The new year usually brings resolutions and offers a new beginning. In our new podcast which begins in January 2017, we thought it was the ideal time to look at optimism in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Was there more hope or despair in the Canon? Certainly, many cases began with despair, but which ones ended in optimism?

From "The Stockbroker's Clerk" to "The Copper Beeches," we have clients who were optimistically heading into new jobs. But all was not as it seemed... And what ends well for Sherlock Holmes does not always mean the same thing for his clients.

• Maria Konnikova on Episode 91 of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, discussing The Confidence Game.
• The Sherlock Holmes stories online