“a fierce old bird of prey” [SPEC]    Birds are part of British life. Such is the reality of living on an island. And there were a great variety of birds we hear about in the Sherlock Holmes stories

“You’re crazy!” [DANC]  Sherlock Holmes had his eccentricities, without a question. Many scholars over the years have debated his mental health, with a wide variety of diagnoses.   But there has been

“to produce his meretricious finales” [BLAN]  There are a number of times in the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories when Holmes criticizes Watson's efforts as a writer. Holmes takes the view of a practitione

“hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind” [FINA]  Family matters a great deal in the Sherlock Holmes stories, although we don't discover anything about Holmes and his family background unti

“a pin, a cork, and a card” [HOUN]   When it came to exotic insects, butterflies were all the rage in Victorian England. They were sought after by naturalists and collectors, to become part of collec

 “extraordinary stories about your financial ability” [STOC]  Money was occasionally a concern for Sherlock Holmes. But when, and more importantly, why? All of those police engagements were likely pr

 “Have you noticed anything amiss with them of late?” [SILV]  "The Three Gables" isn't likely to be found on anyone's "best of" list of Sherlock Holmes stories. It arrives late in the Canon, and rath

 “it was her plot as much as mine” [ABBE]  From the realm of conjecture: what if the star-crossed lovers in "The Adventure of Abbey Grange" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge" weren't simply victims of c

“Maybe you collect yourself, sir” [EMPT]  Sherlock Holmes shared his reading interests on occasion, and they tended to be wide and varied. Some of them were for professional development purposes, yet

“pinned like a beetle on a card” [BLAC]  It's the third week of the month, and that means it's the exotic animal episode. Last month we covered worms, and we mentioned the slow-worm, which Mr. Sherman