“Well, but China?” [REDH]    

Our recent episode about real people who inspired characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories spills over into this episode for our monthly Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist-themed episode.

Jay Finley Christ wrote a piece in 1949 that wasn't widely published until 1975 (if one can call the audience of Baker Street Miscellanea wide). Prof. Christ takes on John Dickson Carr's biography and other Sherlockians, debunking a myth about the inspiration for Dr. Watson. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• Jay Finley Christ — An Old Irregular (IHOSE)
• Baker Street Miscellanea
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“There are the originals” [LAST]    

Sherlockians go to great pains to "play the game," meaning that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were real. If we can drop the mask for a moment, we all know they were creations of one Arthur Conan Doyle.

We also know that every author is inspired by people, names, and places around them. So too was Conan Doyle when he created certain characters. Who were some of the characters in the Canon who were inspired by real people? It's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts     Links

• The Fabulous Originals: Lives of Extraordinary People who Inspired Memorable Characters in Fiction by Irving Wallace
• Literary Characters Drawn from Life by Earle Walbridge 
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“entirely mistaken” [CHAS]    

The Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article we're discussing this month is by the legendary Jack Tracy, author of The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana and founder of Gaslight Publications.

"St. Saviour's, Near King's Cross" appeared in Vol. 27, No. 4 of the Baker Street Journal in 1977 and looked specifically at the church where Mary Sutherland was supposed to marry Hosmer Angel. Previous Sherlockian scholars were unaware of some hidden London history that Tracy was able to uncover. And it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Morley-Montgomery Award
• The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“engage a special” [FINA]   

This marks the fourth episode in our series of The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes — stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are technically not part of the original Canon. 

"The Story of the Lost Special" was written by Conan Doyle in 1898 about a train that has vanished from the face of the earth, but doesn't explicitly include Sherlock Holmes. How does this then tie into the great detective? Stay tuned, because it's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• "The Story of the Lost Special" (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia) 
• The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes (The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“play tricks with me and I’ll crush you” [ABBE]   

Was Sherlock Holmes too lenient with how he handled some of the criminals he defeated? There are a number whom he caught and set free, flouting the law in the process.

Inspired by a recent article in The Baker Street Journal, we look at examples in a handful of stories and compare the fates of the accused in each. Did they get what they deserved? It's much more than just a Trifle.

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links

• Related episodes:
• Episode 183 - Justice, Part 1: Unresolved
• Episode 184 - Justice, Part 2: Disproportionate
• Episode 187 - Justice, Part 3: Comeuppance
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“another thread which I have extricated out of the tangled skein” [HOUN]   

It has long been accepted that the original title of A Study in Scarlet was meant to be A Tangled Skein. While there is no surviving manuscript of the first Sherlock Holmes story, a single page of notes has long served as Sherlock Holmes's "birth certificate."

However, Matt Hall discovered a letter in Sydney, Australia that proves otherwise. His research is presented in Vol. 37 No. 2 of The Sherlock Holmes Journal.  And it's much more than just a Trifle.

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Sherlock Holmes Journal
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“put £100 down in front of him” [BLUE]   

Humans are suckers for round numbers. And 100 seems like a perfectly reasonable one to settle on. It's the first three-digit number (in Arabic numbers, that is; Romans were happy to hit a C note).

When it comes to £100 in the Sherlock Holmes stories, it's a figure often associated with some sort of scam — enough to get attention and secure the trust of the mark. Which stories feature £100 and what were the circumstances? It's just a Trifle.

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• Related: Episode 121 - Old Money
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“I had painted” [TWIS] 

The Morley-Montgomery Award-winning article we're discussing this month is by H.C. Potter from Vol. 26, No. 2 of The Baker Street Journal.

In it, Potter looks at Watson's prosaic way of setting the scene for us. He selects excerpts from a number of stories to prove his case. Was he successful in backing up his claims? It's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• The Morley-Montgomery Award
• The Morley-Montgomery Award series of episodes (Patreon | Substack)
• H.C. Potter's obituary (The New York Times)
• David McCullough: Painting with Words (IMDb)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“why should anyone play me such a trick?” [CARD]   

After a brief hiatus, we're back to the third in our series of The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes — stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that are technically not part of the original Canon. 

This is the shortest of all of the Apocrypha and it was created for the British Royal Family in a special edition. "How Watson Learned the Trick" is a lovely addition to the non-Canonical apocrypha. It's literally a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links

• "How Watson Learned the Trick" (Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia) 
• Queen Mary's Dolls' House (Royal Collection Trust)
• The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes (The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library)
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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

“Is Mrs. Watson in?” [FINA]    We all know Watson had more than one wife; the number has been debated over the years. But it's his second wife that seems to be the most intriguing.   In this "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist" episode, we look at David Hammer's article from Baker Street Miscellanea, No. 43. Who was the second Mrs. Watson? It's just a Trifle. 

If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.

  Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links

• Other episodes referenced:
• Episode 291 - The Four Violets
• Episode 318 - Watson's Marriages
• All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock
• Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com 

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