2021 ended with another delightful meeting as Sherlockians from the St. Louis area, across America, and three other countries met on Zoom to discuss "The Abbey Grange."
As usual, we started off with some news:
Elaine had a fun post on our blog looking at what happens to people who fall in love in the Canon.
Anna Behrens has made some canonical connections to a local play, Trifles, on the blog as well.
The Crew of the Barque Lone Star has their latest collection, Holmes and Me, available on their website.
Our dates for 2022 are listed below. The January meeting will be via Zoom, and the meetings past that will be TBD.
January 8: The Second Stain
March 19: The Valley of Fear
May 14: Wisteria Lodge
July 9: The Red Circle
September 10: The Bruce-Partington Plans
November 12: The Dying Detective
Brad announced the return of The Dangling Prussian on Zoom for anyone who is looking for something to do on the night of the BSI dinner. And Madeline announced that her podcast, Dynamics of a Podcast, will be recording a live episode the following day.
And last but definitely not least.... The Parallel Case is planning to put out a book next year! We are planning on including articles from our old newsletter, The Parallelogram, and blog posts. Look for more news next year.
This month's story starts off with that great line from Holmes, "The game is afoot!"
Holmes wakes Watson with these words and they are off on a case. Ten minutes later, our duo is in a cab on their way to Charing Cross station through "the opalescent London reek." Once they are on the train, Holmes explains to Watson their task via a telegram from Stanley Hopkins:
"I should be very glad of your immediate assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case. It is something quite in your line. Except for releasing the lady I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it, but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave Sir Eustance there."
This is Hopkins's last appearance in the Canon, all of them have been part of The Return stories. Andrew pointed out that all of his stories were published in 1904.
Along the way, Holmes gets in a jab a Watson's writing style, saying he laments that Watson has written his cases up as stories instead of instructions. Arianna said this line always makes her cringe when she comes across it. Watson tells Holmes to write them himself, to which Holmes says he will someday.
Rob noted that when he was reading this story, he realized that the title of Holmes's promised writing was not "The Whole Art of Detection," but that phrase was used as a description instead of a title. He blamed Lyndsay Faye's great pastiche from a few years back for confusing him.
When Holmes and Watson arrive at the crime scene, the Abbey Grange, Hopkins meets them at the door and tells them that the lady of the house has come to and told him everything. She says that it was the Randall gang that committed last night's crime. Hopkins still wants Holmes to hear her story.
The lady opens her story with telling them that her late husband was a drunken jerk. And then rails against the British laws that prevented her from getting a divorce from him. But now, let's actually talk about the dead man.
Lady Brackenstall was turning in for the night after 11 and was checking the windows. The dining room was open and a large, elderly man climbed in. Two younger men followed him. When she tried to scream, the old man hit her and she was knocked out. She awoke tied to a chair with a bell rope.
Sir Eustance heard the commotion and came downstairs with a cudgel. He rushed them and the old man hit him in the head with a fireplace poker, causing her to pass out again. When she came to, the three men had collected all of the silver and where drinking wine. They left and once she could get the gag loose, she screamed for the servants.
Holmes turns to the lady's maid and asks her what she has to say. Theresa says that she saw three men loitering earlier in the night, but thought nothing of it. Later in the night, she heard the scream and came down to find Lady Brackenstall tied to a chair and Sir Eustance dead. She then told the investigators that they had asked enough of her lady, and took her away.
Hopkins tells Holmes that the maid has been with Lady Brackenstall since she was a baby and that they came over from Australia 18 months ago.
Sherlock Holmes has no interest in this case right now. Alisha pointed out that Holmes has his own morality and a terrible man being killed isn't something that bothers him too much. Arianna said we see the same thing with Charles Augustus Milverton.
They go into the study and Eustance Brackenstall lay dead from a head wound. A bent poker is next to him. Holmes notes that the elder Randall must have been very strong to bend a poker over a man's head. Sonia wondered how a man's skull could bend a metal poker. Paul offered that since England left the UK, their standards of production have really gone downhill. Michael wanted everyone to know that Paul delivered that information with a poker face. Joe thought that Holmes knew quickly something was wrong because a gang would have definitely taken more than just the silverware. Alisha agreed that none of Lady Brackenstall's story made sense.
Holmes wonders how the gang knew that no one in the house would hear when they pulled on the bell rope to tie the lady. There were also only a few things taken from the sideboard. Hopkins says that the robbers were too shaken by the man's death to do more. But Holmes wonders why they stayed to drink the wine. And Hopkins says it was to steady their nerves.
There were three glasses of wine left. Only one of them had dregs of beeswing. And now Holmes is suddenly interested in this case.
Holmes ends up taking Lady Brackenstall at her word, but is still troubled by the wine glasses, saying, "Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own, it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simple one is at hand."
Holmes and Watson leave, but Holmes is still puzzled on the way home, going so far as to jump off the train and go back to Abbey Grange. "Every instinct that I possess cries out against it. It's wrong - I'll swear that it's wrong."
Holmes sits Watson down, hoping he will be a conductor of light as he goes over the case. The thieves had just made a good haul a few days ago, so they should be lying low. They broke in earlier in the night than would be expected and thieves don't usually hit women as it makes them scream. And why would they murder Sir Eustance when they had a three to one advantage over them? And why didn't they finish drinking the wine?
And speaking of wine: beeswing was in only one glass. Watson says it's because it was the last glass poured. Holmes says that all three glasses should have the beeswing. But since that's not what they saw, the dregs of two glasses were actually poured into the third glass, proving Lady Brackenstall and her maid lied.
This led to conversation on Petri wine and plenty of people had thoughts on its taste and how scary it would be to drink. Steve had a bottle at home and threatened to make everyone drink it. Bill told about The Occupants of the Empty House tried a bottle one time and everyone spit it back out! Susan remembered the Occupants publishing a series of articles on Petri wine as well.
Holmes and Watson return to Abbey Grange. Hopkins is gone so Holmes investigates the dining room for two hours, paying close attention to the broken rope. And there is also blood splattered on the chair where Lady Brackenstall had apparently been tied up when her husband was murdered.
Stacey really appreciated Watson's description of the Brackenstall dining room and getting to watch Holmes work step-by-step through the investigative process, saying it made this story one of her favorites. Adam said there are a lot of readers who love to see the process.
They talk to Theresa and Lady Brackenstall, asking specifically for the truth. The women stick to their stories. On the way out, Holmes notices that the pond has a hole broken in the ice. He sends a note to Hopkins and they visit the Adelaide-South Hampton shipping line.
There the two learn about Jack Croker (or Crocker in the American text) and they take a cab to Scotland Yard. Holmes rethinks things, sends another telegram, and they go home. Holmes tells Watson that he couldn't tell the police. "I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience."
Hopkins arrives at Baker Street and says he followed Holmes's suggestion and found the stolen silver in the pond, making his case harder. And on top if it all, the Randall gang has been arrested in America this morning! Holmes wishes Hopkins the best, and we do not see him again in any more stories.
After dinner, Captain Croker arrives and tells Holmes to do what he will with him. But Holmes says, "I should not sit here smoking with you if I thought that you were a common criminal, you may be sure of that. Be frank with me, and we may do some good. Play tricks with me, and I'll crush you."
Sherlock Holmes is determined to hear the truth from someone involved in this matter.
Croker tells his story that he fell in love with Lady Brackenstall before she was married, when she sailed on his ship from Australia. He recently ran in to Theresa, and she updated him on how miserable the Lady's life was now. He started visiting her when Eustance was away, and made one last visit last night when Eustance came down and caught them. He called his wife "the vilest name that a man could use to a woman," and hit her in the face before he and Croker fought.
Sonia said Croker's story of falling in love sounded obsessive. Stacey pointed out that Watson told the readers how good-looking Croker was. And Brad pointed out that even the corpse was good-looking as well.
Rob admitted that he was getting this story mixed up with "The Crooked Man" and expected Sir Eustance to hit his head on the mantle instead of being killed by Croker.
Croker and Theresa set up the whole charade and convinced Lady Brackenstall to go along with it. He tells Holmes to do what he will with this information. Holmes smokes for a minute and then shakes Croker's hand, telling him that this will all come out but Holmes will not stop him from leaving on his ship. Croker gets mad that Lady Brackenstall will be tied to all of this as an accomplice and asks Holmes to arrange it where he takes all of the blame and leaves her out of it completely.
Holmes shakes the man's hand a second time, telling him that he has passed the test. Holmes won't tell anyone about it and asks Watson to play the role of a British jury, saying, "I never met a man who was more eminently fitted to represent one." Quite a nice change from his comments on Watson's writing at the beginning of the story!
Watson announces Croker not guilty, and Holmes says that as long as the murder isn't pinned on an innocent man, Croker can come back to Lady Brackenstall in a year and they can live happily ever after.
D. Martin Dakin noted that this story was published seven years after it took place, and the culprits could still be charged, which made him think that the lovers had died by the story's publication date. Stacey offered that they could have moved to Australia and disappeared into the Outback. This led us to a detour talking about all of the times Australia popped up in the Canon.
Stacey wanted to talk about how predatory Sir Eustance was and how quickly he married Mary after meeting her. Sonia wondered if Mary was a gold-digger and she was the one who sped the marriage. Rob said Brackenstall could've had a title and Mary had the money, creating a situation similar to The Noble Bachelor. Kevin thought Eustance laid on the charm and then revealed his true colors after they were married. Rich pointed out that he didn't set any dogs on fire until after the marriage.
And that's a wrap for The Parallel Case of St. Louis meetings in 2021! Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on our happenings and other Sherlockian news. See you in 2022!
Excellent, as always! Beyond excellent this time!
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