Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

Jan 29 2025 422 ep. 23 mins 465
Sherlock Holmes: Trifles Podcast artwork

You know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.

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Baritsu

Jan 29 2025 21 mins  
“the Japanese system of wrestling” [EMPT] When Sherlock Holmes defeated Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, he had a secret weapon: his knowledge of a certain style of Japanese wrestling. Of course, we don't find this out until his return, and even then, Watson (or is it Holmes?) conveys the wrong name. It's just a Trifle. All of our supporters are eligible for o

Turkish Baths

Jan 22 2025 23 mins  
“the sweat was pouring down my face” [BLUE] Turkish baths come up in just two of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Quick—without looking it up, can you name which? We know Watson enjoys both of them; Holmes joins him for one. In this episode, we discuss the origins and history of the Turkish bath, and specifically focus on the Victorian Turkish bath. Sit back and relax. This

Who Wasn't Jack the Ripper

Jan 14 2025 21 mins  
“when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” [SIGN] In our monthly discussion of an old piece of Sherlockian scholarship, we find ourselves in the back alleys of Whitechapel, discussing Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. Our source of this discussion is not one but two back-to-back articles from The Baker Street Journa

Partnership

Jan 08 2025 34 mins  
“We shall then take you into partnership” [SIGN] Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are forever linked, thanks to that first meeting at Bart's. They were both looking for someone with whom to share rooming expenses, but found themselves thrust together on some of Sherlock Holmes's greatest cases, becoming one of history's greatest partnerships. But what of business partnership

The Origin of 221B Worship

Jan 01 2025 33 mins  
“a singular set of people, Watson” [WIST] Image credit: The Baker Street Irregulars This podcast is a by-product of being active in the world of Sherlockians. But how did Sherlock Holmes societies first gain footing? What was the origin? In the inaugural episode of our new series on Morley-Montgomery Award winners (exceptional Sherlockian scholarship from The Baker

Christmas with Sherlock Holmes

Dec 25 2024 14 mins  
“the compliments of the season” [BLUE] There is only one Sherlock Holmes story that takes place at Christmas: "The Blue Carbuncle," which took place on "the second morning after Christmas." In his Gas-Lamp for the 1959 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual, editor Edgar W. Smith, BSI ("The Hound of the Baskervilles") entertained the idea of what was happening at Baker Str

Sherlock Holmes Was No Burglar

Dec 18 2024 28 mins  
“I have always had an idea that I would have made a highly efficient criminal” [CHAS] In some cases, Sherlock Holmes was a bit of a vigilante in his pursuit of justice. He didn't mind breaking the law in a good cause. That led to him burgling various households. Or did it? S. Tupper Bigelow, BSI ("The Five Orange Pips") was a lawyer by trade and disabuses us of the notion

Battlestations!

Dec 11 2024 34 mins  
“You look like a general who is planning a battle” [HOUN] The Battle of Marengo, by Louis-François Lejeune (public domain - Wikimedia Commons) One simple sentence in "The Abbey Grange" served as the spark to the fuse of this Trifles episode. In one sentence, Sherlock Holmes referenced two of Napoleon's battles — each with a different outcome. But it made us cur

The December Cases

Dec 04 2024 34 mins  
“He disappeared upon the 3d of December” [SIGN] "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is inextricably linked with the month of December. But what about the other cases Sherlock Holmes handled in the final month of the year? Our research picked up only one other, and it isn't obvious by a careful reading of the Canon. Jay Finley Christ helps us out with a clever bit of de

The Newgate Calendar

Nov 27 2024 24 mins  
“You seem to be a walking calendar of crime” [STUD] Sherlock Holmes used the calendar to help him determine the significance of certain cluse and actions, noting phases of the moon and recurring events. But there was another calendar that was useful to Holmes, which he mentioned in passing: the Newgate Calendar. It wasn't a calendar the way we refer to calendars. What was