Sherlock Holmes Library

2009-06-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

New posters for Guy Ritchie's Holmes flick

2009-06-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

New Sherlock Holmes Posters:First look at Holmes and Watson art @ Empire

Sherlock Holmes & The Deadly Necklace review (link)

2009-06-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

Permission to Kill continues its series of Holmsian posts with this review of Sir Christopher Lee's Teutonic turn as the great detective in Sherlock Holmes & The Deadly Necklace (1962)

Permission to Kill reviews Sherlock: Case Of Evil (2002)

2009-06-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

Permission to Kill reviews the James D'Arcy (Holmes) / Vincent D'Onofrio (Moriarty) led Sherlock: Case Of Evil (2002)

The Baskerville Experience promo video

2009-06-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

"Promotional video for The Baskerville Experience - a unique evening of fine cuisine, drama and entertainment set in one of the original locations for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel ..."

The Baskerville Experience

and an older, slightly different version

The Baskerville Dining Experience

Video: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes- 'Secret Agent Man' (TSHSN)

2009-06-02T22:43:00.000-05:00

Anne Schmidt of The Sherlock Holmes Social Network posted this groovy music video tribute to TV's top Holmes...

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes- 'Secret Agent Man'

Detecting Past and Future Sherlock Holmes @ Greenbriar Pictures Shows

2009-05-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Detecting Past and Future Sherlock Holmes at the terrific vintage film site Greenbriar Picture Shows

Holmes on the Radio: The New Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes - The Unfortunate Tobacconist

2009-05-28T21:47:00.000-05:00

The classic radio podcast Boxcars711 presents The New Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes - Unfortunate Tobacconist (04-30-45)

2009-05-28T08:31:00.000-05:00

In these five tales, Sherlock Holmes is shown at the height of his powers: he co-operates with a young Winston Churchill in the famed Siege of Sydney Street; helps defeat a plan for a German invasion outlined in the Zimmerman Telegram; establishes a link between two missing light-house keepers and the royal treasures of King John; contends with a supernatural curse placed upon an eccentric aristocrat and discovers a lost epic of Lord Byron. But it is all in a days work for the great detective, who continues to defy the odds and lives to ratiocinate another day.

Wired & Horror Hacker on Holmes

2009-05-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes, Obsessed Nerds, and Fan Fiction @ Wired via The Baker Street Blog

Sherlock Holmes Isn't So Elementary This Time Around @ Horror Hacker

Telegraph: We still believe in Sherlock Holmes, even in the age of DNA

2009-05-22T11:50:00.000-05:00

At Telegraph.co.uk ...

We still believe in Sherlock Holmes, even in the age of DNA

150 years after his birth, Conan Doyle lives on in his greatest creation, says Melanie McDonagh

"...Holmes's appeal shows no sign of diminishing, but in an odd way, he has become less relevant than ever. In my edition of the stories, the publisher assured readers that Scotland Yard had incorporated Holmes's scientific methods into its own investigations. But the science outran the deduction: practically every contemporary crime (and practically every contemporary crime drama) seems to revolve around the use of DNA or forensic evidence, which renders the Holmes method pretty well redundant. I can't, alas, think of a single modern murder that could have been cleared up by a man with a magnifying glass and a remarkable capacity for reasoning. It's the size of the DNA database that delivers modern criminals to justice...."

Read the full article here

Wired: It’s Elementary, My Dear Reader

2009-05-22T11:28:00.000-05:00

Wired's This Day in Tech celebrates ACD's 150th...

This Day In Tech Events That Shaped the Wired World
May 22, 1859: It's Elementary, My Dear Reader

Conan Doyle became a medical doctor, a vocation that didn’t become his destiny but led him to to it. He impatiently filled the many patient-less hours of a struggling practice, creating a character who became the archetypal protagonist of crime fiction. He was also sowing the seeds for generations to come of eccentric, cerebral detectives whose crime-solving technique was light on physical prowess and heavy on the powers of observation and deduction...

Read the Full Article Here

Happy 150th Arthur Conan Doyle

2009-05-22T11:23:00.001-05:00

Official ACD Site | ACD on Wikipedia | ACD at LibriVox | ACD at FeedBooks

She Likes to Watch: This can't be "Sherlock Holmes"

2009-05-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

She Likes to Watch on Sherlock Holmes...

"Well, my dear Watson, it appears that we have a far different Holmes on our hands."

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes Official Site

2009-05-22T11:00:00.003-05:00

Here's the official site for Guy Ritchie's upcoming Sherlock Holmes flick starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. check out the trailer, if you haven't already, and see what you think of Ritchie's take on the venerable sleuth.

Guy Ritchie / Sherlock Holmes

2008-06-08T19:41:00.002-05:00

Lots of coverage this week on the news that Guy Ritchie is to helm a comic book inspired Sherlock Holmes feature film. I'll reserve judgement until 2010 rolls around and I actually see the film but I can't help but worry that it may end up being another "Van Helsing" or "From Hell" - an expensive mediocrity.

Here are links to just a few of this week's press dispatches on the news..

Empire : "Guy Ritchie's mined the criminal underbelly for some time now, with all his tales of less-than-diamond geezers wheelin' and dealin' around the East End. But he's looking now to the, er, sleuthing overbelly with the news that he is to direct a new Sherlock Holmes for Warners...."

The Guardian: "Jason Statham is Sherlock Holmes. Dexter Fletcher is Dr Watson. And Madonna is Irene Adler. Well, not quite, but Guy Ritchie has signed up to helm a film based on the famous tenant of 221b Baker Street and, if previous experience is anything to go by, a cast of mockney sorts should swiftly follow..."

TimesOnline: "The Hollywood studio Warner Bros is backing his attempt to repackage Holmes from his tweedy, cerebral image into a sword-wielding fist-fighter with a short fuse.

In Los Angeles last week, an executive at Warner said it was looking for a “grungy” Holmes. “This is Sherlock Holmes as a street-fighting man, ready to take on man, monsters, whatever the world can throw at him...”

Entertainment Weekly : "No doubt you're as thrilled as I am by the news that Guy Ritchie will be directing a Sherlock Holmes movie, one that, according to the Hollywood Reporter, will make Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian sleuth "more adventuresome and less stuffy than previous screen incarnations." I'm sure that the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director will move quickly to cast Jason Statham (pictured, left, in Lock, Stock...) as Holmes and Vinnie Jones as Watson in the flick, which I am certain will be called No S---, Sherlock. Here's how I imagine the screenplay will begin..."

The Independant : "Rather than focusing on Holmes as the pipe-smoking intellectual, the film will apparently portray him as a man of action, highlighting his "skills as a boxer and swordsman". Sounds like the role that Ritchie favourite Vinnie Jones was born to play..."

Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula

2008-03-19T19:54:00.003-05:00

At Blue Sky Disney a look at The 5 Best Scripts Hollywood Never Made includes an unproduced gem featuring the Master:

Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula- Screenplay by Michael B. Valle

PITCH: Think literally Sherlock Holmes meets Dracula. Everything that "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" got wrong, this script got right. It takes two classic characters from the turn of the century, that occupied a similar place and has them meet. Taking place in 1891, it involves a great deal of characters from both books and has Holmes investigating a series of murders as Dracula has made it back to London. Holmes, a man of absolute logic has to come to grip with the fact that the criminal he's hunting doesn't correspond to his "elementary" view of the facts. Many of the characters that populate the novels of each book are here... including that "Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty" as well... (read complete article)

Brett and Hardwicke Interview

2007-07-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Part One

Part Two

via PLbrettfan

Sherlock, Philo and Fu Manchu on YouTube

2007-07-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

William Powell as Philo Vance; Clive Brook as Sherlock Holmes; Warner Oland as Fu Manchu, with Eugene Palette and Jack Oakie.
Scene from "Paramount on Parade" (1930)

Sherlock Holmes - Case of Copper

2007-06-28T19:17:00.000-05:00

From YouTube comes this 10 minute long short film...

Sherlock Holmes - Case of Copper was made as an IBH Film Studies project, which turned out rather well. I attempted to write a script as if it had been Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote it, using the same language and style of writing. Aside from writing the script, I was also the Director, Editor, and Chief Actor in the film. A lot of work, that turned out well. There was numerous other crew members who where a crucial part in making the film, not only actors, but people behind the set as well, including youtube member M4771, who was the chief camera man. I hope you all enjoy 'Sherlock Holmes - Case of Copper'

Rather rare JeremyBrett / Holmes - The Four Oaks Mystery

2007-06-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

Part of a 1992 TV telethon The Four Oaks Mystery combined the sleuthing skills of four different telly detectives in four separate short films to solve one rather poor mystery. The detectives Holmes, Van Der Valk, Taggart and Wexford each had their own segment - the Holmes chapter opens the mystery and runs about 5 minutes.. Though rare this is less of a gem than might be hoped. Still, every Sherlockian should have the chance to see it at lease once (completests that many of us are)

Conan Doyle & Holmes exhibit at the Portsmouth Museum

2007-06-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

via 24 Hour Museum

The exhibition, including items from the collection of the late Richard Lancelyn Green, includes various interactive features...

"Narrated by Stephen Fry, the collection’s patron, the exhibition showcases a range of interactive displays and a 'new' Sherlock Holmes mystery, giving visitors the chance to try their hand at being a clever sleuth as well as fully immerse themselves within the extraordinary world of Sherlock Holmes.
It also includes interactive readings of selected works by Conan Doyle, virtual display panels and a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Case of the Portsmouth Doctor, written and performed specially for the exhibition."
Read the full article at 24 Hour Museum

Books for Kids reviews The Enola Holmes Mysteries

2007-06-28T13:13:00.000-05:00

Before Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars there was, according to author Nancy Springer, a young lady with serious sleuthing skills and some pretty impressive DNA. Her name was Enola Holmes and you can guess whose sister she was.

From the Books For Kids Blog ....

"Enola, by her very name, which spelled backward is "alone," is no stranger to her mother's penchant for ciphers and hidden meanings, especially of the botanical sort, but when her mother suddenly disappears on her fourteenth birthday, Enola feels that the birthday gifts left behind for her contain the secret of her mother's whereabouts. Her much-older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes, are, however, clueless about the disappearance until an audit of the manor's accounts shows that their mother has been embezzling funds for years, enough to provide herself with considerable "mad money" far from the restraints of Victorian widowhood."

Read the complete review at Books For Kids

Librivox Update - HOUN, SIGN, The Lost World and more...

2007-06-28T12:58:00.000-05:00

Fit me for a dunce cap I've done it again. While searching Librivox for Holmsian goodies I stupidly searched just for dear old Sherlock and not ACD. If I'd been half as clever as I'd like my children to think I am I would have noted that in addition to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Collection Librivox's tireless volunteers had also recorded both The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles. A couple of short stories can also be found in short story collections. (The Dying Detective, The Speckled Band and The Dying Detective again)

Fan's of Conan Doyle's other works will be pleased to find The Lost World, The Parasite and The Japanned Box also ready to be downloaded. Still in the recording phase are A Study in Scarlet and Tales of Terror and Mystery.

The Adventure of the Sherlockian Wiki

2007-06-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

via The Baker Street Blog

Brad Keefauver of Sherlock Peoria contemplates a Holmes specific Wiki : To Sherlockipedia and Beyond . . .

Sounds like a terrifc idea. The original Wikipedia, in the meantime, has done an excellent job with the Canon themselves - Wikipedia: Sherlock Holmes

Conan Doyle film on Youtube

2007-06-28T12:39:00.000-05:00

via sherlock.jamesbickers.com

The ten minute interview on film that occasionally shows up, in full or in excerpts, on various DVDs and Sherlockian documentaries has been posted at YouTube by TVDAYS

Sherlock Holmes at Librivox

2007-06-28T12:26:00.000-05:00

Librivox, the free user created public domain audio books folks, have one set of Holmes stories complete and available for download and two more in the pipeline.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is now online. Each story is read by a different Librivox member, and while the quality varies a bit the good will and volunteer spirit behind the project more than makes up for it.

In the works are Memoirs (get a sneak preview here) and Return (progress report here)

2007-06-20T12:01:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes Podcast - I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere : The podcast for those interested in the life and times of Mr. Sherlock Holmes - where it is always 1895

A pair of Baker Street Irregulars have begun a wonderful podcast that I heartily recommend. Here's what they cover in the inaugural effort...

In this episode, we explore the following topics:

Why a podcast?
Ways to listen to the show
The breadth of interest in Sherlock Holmes
Listener comments - welcome, encouraged, by phone, email or the comment feature below
Show frequency and length
My First Meeting with Sherlock Holmes - Burt and Scott each share their own first experience with the great detective
The Editor's Gas Lamp - from the Baker Street Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1946), "What Is It That We Love In Sherlock Holmes?"

2007-06-05T21:42:00.001-05:00

Poster: A Study in Terror

2007-06-05T16:46:00.000-05:00

Russian cartoon: Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson

Found on YouTube - a highly regarded animated take on Holmes from Russia...

Part One

Part Two

2007-05-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes - Terror By Night (Rathbone/Bruce)

2007-05-29T12:54:00.000-05:00

The Chattanoogan : Insp. Baynes And Questions About The Black Peter Case

"There are several questions which arise from the report of Dr. Watson on the activities of Sherlock Holmes in connection with the case that grows out of the death of “Black Peter” Carey.

First, Watson tells us that at the time of this case Holmes had “an immense practice.” However, the facts appear otherwise. If Holmes had an immense practice, why did he spend most of a week investigating this case when he was not employed to do so and before he was ever consulted?

We know he was brought into the case by Insp. Stanley Hopkins a full week after Peter Carey (aka Black Peter), a retired sea captain, was found dead, impaled to his cabin wall by a steel harpoon. But before Holmes even met with Hopkins he had already begun, and partly completed, his investigation.

We are compelled to ask why Holmes, if he had such an immense practice, found time to undertake an investigation in a case in which he had not been employed or consulted. His investigation must have begun several days before he was consulted by Stanley Hopkins. We are told that, following an evening telegram, Hopkins met next day with Holmes to discuss the case. The death of Black Peter had occurred seven days prior..."

Complete Article

2007-05-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

The Plausible Impossible : Weight in Animation

"One of the most difficult things in animation is to give the true feeling of weight. This seems to be especially true in 3D where characters often feel like they float rather than have any effect from gravity. The particular pencil test presented here was done for a promo for a show called "Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century" that Filmation was pitching back in 1986. The assignment, as it was explained to me by the director, was that this was the climatic scene in the show. It had to play well and give a true feeling of struggle and doom. This is Moriarty dragging Sherlock Holmes, who is unconscious, to the edge of the top of a large tower in order to throw him off to his death. At the last minute a beam of light shines down and blinds Moriarty who drops Sherlock and he himself trips and falls off the tower..."

Full Article and video

2007-05-29T12:50:00.000-05:00

First Book Blog: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This week, the literary world celebrated the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I, like most of you, knew him as the creator of literature’s ultimate detective, Sherlock Holmes. What I didn’t know about him until recently is that he was involved in the real-life legal battle leading to the creation in 1907 of the Criminal Court of Appeal in Great Britain.

Complete article

2007-05-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

Westerns For Today: Book Review: HOLMES ON THE RANGE by Steve Hockensmith

"...This book was published and marketed as a mystery. And it is a mystery. It's also a western and a damned fine one. All the elements are there, and Hockensmith doesn't stint on period details that show he actually knows what constitutes a western. This novel is a fantastic example of precisely how western writers today can rebuild their market space.

The story itself is funny at times, hilarious at others, and the ranch, the hands and the working life of a cowpuncher described with great flair and accuracy. Overlooked as a western novel, but praised as a mystery, HOLMES ON THE RANGE delivers the goods on both genres with wit, charm and excellent writing. That said, there are also plenty of times where the storyline is serious and the scenes intense...

Full Review

2007-05-29T12:42:00.000-05:00

BOOK REVIEWS: Why these books are engrossing is no mystery

"Her name is Enola Holmes and she is the much-younger sister of the celebrated fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his brilliant older brother Mycroft. Enola is a girl with spunk and smarts, which are put to the test when her mother disappears on Enola's 14th birthday. Enola's older brothers, both conventional Victorians, believe that a finishing school is the best place for their untamed sister. Enola, however, has other plans. After a daring escape from her country home, Enola heads to London where -- using all of Sherlock Holmes' methods of disguise and then some -- she sets herself up in London as a woman detective, solving cases as she avoids her brothers' attempts to discover her whereabouts..."

Complete Article

2007-05-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes tour far from elementary, my dear Watson

Titchard, a Sherlockian scholar, is tour guide on a walk that gives visitors a taste of places associated with the Great Detective.
Along the way he demolishes a number of myths that have grown around the hero of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation.
For a start, however, we have to play a game, the only rule of which is that we accept that Holmes and Watson, Moriarty and Irene Adler and all the rest were real people and not an author's inventions.
So now, "The game is afoot!" to borrow a quote from The Abbey Grange.
First, those myths. Says Titchard: "Let's talk about the meerschaum pipe he never smoked, the deerstalker cap he never wore and the Inverness cape he never had."
Full Article

2007-05-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

Holmes Fans Mark Birthday at Baskervilles
The West End cast of The Hound of the Baskervilles joined members of the Sherlock Holmes Society to celebrate the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the brainchild behind the world’s most loved detective.

Full Article & Photos

2005-05-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

'A Slight Trick of the Mind' - New York Times:

'Is that true? Are you really him?'
'I am afraid I still hold that distinction.'
'You are Sherlock Holmes? No, I don't believe it.'
'That is quite all right. I scarcely believe it myself.'

2005-05-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

Sherlockians recall hero's fate with Multnomah Falls cortege:

One hundred-and-fourteen years ago, the evil Professor James Moriarty pitched Sherlock Holmes over Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps. Sherlockians the world 'round have neither forgotten nor forgiven.
That's why you might see as many as 50 ladies and gentlemen in Victorian frock coats, top hats and mourning crepe laboring up the path toward Multnomah Falls this morning, accompanied by a bagpiper. They're members of the Sherlock Holmes Society of Portland Oregon, aka the Noble and Most Singular Order of the Blue Carbuncle, and this is their annual Reichenbach Day, which commemorates Holmes' final sad trajectory.

2005-04-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

The Globe and Mail: Holmes eternal:

Very nice round-up of recent Sherlockian tomes...

At least a half dozen titles have come my way in the past year alone, the footprints of a gigantic horde. Michael Chabon's The Final Solution (4th Estate, 131 pages, $23.95) is an elegiac and elegant novella that finds an ancient and physically decrepit (never mentally so) Holmes facing the mystery of a mute boy, a talking parrot and the Nazi threat to England. Set just a few years later, in 1947, is U.S, writer Mitch Cullin's affecting A Slight Trick of the Mind (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, 253 pages, $33.95). It follows a 93-year-old Holmes, now sustained by royal jelly (a product of the bees he keeps in retirement) though a three-headed tale which takes him to Japan and back to Baker Street. Both Chabon and Cullin humanize Holmes considerably, while also exploring the effects of age and memory...

2005-04-26T22:28:00.000-05:00

What Rough Beast H. R. Knight Book Review:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the very popular Sherlock Holmes series, has killed Holmes at Reichenbach Falls and his public clamors for more. During Harry Houdini’s show, Conan Doyle agrees to bring back Holmes to distract the audience from a dangerous situation on stage that may very well kill Houdini. True to form, Houdini escapes and invites Conan Doyle to watch the unmasking of a fake medium. Instead, they unleash chaos.
Houdini, Conan Doyle and a group of acquaintances witness a bizarre and arcane ritual that ends in the release of a demon that possesses one of them and unleashes a siege of madness into staid Victorian London. Each feels first a creative fire and then violent madness. It could be any one of them, and time is running out.

2005-04-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

The old-folk Holmes loses a step:

Parodies or other-authored sequels rarely match their originals. That being the case, Cullin still had a unique opportunity to improve his odds. After all, 'A Slight Trick of the Mind' is being touted as the work of an author who, at age 15, explored one of the largest and best collections of Holmes memorabilia. Were not Conan Doyle's own writings on Holmes' personality among the documents? In a 1923 essay, 'The Truth About Sherlock Holmes,' Conan Doyle expresses gratitude to Holmes for being a 'good friend.' But he also insists, 'If I have sometimes been inclined to weary of him, it is because his character admits of no light or shade. He is a calculating machine, and anything you add to that weakens the effect.'

2005-04-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

SHERLOCK HOLMES, REVISITED: Mitch Cullin imagines the fictional detective at 93, absorbing loss and protecting desire:

In 'A Slight Trick of the Mind,' Cullin imagines Holmes in 1947, which would make him 93. Holmes is living in the Sussex countryside, retiring to his study every night to deal with reams of correspondence from his admirers. Holmes tosses most letters aside; he has never suffered fools, and old age has made him even more impatient.
Instead, with Watson gone, he finds himself writing about a case from 1902, when he was at the top of his powers.

2005-04-26T22:15:00.000-05:00

Eeveyone's favorite sleuth - The Washington Times: Books - April 24, 2005:

Review of the new "Annotated Holmes"...

'Mr. Holmes, they are the footprints of a horde of imitators,' one might say of traces left by the many dozens (probably hundreds) of acts of homage, pastiche, and parody that have emerged in the century since Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) finally bid farewell to his immortal creations Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson...

2005-04-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes at Box Office Prophets Shiny Things

Sherlock Holmes Mysteries

For a ten-year span - from 1984 to 1994 - the British TV production house Granada Television adapted a number of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories and novels for the small screen. Starring Jeremy Brett as the master detective, and David Burke and later Edward Hardwicke as his Boswell, the stories were hailed by Sherlockians for being largely faithful adaptations of the Canon (the Universal film series having been updated to then-present-day England). These productions are currently being run by The Biography Channel, and what a delight they are...

2005-04-08T18:56:00.000-05:00

Wrongly jailed man is honoured - Evening Times

"THE first victim of miscarriage of justice in Scotland has been given a tribute in his home city.

Oscar Slater, who with the help of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was pardoned after serving 19 years' hard labour for a murder he didn't commit, has finally been honoured in Glasgow.

A pub in the west end of the city has been re-named "Oscar Slater's" as an unofficial memorial to the man..."

2005-04-05T18:36:00.000-05:00

Watching the Detective
Sherlock Holmes lives on—in fan societies, annotated versions, and new adventures

From the Village Voice

"...In 1933, Christopher Morley started the Baker Street Irregulars, the first society devoted to the scholarly study of the canon. You may well be aware of it, but did you know that it's one of over 400 active Sherlockian associations? (Scion societies, they're called, and some of them seem to be narrow offshoots indeed. The Companions of Jefferson Hope, headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, is composed of Sherlockians who have had aortic aneurysms. Both the Blanched Soldiers of NOAH and the Sir James Saunders Society are made up of Sherlockian dermatologists. His Last Miaow brings together Sherlockians "who have lived with cats.")

One needn't search for a reason why enthusiasts of any stripe would band together to share their enthusiasm. That noted, it may be said of the Irregulars and its scion societies that their être is possessed of a singular raison. Members prioritize the voluntary suspension of disbelief upon which the enjoyment of fiction is predicated. As far as they're concerned, Holmes and Watson were real people, and the sacred canon consists of Watson's actual reports. Yes, Sir Arthur's name appears as a byline, but he was at once a trusted friend and literary agent, and may indeed have done some editorial tinkering. And either he or Watson has done some fictionalizing, changing names and addresses and disguising circumstances, but surely much of the truth can be ferreted out by painstaking scholarship..."

2005-03-24T02:03:00.000-05:00

Gardner to Pen New Moriarty Novel

From CommanderBond.net

"John Gardner, author of 14 original James Bond novels and 2 Bond novelizations, has announced via his official website that he has signed a contract to pen a third book in his series of novels chronicling the nefarious activities of Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, 'The Godfather of the gaslight era.'

Gardner wrote his first two Moriarty novels, The Return of Moriarty (1974) and The Revenge of Moriarty (1975) before he took on duties as Bond novelist in 1981."

2005-03-23T00:33:00.000-05:00

That, dear Watson, is not correct
- View of ‘distorted’ Andaman

telegraphindia.com

No pygmy race has been accounted for in volumes of anthropology. The characteristics fit none of the living tribes. But by 1889, when the Sign of the Four was first published, the distant islands had already gained notoriety in England. They had been colonised in 1789 and abandoned in 1796 due to difficult climate, only to be re-established as a penal colony in 1858.

Holmes reads out this passage from a gazetteer to Watson: “The aborigines of the Andaman Islands may perhaps claim the distinction of being the smallest race upon this earth… They are a fierce, morose, and intractable people, though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained…”

This lively image fits none of the natives of the Andamans (there is no reference to the Nicobars).

2005-03-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

Scotland 'should retake Holmes' - Scotsman.com

Mr Boyle said: "I think we should retake Sherlock Holmes. You look at the worldwide web and you will find that all the web businesses based round Sherlock Holmes are in London, they’re in Illinois, they are in Switzerland.

"Sherlock Holmes is a product of Scottish mind, born in Scotland, trained in Scotland.

"Why don’t we own him? It’s perfectly reasonable that you should have large businesses built round Sherlock Holmes in London, but if people want a whole range of things from academic thought to cheap souvenirs, we may as well do that.

2005-03-19T15:13:00.000-05:00

Free Sherlock Holmes Audio Books at Project Gutenberg.

Project Gutenberg offers audio book versions of select works in it's enormous collection of public domain texts. Some are available as computer generated readings but the following are the far preferable human read selections they have available.

Browse By Category: Audio Book, human-read - Project Gutenberg:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (English)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (English)
The Last Bow (English)
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (English)
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (English)
The Sign of the Four (English)
A Study in Scarlet (English)
The Valley of Fear (English)

2005-03-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

On Books: New Annotated Sherlock Holmes - Palm Beach Post

It's finally here. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes takes up where the late, and heretofore definitive William Baring-Gould edition left off. Not only do the two volumes offer all the short stories — a volume to be published next year will encompass the four novels — there is an elegant and loving introduction by John Le Carre, of which the above quotes are a fair example, and a preface by editor Leslie Klinger that amounts to a sort of justification for the new edition.

Buy The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories

2005-03-17T14:50:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes Sent on Daring New Adventures by Author Luke Steven Fullenkamp

Sherlock Holmes And The Search For Excalibur

From Press Release...

Luke Steven Fullenkamp has recently published the third and final book in a trilogy continuing the story of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle left off, reinventing the classic crime solvers and adding enough adventure and romance to introduce Holmes and Watson as they’ve never been seen before...

Fullenkamp has re-imagined the detective characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while adding adventure and romance elements to the mystery core of the classic books. In each of his books, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are sent on daring adventures unlike anything they have ever experienced before.

“Holmes purists of today might very well despise this book because of its fork off of the ‘Doyle’ beaten path,” said William Fox, a reviewer from Los Angeles. “I believe that is what will make thousands more love it. It's a Holmes and Watson who people can relate to, and believe existed! ... Sherlock Holmes has gone from a living calculator to an actual human with emotions and an occasional humor to him.”

Buy Sherlock Holmes And The Search For Excalibur

2005-03-15T21:30:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Vanishing Robbers

By Laurance R. Doyle

SETI Institute
posted: 10 March 2005
06:25 am ET

Author’s note: When I once read that Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes did not care about the Earth’s orbit I thought it might be a good idea to have him collaborate with the Royal Greenwich Observatory. So being in both the "Doyle" and the "Astronomy" Clans, I thought I’d give it a go. So here is the two-part "Case of the Vanishing Robbers" -- Laurance R. Doyle

"But how did the men escape without being noticed? Can they have retraced their footsteps? And the box? And the funny crisscross prints in the mud? And the hole with the metal bottles in it?"

"Now Watson, you know how I dislike to give away the answer before it is time. You have always, I assume, enjoyed, or at least tolerated, my flair for the dramatic up to now. Patience, and you will come to hear it all. But I will tell you this. By the way these men tried to cover their escape, we know that they will undoubtedly try another robbery soon." With that we flagged down a carriage.

"Coachman," said Holmes, "to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. They will certainly be up on such a clear night."

"What?" I said, more than mildly surprised. "I thought you had no interest in astronomy? You once said that it didn’t matter to you whether the Sun went around the Earth, or the Earth around the Sun."

"I may have been premature, Watson. At any rate, it is never too late to learn something new, eh?" he said with a grin. The complicated whims of this man never ceased to surprise me.

2005-03-07T00:10:00.000-05:00

Otto Plaschkes - Obit - Times Online

Otto Plaschkes
Film producer whose Georgy Girl helped to set the tone for Sixties Swinging London

OTTO PLASCHKES was an Austrian-born Jew who escaped the Nazis in the Thirties and helped to define the image of Swinging London in the Sixties when he produced the film Georgy Girl. He worked with such varied British talents as David Lean, Harold Pinter and Ewan McGregor, and it is believed that William Golding used him as the model for the bespectacled schoolboy Piggy in Lord of the Flies, a claim the author apparently never denied...

...Subsequent films include the military drama The Bofors Gun (1968); Butley (1976), which starred Bates as a homosexual teacher and was directed by Harold Pinter; Hopscotch (1980), an espionage comedy with Glenda Jackson and Walter Matthau; and The Holcroft Covenant (1985), a thriller with Michael Caine. There were TV adaptations of The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles (both 1983), with Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes.

2005-03-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

Egad, Holmes! To Jail? - New York Times

Q. You recently wrote that the literary Sherlock Holmes had never been to New York. But wasn't his great portrayer, Basil Rathbone, once arrested in New York

A. He certainly was, on an indecency charge, no less, along with his fellow cast members of "The Captive," when the police shut down that play in 1927.

It was the era of Prohibition, and the administration of the ethically dubious Mayor Jimmy Walker was eager to deflect complaints about bootlegging and bribery by showing it was cracking down on corruption. So the police took it out on Broadway, in a series of raids on "corrupt" productions...

2005-01-20T05:12:00.000-05:00

BBC Cult presents Sherlock Holmes...

Five unusual new cases for the world's greatest detective. Read by Andrew Sachs and Hannah Gordon.

2004-12-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

BBC - Drama - Sherlock Holme s

The famous detective returns to BBC ONE, on the hunt for a serial killer in this one-off special. Rupert Everett stars as the illustrious Sherlock Holmes, with Ian Hart as his sidekick Dr Watson.

Ian Hart had his first outing as Dr Watson in BBC's 2002 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles - starring alongside Moulin Rouge!'s Richard Roxburgh as Holmes.

2004-12-29T22:13:00.000-05:00

Scotsman.com - Eat, drink and watch telly

...But in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (today, BBC1, 9.25pm), the eagle-eyed (and eagle-beaked) detective, played by Rupert Everett, has hung up his magnifying glass, concentrating instead on feeding his opium habit in the darkest and foggiest corners of old London town - clever use of three trillion smoke machines can cunningly disguise a multitude of 21st-century sins. It takes a visit to Baker Street from old mate Dr Watson (Ian Hart) to coax Holmes out of retirement and help solve a case that threatens the very core of the aristocracy. In this original tale written by Allan Cubitt, Everett portrays the master sleuth with the haughtiness and asexuality expected from the role. Sadly, despite his movie pedigree, Everett’s Holmes lacks the sharpness and depth other actors have brought to the part, creating a character who is just too smooth and superficial. Nevertheless, I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of it....

2004-12-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

Christainity Today - The Top Ten Books of 2004

"# 5 - The Final Solution. Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate). Pastiches of Sherlock Holmes are a dime a dozen, and while the good ones are delectable I tend to avoid the genre. What Michael Chabon has produced is not only a brilliant homage to Holmes and his creator—a story set in 1944, imagining the great detective as a very old man—but the single most accomplished work of fiction I read this year, joyful and sorrowful in full measure. First published a year earlier in The Paris Review, this novella brims over with great talent exuberantly put to work. (The audio version, read by Michael York, is superb.)"

2004-09-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

Buy Sherlock Holmes Limited Edition Prints at FantasticSherlockHolmes.Com

via Sherlockian.Net

"We at Fantastic Publishing are passionate about Sherlock Holmes and for a long time we have been dying to see him drawn as we imagined him in our minds eye. In May this year, we decided we couldn’t wait any longer – and Fantastic Publishing was born.

A Study in Scarlet, the very first Sherlock Holmes adventure, was for us the obvious place to start. This first set of limited edition prints is the result of a lot of love, time, effort and attention to detail. Our intention is not only to appeal to existing Sherlock Holmes fans, but also to nurture a whole new generation of aficionados through this new, edgy interpretation of The Master Detective."

2004-09-06T00:03:00.000-05:00

The Final Solution : A Story of Detection

Michael Chabon, author of the Pullitzer Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, has a new Sherlock Holmes pastiche - The Final Solution : A Story of Detection on offer for the fall. It doesn't come out until November but is already avavilable for pre-order at the usual spots including amazon.com

2004-07-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Britannia Biographies:

"What a debt we all owe to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes, one of the most exciting figures in all of English fiction, not to mention Holmes' lovable, genial compan"

2004-07-22T17:31:00.000-05:00

Local guide - billingsgazette.com:

... "A one-man show about 'The Demons of Sherlock Holmes' comes out of good teenage mental health, according to Cody Stage owner Joe Sears.Sears booked the play not only for entertainment, but to exemplify the good mental health teens can achieve when allowed to explore their goals and receive encouragement in any endeavor, he said."...

2004-07-22T17:29:00.000-05:00

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Crime crown goes to Christie:

... "Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of famous Baker Street resident Sherlock Holmes, won second place in the poll. US crime writer Patricia Cornwell came in a close third for her novel"...

2004-07-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

Duke of Hollywell:

"This is a bit of find - the only surviving recording of a performance by Ben Wright and Eric Snowden from late 1949.
The plot concerns the Duke of Hollywell, who introducing himself as 'John Smith' attempts to commission Holmes to find out the identity of someone who is blackmailing him over (ahem) 'supper' with an actress. The Duke, being a somewhat dim old buffer, refuses to disclose the name of the actress. Holmes turns down the case (and �1,000 fee), exit Duke stage left and possibly the shortest ever Holmes adventure."

2004-06-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

Amnews.com - 'Sherlock's Secret Life' reviewed:

"'Sherlock's Secret Life,' written by Ed Lange, with music by Will Severin, is 'a mystery about mysterious woman (played by Diana Cherkas) with amnesia who comes between Sherlock (Michael Muldoon) and Watson (Paul Angelo, as the younger Watson). She tests the loyalty and friendship of the detecting duo, Henson adds. "

2004-06-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Quotes of the Day:
"Nowhere does Conan Doyle refer to Sherlock Holmes as a great, fat wobbly lard bucket, so I will have to do something about it" The portly Stephen Fry who is to play the great detective in a forthcoming TV production."

2004-06-21T00:44:00.000-05:00

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Home Page:

"This is the Official web site of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. It includes a specially written biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and you can find information on his books and the films which were inspired by his writing.
There are also detailed pages about some of Conan Doyle's famous characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Brigadier Gerard and Professor Challenger which are linked to the full Bibliography. For those of you looking for extra information on Sherlock Holmes, visit the Sherlock Holmes pages."

2004-06-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

Gay actors line up for Sherlock Holmes specials | Headlines | News | Gay.com UK

"Two of the country's most famous gay actors will fight it out later this year, with both appearing as Sherlock Holmes on different channels.

Stephen Fry and Rupert Everett will both star as the quintessentially English detective in new productions for ITV and BBC respectively."

2004-06-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

The curious case of the typing mistake ...: "David had written four fictional books and four or five non-fictional backgrounders on the world's favourite detective.
Add to that his output as editor of Sherlock magazine (six times a year) and as a member of the national committee of the Crime Writers' Association he edits their monthly magazine Red Herrings.
Oh yes, and his award-winning play Sherlock Holmes - The Last Act is still touring.
So it is ironic that the idea for his latest book came about through a mistake."

2004-06-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Edinburgh - Conan Doyle notebook is snapped up by surgeons: "Conan Doyle notebook is snapped up by surgeons

"THE Royal College of Surgeons has swooped for a notebook belonging to Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The notebook, which the college purchased at auction, includes a hand-written version of the author's second novel, The American. "

2004-06-05T16:58:00.000-05:00

ic Birmingham - Baskerville claim rubbished

"Claims that one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes' tales had its origins in the Midlands have provoked a furore among tourist officials in Devon.

The Hound of of Baskervilles is traditionally known to have been set on the foggy landscapes of Dartmoor.

But thriller writer Phil Rickman has caused anger by claiming that Herefordshire may have played an important part in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story."

2004-06-05T16:55:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

About.com page on the classic novel.

2004-06-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

The Sherlock Holmes Chronicles - Read and search all of the Sherlock Holmes books!: "The People and Places of Sherlock Holmes"

2004-05-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lots of useful information - an excellent starting point for Sherlockians new to the Web

2004-05-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes creator's papers sold

"Thousands of personal papers belonging to Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, fetched $1.7 million at an auction Wednesday, with many items sold to private U.S. collectors."

2004-05-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

Scotsman.com News - Entertainment - Arts - �30,000 secures Conan Doyle letters

"GLASGOW City Council has bought a rich trove of papers revealing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s long campaign to free Oscar Slater, the man convicted in one of Scotland’s most notorious murder cases.

It includes the letter by Slater, who stood trial in Edinburgh in 1909 for the murder of Marion Gilchrist, a wealthy spinster, which was famously smuggled out of Peterhead Prison hidden in a fellow inmate’s dentures.

Glasgow made the successful bid of £30,000 in a contentious auction of the Sherlock Holmes author’s papers this week, buying the documents for their reserve price. "

2004-05-18T20:43:00.000-05:00

Bloomberg.com: U.K.- "Conan Doyle Sale Stirs Protests From British Library:

"Papers from the desk of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of fictional pipe-smoking detective May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Papers from the desk of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of fictional pipe-smoking detective Sherlock Holmes, are scheduled to be auctioned in London on Wednesday by Christie's International Plc for as much as an estimated 1.5 million pounds ($2.7 million) amid protests from the British Library.

``This is important material that hasn't been seen before, and it's a matter of regret that it's being broken up and sold at auction,'' said Catriona Finlayson, a spokeswoman for the British Library, which has been collecting manuscripts since the 18th century. While Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, many of his manuscripts are in the U.S., and the auction may put more of them there, she said in an interview. "

2004-05-17T12:40:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes and the case of the vanishing treasures

via Scotsman.com

SCOTLAND’S foremost expert on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has launched a last-minute campaign to ensure that recently-discovered papers by the Sherlock Holmes author, which are due to be auctioned by Christie’s, are saved for the British nation.

Owen Dudley Edwards, a historian at Edinburgh University and editor of The Oxford Sherlock Holmes, is calling on the government to step in to ensure that a key part of the Edinburgh-born author’s legacy is saved for researchers and the public.

"When this sale was announced there was tremendous surprise and anger," he said. "I am thinking about posterity - for the next 100 to 200 years."

2004-05-17T12:34:00.000-05:00

Conan Doyle Archive Goes on Display

via Newsday

LONDON -- Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts got a rare glimpse into the private world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as thousands of personal papers -- from his passport to his jotted-down story ideas -- went on display Friday.

At the same time, the archive has become entwined in a mystery worthy of Conan Doyle's celebrated fictional detective: the bizarre death of a leading Holmes scholar.

2004-05-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes in Washington DVD - Basil Rathbone

2004-05-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

Sherlocktron's Holmepage

Willis G. Frick's Sherlocktron was one of the first Sherlockian resources on the net that I ever visited. Though it hasn't been updated in awhile it still has masses of useful links and information plus some examples of Mr. Frick's scholarship.

2004-05-07T20:41:00.000-05:00

On The Question of Sherlock's Oldest Brother
by Willis G. Frick

2004-04-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

A truly bizarre and tragic turn of events.
An awful loss to Sherlockian scholarship.
An ironic end perhaps, in a strange way, befitting one so driven to study the history of the world's greatest fictional detective.

Sherlock Holmes expert dies in mysterious circumstances

via www.nzherald.co.nz

SHERLOCK HOLMES EXPERT GARROTTED

via www.mirror.co.uk

"THE world's leading expert on fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was found garrotted in bed, an inquest heard yesterday.

A shoelace had been tightened around Richard Lancelyn Green's neck using a wooden spoon."

2004-04-24T16:26:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

New Review at sherlockholmeslibrary.com

2004-04-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

Radio Beat: Program diversity is KBCS's strength: "# The Sunday edition of Jim French's 'Imagination Theatre,' heard at 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on KIXI-AM (880), includes a new Sherlock Holmes adventure."

2004-04-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | British Library puts sound archive online: "Examples held on the British Library site include a live recording of Paul Robeson in Othello, Florence Nightingale speaking in one of the earliest sound recordings, as well as the genesis of Sherlock Holmes. "

Listen to Arthur Conan Doyle (1min 56secs)

2004-04-20T21:48:00.000-05:00

The Return of Sherlock Holmes Vol. 2 DVD - Jeremy Brett

New Review posted at SherlockHolmesLibrary.com

2004-04-15T12:05:00.000-05:00

The Truth About the Speckled Band
by Laurence M. Klauber

Nice reprint from a 1948 issue of The Baker Street Journal,
found in, of all places, the San Diego Natural History Museum website.

excerpt:
"That the causative agent in the deaths of Julia Stoner and Dr. Roylott could have been no "adder" is immediately apparent to anyone having even the most superficial knowledge of ophiology. It has been carelessly suggested that the reptile was the common Indian snake variously known as Russell's viper, tic-polonga, or daboia (Vipera russelli russelli).[8] Nothing could be more incredible. The daboia is a bulky, lethargic snake growing to a length of 5½ feet."

2004-04-11T10:53:00.000-05:00

Watch the cartoon series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century online at Yahooligans! TV.

2004-04-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

2004-04-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

Sherlockholmeslibrary.com has a new DVD review for Arthur Wontner's The Sign of Four

2004-04-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

Sherlock Holmes on the Web: the Sherlockian.Net Holmepage

Amazing website edited by renowned Sherlockian Chris Redmond. Simply an astonishing selection of links to all things related to Conan Doyle's master sleuth.

My highest recommendation.

2004-04-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

New Review up at SherlockHolmesLibrary.com

DVD The Return of Sherlock Holmes Vol.1 starring Jeremy Brett

2004-04-01T23:47:00.000-05:00

Froogle Search: sherlock holmes hat

Selection of Deerstalkers found through Google's Froogle. Prices range from under $10 to $300!

Searching for Deerstalker Hat pulled up only a couple of matches.

2004-04-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

Variety: CBS adds CSI:Baker Street to fall lineup

"CBS announced today that a fourth installment of its popular CSI franchise would be added to the skein's Friday night line-up beginning this September. CSI : Baker Street, set to star Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Oliver Platt (Deadline) will play Holmes' trusty side-kick Dr. Watson while TV vet Charlotte Rae (The Facts of Life) has been cast as the duo's wacky landlady Mrs. Hudson. Guest stars expected to appear in early episodes will include Bound's Gina Gershon as Irene Adler, Less Than Perfect's Partick Warburton as Brunton the Butler, Nathan Lane as Sherlock's brother Mycroft and TekWar's William Shatner as Inspector Lestrade."

Related:
Entertainment Weekly: "New CSI to expose "sexy, cutting edge Holmes"
TV Guide: "CSI: Baker Street: Not your grandfather's Sherlock Holmes"
The Washington Post (Reg. Req.) : "Newest CSI spinoff involves Buffy's boss and a time machine"

2004-03-30T14:29:00.000-05:00

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Fry and Laurie set for Sherlock

My admiration for Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie quite literally knows no bounds so I have the highest hopes that their toe dip into the pool of Sherlockian screen adaptation will be a pleasant and rewarding one.

2004-03-29T21:29:00.000-05:00

Historic hoaxes | csmonitor.com

Mentions ACD's famous/infamous/rather sad encounters with the Cottingley Fairies