Have just been wired for from the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. (BOSC)

Yesterday the Parallel Case had our meeting, centering on "The Boscombe Valley Mystery". Our first meeting in a few months, we had much to catch up on! And today was extra special because it was my first time leading the meeting as leader. Six people attended including myself.

Sherlockian news was discussed first:

•  International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes- everyone got a chance to go and loved it! The exhibit made a huge impression on the city and it was a great thing to bring Sherlock Holmes back into the mainstream public. I, myself only got to go once, but I can say it was both informative and enjoyable. I will post a review and pictures soon!
• BSI Weekend 2015- sadly, I was away at a compounding boot camp learning how to make lollipops and capsules, so I did not get to go. However, we did discuss some of the interesting new investitures. Congrats to everyone who got their shilling this year!
• The "lost" Sherlock Holmes story- revealed to be mere fan fiction. Still, the great debacle it caused over Twitter was definitely something to talk about.
• The Baker Street webseries. Definitely worth a watch! Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6m8pknf2xi8pEsrUqPSgIY2b7QWeGXwa
• Upcoming events:
• Holmes, Doyle, and Friends conference: http://www.agratreasurers.net/holmes--doyle----friends.html
• 221B Con! See you there!

 Next, we discussed the story itself.

• Historical context- during the time the story was written, Australia was regarded as a "wild frontier", having a violent history, and the people were rallying for independence. So the story makes sense in a historical context as violence being typical of Australian crimes.
• Quiz
• We listened to a bit of the radio drama by Bert Coules

One of our members got an excellent book analyzing all of the crime scenes in the canon, so he brought it and we all passed it around to look at a map of the Boscombe Pond.

Closing remarks

• Next movie night will be on Saturday, March 14 at 7PM at the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy- room TBA
• Planning a special dinner for Helen- please let us know if you have ideas!
• Recruitment ideas?

 I run a tight ship, so we got out a half-hour early. The snow was really coming down, so yours truly had to leave as quickly as possible to avoid an accident! However, I did make it home safely. 

The best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were beaten by a woman's wit.

Some of the best evenings have uneventful beginnings, no? One similarity between SCAN, our month's story, and the evening, was that it started out as a typical series of events. Three members had already arrived. Your faithful chronicler was running late to dinner because she decided to take a cardboard cutout of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the restaurant before the meeting started. It started pouring rain outside the moment my foot got in the door, so it was fortunate that we got our usual spot inside the restaurant rather than outside on the patio.

Conversation was abuzz with excitement about what Sherlockian events are coming up. For the first time in ten years, the Silver Blaze race sponsored by the Noble Bachelors is going to be held again! Also coming up is the Gillette to Brett IV conference in Indianopolis, and the Sherlock Holmes exhibition at the St. Louis Science Center in October. Also, I will be at the Archon 38 for the Parallel Case table in Collinsville this October so be sure to stop by and say hello if you will be there as well!

By the end of dinner, we had seven members, and two more met us at Big Sleep Books, where we usually meet. As usual, we discussed upcoming local Sherlockian events, and then moved onto the story.

Now this is a controversial one, because we receive an introduction to the (in)famous Ms. Adler, with whom even the great Sherlock Holmes is impressed. In the Canon, she is a quick-thinking, decisive woman who wishes to move on with her new husband and new life, done with the pompous King of Bohemia. In fanon, she has taken many faces. She has become a wife, a companion, a friend, and a nemesis to Holmes, and sometimes more than one of these at the same time. Pastiches write her in roles more close to the canon, such as actress, singer, and courtesan, to roles such as thief and professional spy.

Naturally, our first topic was to discuss why we are so fascinated with her. We didn't arrive at a conclusion, but we discussed many other things by way of this thread. Perhaps Holmes had a bad experience with women, and his distaste for them stemmed from that, despite his calculating and logical exterior (as per Watson).

We discussed what could have been in the picture that was so controversial that the king needed for it to be destroyed. Could it have been pornographic? We doubt it, since someone else would have needed to be there in order to take the picture. They say two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead. So that wasn't too likely. Someone had a theory that the picture was of Adler wearing the crown jewels, implying royalty. This would have certainly incited gossip and profound royal chaos.

Mycroft and Moriarty also came up in conversation. In pastiche it seems like when the two are the main focus of the story, they are more or less alternate versions of Sherlock Holmes. Moriarty is the evil version, and Mycroft is the fatter, less ambitious version. We all have our likes and dislikes.

We discussed more pastiches as well. I rarely read them myself, having vowed to accumulate as little as possible. However, there were some interesting ones that people were reading.

At last, the evening was winding down. I left Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the window of Big Sleep Books. If you are ever in the Central West End, do give him a visit- and perhaps, your patronage.

It's my party and I dance if I want.

Today's kind of a special post because usually I keep activity to what happens in the Parallel Case meetings. However, you're in for a special treat because I went to the Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn meeting and I got to lead!

Be forewarned, I get to color this one

Read more under the cut!

The Sign of Five

Yesterday the Parallel Case of St. Louis met for the April meeting. This month, the story we discussed was the one for which we are named, The Sign of Four.

The weather was so mild and sunny that we decided to sit out on the patio and watch clouds go by as we ate. It was a small group today, just five people who met at Dressel's Pub. Later on, we headed to Big Sleep Books as per usual and started out our discussion.

In this story, Watson finds a wife while on the case with Holmes. The case involves two puzzles. A young woman, Mary Morstan, had been receiving fine pearls from a mysterious benefactor once a year after answering an anonymous query in the newspaper asking for her identity. Secondly, her father had mysteriously vanished one day after telegraphing her of his return to London after being stationed in India. Next, a letter arrives telling her that she has been wronged and has requested a meeting.

Relating to the Sign of Four we discussed what the canon would be like if Watson had never found a wife. Joe brought up that there's something special in the opening moments of each story where the two are lounging around in friendly company, discussing anything and everything. In these scenes we get to see glimpses of Holmes' multi-dimensional character rather than the calculating detective that clients see.

This story is one of the more action-packed ones with the chase through the Thames and Toby sniffing around for clues. This would have been one story that Gatiss and Moffat wouldn't have had trouble adapting, what with all of the running around in Doctor Who. And it's the only story that Watson directly kills someone.

We also discussed whether Watson was actually a good physician. I think that he probably wasn't, what with prescribing brandy for just about everything. Also, he seems to have awful bed side manner by the way he treats Thaddeus Sholto by calling him a hypochondriac and keeps getting annoyed at him.

And then we had to discuss our reactions to Series 3. We were all baffled by the revelation of Mary's true character (which I will not spoil.)

We did something a bit differently today. I had made up a quiz to pass out at my Moriarty panel, which our leader asked me to bring. I brought these posters as prizes, both ones that I got from 221B Con.

Joe gave us all magnets from the last Sherlock Holmes conference that the Parallel Case did in 2005 called "Holmes under the Arch". Here's a picture of it.

And Gordon gave us the most clever presents. We each received Five Orange....Peeps. (The Five Orange Pips). I'd never actually eaten peeps before in my life before this.

Some of us plan to drive to the conference in Bloomington, IN called "From Gillette to Brett" on September 12-14 , so if you're in the area and you want a ride, let us know!

I also have another movie night planned for Friday, April 18th.

I've been putting our events as well as other local ones on our Sherlockian calendar: LINK
and I've put up some useful links up on the webpage so we can all entertain ourselves while the next season of Sherlock comes out: LINK

With that, the meeting adjourned.

There are always some lunatics about. The world would be utterly dull without them.

Today is a cause for celebration for the first blog post of the Parallel Case of Saint Louis, our BSI scion society. For fifteen years, we have gone without an updated internet presence and at last we start anew.

December of 2013 marked our 25th year of activity, and we look forward to many more.

Conveniently enough for the occasion, we discussed A Study In Scarlet on our first meeting of the year. Six members were in attendance despite the chilling weather, iced roads, and the promise of snow on the dark and lonely drive home.

We began our meeting with dinner at Dressel's Pub in the Central West End of Saint Louis. There, we welcomed a new member, Mia, to our society.

At the last meeting in December, we actually had a previous discussion about the Mormons and other aspects of the story. Prejudice against Mormons during the Victorian era was a topic that we discussed at length, and we discussed similarities of Mormon stereotypes both in the United States and England during that time. Additionally, the modern BBC Sherlock was a hot topic of discussion, so we compared how the show made references to the canon in interesting ways- for example, the canon RACHE scratched into the wall was mistaken to be an unfinished version of "Rachel" only for Holmes to set things straight that it could only be German for "revenge". In "A Study in Pink", it happens the exact opposite way, and the key to solving that case is Miss Rachel indeed!

But enough about the December meeting. At Big Sleep Books, we opened up discussion with other Sherlockian events going on, such as the Noble Bachelor's annual meeting coming up this next weekend! (Will I see you there?)

Topics that we discussed included how much was Watson's salary exactly upon military discharge, and whether it was comfortable enough for him to have lived in a hotel for a week. We all agree that it was not an uncomfortable existence, but how much would it have amounted to? We are still waiting with bated breath waiting for new information from another member to come through.

Additionally, we discussed Holmes' methods of deduction- looking at facts before forming theory, and not falling into the traps of tunnel vision that ensare most of us when solving a mystery (like where my trash bag vouchers are, for example...). And if Watson's impressions of Holmes were accurate from the beginning. (Nope.)

As per the occasion, Gordon and Joe handed round heart shaped boxes of chocolates guarded by Snoopy, the Sherlock Holmes of love. And I, your faithful chronicler, had Valentines from the "Adventure of the Cardboard Box", complete with chocolate ears, ill-trained handwriting, packed in salt for completeness sake.