2019 saw The Parallel Case of St. Louis outgrowing our old meeting space at a local branch of the St. Louis Public Library. So we moved to a larger meeting room at The Ethical Society of St. Louis, a place that we'd hosted a few movie nights at previously and we had big plans for this year.
We met there once.
As a scion that met every other month, we got our January meeting in with attendance continuing to grow from month-to-month, and we were looking to continue that trend at the March meeting. Well...... we didn't know exactly what this new Covid-19 illness was or how long things would be on hold, so we postponed the meeting, hoping to get together in April. Everyone knows how the Covid thing went, so like many Sherlockian groups, we moved our meetings to Zoom, deciding that meeting via screens was better than not meeting at all.
As the year continued, our meetings were so popular, that we DOUBLED our meeting regularity and were quickly welcoming folks from other states and other countries to our story discussions! Just like many other scions, we soon learned how great it was to fling open the doors and welcome anyone interested, no matter where they lived or how many meetings they'd previously attended (I've very proud to say The Parallel Case of St. Louis has been the first Sherlockian meeting for a handful of new folks this year!)
If you missed our recap posts from each meeting, feel free to check them out below. The discussions get into some great canonical points as well as non-sequiturs that crack everyone up!
January: The Final Problem
March/April: The Hound of the Baskervilles
May: The Empty House
July: The Norwood Builder
August: The Dancing Men
September: The Solitary Cyclist
October: The Priory School
November: Black Peter
December: Charles Augustus Milverton
But our thoughts on the Canon and Sherlockiana weren't contained to just meeting discussions! 2020 saw a huge influx of blog posts from members of the Parallel Case. They ranged from a medical view of the Canon to how Ghostbusters is related to The Hound of the Baskervilles. So many great thoughts were shared on the blog this year, and I'm already looking forward to what our members will come up with for 2021. But before we move forward, a quick look back at some of the amazing scholarship form this year:
The Terror of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Heather Hinson
The Adventure of the Baffled Critic by William R. Cochran
Can We Trust the Canon? by Tom Crammond
Holmes, Heroic, Hiatus: A Man to Match the Swiss Mountains by Gordon Speck
A Short But Interesting Visit by Ed Moorman
The World View of Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes by Kevin Letts
Jonas Oldacre: Norwood Builder by Rich Krisciunas
What Gun Did Abe Slaney Use in the Adventure of the Dancing Men? by Michael W.
Scriptor Subpono: The Solitary Cyclist by Andrew Basford
Medical Musings from the Sherlock Holmes Canon by Srini Raghavan
The blog is always open to folks who would like to see their thoughts in print, so if you have an idea you'd like to write up please let us know!
On the down side, The Parallel Case of St. Louis was poised to host a second Holmes in the Heartland in 2020 with an impressive lineup of speakers, vendors, games, tours, and fun. Although it wasn't safe for anyone to travel to St. Louis or for people to gather, we are too stubborn to completely cancel the event, so we are looking forward to everyone joining us in St. Louis NEXT summer, July 9-11, 2021. And luckily, every single one of our speakers has committed to be there, so if you were excited about it, mark your calendars!
2020 has been quite a year, but the Parallel Case of St. Louis weathered the storm in admirable Sherlockian spirit. If you'd like to join in, you can be added to our email list by contacting parallelcasestl @ gmail.com or following us on Facebook and Twitter. And please join us at our next meeting on January 16 to discuss The Six Napoleons. Zoom at once if convenient!
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