira is writing her PhD dissertation on belonging in speculative audio fiction and working part-time at an independent feminist bookstore and an animal hospital. She loves playing video games, crocheting, and wrangling her four cats: Magrathea, Hazelnut, Ichabod Crane, and Mr. Tumnus.

Website: kiraapple.com

Twitter: @KiraAppleVA

Content warning: Depictions of domestic death - specifically poison, abuse, racism, violence, and snakes.

Find transcripts, recommended reading and more on our website:

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/

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Want to read more mysteries? More pastiches? More Doyle? Visit our Bookshop.org page to find our curated bookshelves of Doyle’s other works, our favorite Holmes pastiche stories, scholarship on detective fiction, and books we feel carry the spirit of the stories. Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores - and purchasing books this way also supports our podcast. 

Find our Bookshop affiliation here: https://bookshop.org/shop/howeverimprobable 

Contact us: https://twitter.com/improbablepod 

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/further-reading

Mortuary meet-cutes, the science of deduction, and murderous Mormans. Join Marisa and Sarah to discuss A Study In Scarlet - the story that famously introduced us to Holmes and Watson. Do you really know Sherlock Holmes like you think you might? What does this tale tell us about Holmes, Watson, and what’s coming in the following fifty-nine stories? And what’s the deal with the Mormons anyway?

Question of the episode: What's your favorite adaption of how these two characters (or any versions of them) meet in fiction? Share it with us in a voice memo at [email protected], or let us know on Twitter. 

Content warning: Discussion of murder and violence, and the death of an animal. Mentions of PTSD. 

A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/transcripts

Find transcripts, recommended reading and more on our website:

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/

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A Study In Scarlet Part II

Chapter 6: A Continuation Of The Reminiscences of John Watson, M.D.

Chapter 7: Conclusion

“You should publish an account of the case. If you won’t, I will for you.”

This episode is narrated by Alma Roda-Gil. Alma is a freelance goth begrudgingly living in the UK. They write about culture and are currently rewatching (and crying at) CBS' Elementary. You can find them on Twitter at @knifefemme  or peruse their portfolio here.

Content warning: Depictions of murder and violence, including poison and animal death.

Find transcripts, recommended reading and more on our website:

https://www.howeverimprobablepodcast.com/

https://twitter.com/improbablepod