A Look Back at The Parallel Case of St. Louis by Joe Eckrich

With the second “Holmes in the Heartland” conference almost upon us, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look back the history of The Parallel Case of St. Louis and our previous St. Louis conferences.  

We began, rather inauspiciously, on 15 November 1998, a small group of Sherlockians meeting in my apartment in Shrewsbury, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.  However, the idea for the group began during meetings of The Noble Bachelors, the oldest scion society in St. Louis.  They met two or three times a year, usually in dinner meetings with 30 – 40 people attending.  There was always a Sherlockian program but little or no opportunity to discuss the actual stories.  So sprang the idea of a smaller group meeting more often to discuss the Canon and anything else of Sherlockian note.  The idea took off and 35 years later we are still meeting and still discussing one case at a time.

For a name I wanted something with a connection to St. Louis.  There were actually two mentions of St. Louis in the Canon; “the Jefferson Hopes of St. Louis” in a STUDY IN SCARLET and, in THE SIGN OF FOUR, Holmes talks of referring a French detective, Francois le Villard, to two parallel cases involving a will which took place in Riga in 1857 and in St. Louis in 1871.  “The Jefferson Hopes” was already taken, so I chose “The Parallel Case of St. Louis.”  Note that case is singular, although our first booklet was titled “The Parallel Cases of St. Louis”.  More on that later.

We began meeting in members’ homes and eventually moved to a mystery bookstore called “The Big Sleep."  Helen Simpson, owner of The Big Sleep, kindly opened up just for us on the evening of our meeting, on the third Monday of every other month at first, and eventually the 3rd Thursday of every  other month.  During the first year we began the practice of inviting guest speakers periodically beginning with John Lutz, a local author of mystery and suspense books.  We also had Francis M. Nevins, author and Ellery Queen expert, Fred Levin, BSI, a noted Chicago Sherlockian quite knowledgeable about the Reichenbach Falls, and Bob Randisi, mystery author and president of the Private Eyes of America.

In 1989 we held our first Summer banquet with guest speaker Tony Harries who had been secretary to Sherlock Holmes at the Abby National in London.  The following year our guest speaker was David Hammer, BSI, Sherlockian author and publisher.  

In 1991 Pat Accardo suggested we should have a newsletter and offered to edit it with me as co-editor.  It was named “The Parallelogram” and ran for over 10 years.  In 1999 we produced our first “writings on the writings," a booklet entitled “The Parallel Cases of St. Louis."  We produced a second booklet, “Romancing The Hound” on August 2001 for both the 10th anniversary of "The Parallelogram” and the 100th anniversary of the publishing of the first part of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in the Strand Magazine.  While a totally separate booklet, it was listed as Special Supplement Number One of “The Parallelogram” and sold separately.

St. Louis has a proud history of Sherlockian Conferences beginning in the 1990s.  The Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn produced several in St. Charles, Missouri, including “The Game’s Afloat” in 1998 which took place on a Showboat docked in St. Charles.  The speakers for this event were Terence Faherty, Brad Keefauver, Rosemary Michaud, Roy Pilot and John Smithkey III.  These were followed by two at Westport Plaza, the location of this year’s Holmes in the Heartland, at the old Westport Playhouse.  These were joint efforts with all of the St. Louis scion societies. 

The Parallel Case of St. Louis then held two conferences under the banner “Holmes Under the Arch” and “Holmes Under the Arch II”.  The first took place in 1999 and was subtitled “Weekend at Baskerville Hall” and included a murder mystery written by Brad Keefauver to be solved during the weekend.  Both conferences were highly successful but for limitation of space I will concentrate on the second.  This was held at the Holiday Inn/Viking hotel and conference center in Sunset Hills, a St. Louis suburb.  It took place on June 20 – 22, 2005 and was very well attended.  Our speakers included Catherine Cooke, current Chairperson of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London and, at the time, librarian at The Marylebone Library in charge of their Sherlock Holmes collection.  She spoke on “1951 – A Vintage Year”, about the Festival of Britain and Marylebone’s contribution of Sherlock Holmes study and the resulting founding of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London.  Les Klinger spoke on “Game Over."  Les had produced THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, which played “the game” of Holmes and Watson being real people, which we know they are.  As such he and the Annotated received some criticism from various sources, which was his subject.

Bill Mason, with the able assistance of his wife Cynthia Mason, gave us “Hooray For Doctor Sterndale, The African Explorer."  Among other things, Bill posited that Dr. Sterndale was the inspiration for “one of the greatest and most memorable classic scenes in the history of cinema.  I speak, of course,  of the 1930 film, “Animal Crackers," and more specifically, to the movies signature musical number, “Hooray for Captain Spaulding”.  Bill and Cindy then proceeded to give us various stanzas of the song substituting Dr. Sterndale for Dr. Spaulding with a riotous conclusion.  Julie McKuras then gave us “Holmes on the Mississippi” and spoke about our own Gray Chandler Briggs and also the beginnings of the Sherlockian collection at the University of Minnesota.  This was followed by Sue Vizoskie’s “Downstairs in the Canon” and particularly Mrs. Isabella Beeton and her BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT.  In addition, we held a pastiche writing contest with the winning pastiche “The Adventure of the Empty Case of The King of Beers” by Julie and Mike McKuras.

The First “Holmes in the Heartland” took place in 2018.  We were due to follow it up two years later but something called Covid interfered and then there were a few other conference scheduled elsewhere, so here we are in 2023 ready for our second “Holmes in the Heartland."

As you can see St. Louis is a place to be reckoned with when we discuss Sherlockian Conferences!

Holmes in the Heartland 2023

You may have seen and heard about Holmes in the Heartland, but have you really observed what all is happening in St. Louis on July 28-30?  We are packed to the gills with a weekend full of Sherlockian events, speakers, vendors, sites, and surprises.  This is a weekend you won't want to miss!

The weekend kicks off on Friday afternoon with an architectural tour of the gorgeous central branch of the St. Louis Public Library.  Upon completion, we will adjourn to the city's Rare Books and Manuscript Room for a viewing of the St. Louis Sherlock Holmes Research Collection.  

After the library closes at 5, everyone will move back to Westport Plaza.  All around our hotel are great choices for dinner with Sherlockian friends, both new and old.  And we haven't forgotten about the late-night socialization that happens at these events.  You can count on a great time after dinner if you want to keep the party going!

The doors will open Saturday morning for those of us who like to get to the vendors tables first.  And you'll want plenty of time to peruse our packed shopping options!  Make sure to leave space in your luggage for books from Wessex Press, Books on the Square, and BSI Press along with Sherlockian treasures from Lynda Conway, Joe Eckrich, Regina Stinson, Mike McSwiggin, Steve Mason, and The Practical Preservers of Sherlock Holmes.

Then you're in for a full day of Arch Enemies with presentations by Ray Betzner, Kristen Mertz, Cindy Brown, Steven Doyle, Mike McSwiggin, Beth Gallego, Monica Schmidt, and the St. Louis Costumers Guild.  Enjoy topics covering Professor Moriarty, Colonel Moran, Baron Gruner, psychology, and Watson's arch nemesis.  And because Sherlockian events are known for their food and socializing, we've built plenty of time into Saturday's schedule for lunch and socialization breaks in between all of these fascinating speakers.

But Saturday isn't finished after all of these speakers.  The festivities will continue with a Sherlockian dinner banquet that evening with canonical toasts and a rousing round of Alpha Inn Goose Club Trivia, hosted by your trivia landlord, Brad Keefauver, and his sidekick, a Texas-size goosed who bears an uncanny resemblance to Steve Mason.  If you still have energy left after all of this fun, plan on joining fellow Sherlockians for nightlife on more time!

And how could we theme this weekend "Arch Enemies" and not take our guests to the Gateway Arch?  Sunday morning will find scores of Sherlockians visiting the Gateway to the West for a trip to the top of the Arch, guided tour of its history museum, and film on the building of this landmark.  We'll squeeze in one more meal at a riverfront eatery, and then it will be time for us all to head back to the real world, but full of all of the memories we've made over the past few days!

Registration is open now and hotel rooms are going fast!  Two- and three-day packages are available for your travel arrangements.  And if you are new to Sherlockiana or St. Louis, don't let that deter you.  We will send out driving and parking information out ahead of time.  Sherlockians are unbelievably welcoming and once you get here, you won't be a stranger very long!

If you have any questions, please reach out to us  and we will be happy to answer any questions.  We look forward to meeting you in St. Louis!

221con 2023: It was the Bees Knees!! by Kristin Mertz

This year was 221B Con’s 10-year anniversary.  How on earth can 10 years have passed already and where is our 6^th Season of Benedict Cumberbatch as our venerable detective?  Have no fear Cumberbunnies, he is still out there playing wonderful characters, just not as good as Sherlock, but I digress.  As always, arrival on Thursday evening is the best choice so you can sit in restaurant/bar area to greet all your friends from past cons as they filter in, catch up with said friends, make new friends, and, if you’re lucky, listen to the witty banter of Curtis Armstrong and Ashley Polasek.  Bonus, this year Paul Thomas Miller even crossed the pond to be with us, what a treat!  I bet you wish you had come, but have no fear you can live vicariously right here, provided you can make sense of my silliness.  Off we pop then!

Friday morning is a free day waiting to check in.  Lucky me got to go to Waffle House for breakfast with Baron von Bork and crew (that would be Paul, Brad, Madeline, Heather, was Shana there? I feel like I’m missing someone!)  Not just ANY Waffle House, we have standards!  Only those recommended by Steve Mason, Waffle House connoisseur.  I have my Waffle House Investiture to prove it (not the BSI investiture, I am working on that one, or planning for that one, or hoping for that one…insert shameless plug here…I wouldn’t say no!). 

Blah, blah, blah, some stuff happened, and then we were ready to check in and get that coveted program (ooo, look at that pretty art by Sebastian Broome).  As usual, the amount of panels to choose from was exceptional, from standard canon topics, to fan fiction, world building and writing, random fandom discussions (not random…I just liked the rhyme there) from Good Omens (All Hail Gaiman!) to Star Wars, and all the detective talk you could ever want, including some good old Enola Holmes.

Friday night I chose to attend “The Crimes of Sherlock Holmes”, a discussion led by an actual lawyer (who knew we had so many lawyers *wink, wink*).  We got to vote as a jury on his guilt for various and sundry crimes.  Some people wanted him hanged at every turn, whereas others of us (possibly me) would have been disqualified as jurors as we could see nothing criminal in any of Holmes’ activities (e.g. they had to break in, they heard a baby crying).  Overall, quite the lively discourse, but I think the prosecutor was slightly disappointed in the majority of us. 

Another absolute requirement on the Friday evening docket was the screening of Sherlock Holmes & Dinosaurs, what is the ACTUAL name of the movie?  Hmmm….not important.  The important thing is that it is on the Doyle’s Rotary Coffin movie list for very good reasons, so many reasons….dinosaurs.  No spoilers here, all I can say is make sure your disbelief is well suspended before watching, as if “Sherlock and Dinosaurs” did not imply this.

To wrap up the first night….karaoke!!!  Yes, I sang. Yes, Brad sang and before US there were some very impressive singers.  One small piece of advice, BEFORE you sign up for karaoke make sure you bring some extra alcohol to keep your nerve up OR pick a song that everyone will sing with you. I did neither or those things (audible sigh, lesson probably not learned).

Saturday, I actually got up early enough to make that secret meeting in the secret room (some of you know what I mean, *more winks*).  Then attended the “221B Con Turns Ten” panel where we learned some fun facts about the Con’s origins and the group’s ability to clear out the bar year after year.  On a very sad note, “Covered in Bees” was cancelled because the hotel's bees died. I think it was the few freezes that hit Atlanta if I remember correctly.  Very sad for all of us bee supporters.  I truly hope they can establish another colony.  If the bees didn’t have you crying, the montage at the end definitely did.

On to the Scarlet Threat of Venery led by Marilynne McKay.  If you are unfamiliar with what this topic entails, google it with caution. I personally was very glad I ate earlier, but overall a very enlightening panel on the medicine, or lack thereof, in Victorian times.  “The Worst Sherlock” was next.  Ironically or probably wisely, the panel leaders opted not to show for and frankly, I had to leave as I have clearly chosen Will Ferrell as the worst and I will not entertain any other option. If you disagree, fight me.  I choose one stick. 

The annual Costume Exhibition was as usual a really good time with some great cosplays.  Picture included for you to figure out all those references. 

Dracula Daily panel was another great discussion.  Of course I signed up for the daily emails, because what Sherlockian doesn’t like a good chronology?  And who doesn’t love vampires?  Except for that one from Sussex.  I mean, what kind of vampire lives in the SUNNY part of England?  Probably that sparkly kind *shudder*.

Somewhere, in the middle of all that, I ate at the #fudtruck and made it to the vendor’s room.  Somehow I managed to not spend a fortune, despite all the fan art, books, costumes, journals….so many pretty, pretty things.  I got a few books (thank you Brad Keefauver and Paul Thomas Miller, I can’t wait to read them!), a fairy tale tarot set with some amazing Japanese art because no one can have too many tarot sets, right?  And, one of my favorites, the “Major Holmes and Captain Watson” graphic novel (https://cloudwranglerstore.com/collections/major-holmes-captain-watson ).  I think, nay, I know I chose well.

And then, for some reason, I thought Ballroom Dancing, I will be good at that.  I might have had a drink or two before this thought occurred to me, possibly more, who’s counting at this point anyway? Unfortunately for me, counting was involved, one step forward, one step to the side, wait, forward is leading right?  Do I go to the right or to the left? As you can see the lessons didn’t take. Thank goodness I had a pretty good partner who could lead because I can only follow…in dancing, who knew?  Those of you who know me will see the irony in this. I think by the end I was doing some kind of line dance, at least I tried.

This led to being tired of dancing by the time the dance party rolled around. This worked out great because all the cool kids were in Mrs. Hudson’s room, not dancing.  And when you tell someone the bar is closed and they say, “That’s OK, I have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black.  Would you like some?”  The only answer is, “Yes! Please!”  We may have done a podcast for the John H Watson Society, I’m not really sure how much I helped.  Listen for yourself, it is on the web.  Fun was had by all and no Sherlockians were harmed in the taking of these pictures!

Sunday morning came and I did not manage to get out of bed until, let’s just say late, therefore, missing all the early panels. I don’t know what happened (*Mrs. Hudson’s room shenanigans may have gone late, alcohol was definitely involved, we were definitely NOT clueing for looks so I guess we will never know*).  I recovered in time to attend the “Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street Irregulars and other Sherlockian Societies” panel, which gave a little history of those fine societies.  We also had a guest from the Atlanta Scion, The Wisteria Lodge, wearing a lovely Victorian costume. If you are interested in learning more on the group, here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AtlantaSherlockHolmesSociety/.

My last panel was the highly anticipated “Brown Studies with Ashely & Curtis: The Worst Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” in kilts, because who doesn’t take an opportunity to wear a kilt.  They quite fine together.  An entertaining discussion of the casebook ensued and why it is underrated or bad? I took no notes and vaguely remember the fine details. I do remember I was thoroughly entertained. I could listen to Ashley and Curtis talk for hours about whatever and never get tired of it. I hope they do this every year. If they do and I write another blog post, I promise I will catch some witty quotes, I promise…really.

Sadly, it came time for “Our Last Bow” where the organizers wrap up the year, take comments and say goodbye until next year.  Congratulations to the Crystal, Heather and all the lovely people who helped to organize this event on 10 years of giving us the most quirky, jam packed full weekends of Sherlock fandom fun there can be in Atlanta, including all the floor bacon you can handle, begging the question, is there ever enough floor bacon?  This is where I will leave you as well, with the hope that I will see you there in 2024.  I’m already signed up and if all of the above sounded like the blast it was you should too!  Go, do it now, we will be waiting (see Brad’s look of disbelief that you haven’t signed up yet).

A Question of Timing by Adam Presswood

I guess no Sherlock Holmes fan is ever too old to learn something new. In advance of the May 2023 meeting of The Parallel Case of St. Louis, I have just finished reading “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” for probably only the second or third time in my life. For whatever reason, this particular story has never really been on my Sherlockian radar. So as not to usurp the lively discussion that I hope will occur at our meeting, I will refrain from any restatement of the plot. Instead, I will mention the two looming factors that I am sure all of you are already more than familiar with. The first is that the story is one of only two Holmes adventures written in third person, the second being “His Last Bow.” The other factor is that the entire story takes place in one small corner of Holmes’s rooms at 221B Baker Street.

I found myself curious as to why, and this is when I realized that I have not amassed nearly as much Sherlockian trivia as I sometimes like to think. As it turns out, “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” was adapted from a stage play, hence the one-room setting. The play, titled The Crown Diamond, was first performed in May of 1921, and "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" was published in October of that same year. There is general agreement that both the play and the short story are set in the summer of 1903. That, however, is where most of the agreement stops, as opinions differ wildly as to whether the play was written just a few months before the story was published, or whether there was instead a gap of many years between the two works. This argument is further complicated by the fact that, in the play, the villain is Colonel Sebastian Moran, the deadly big game hunter who falls into Holmes’s trap in “The Adventure of the Empty House," rather than Count Negretto Sylvius, Sherlock’s adversary in “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone.”

For me, the temptation to dive into the timeline here was simply irresistible. “The Adventure of the Empty House" is one of 13 stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was published in both England and America in 1903, but the adventure detailed therein is set nine years earlier, in 1894. As every Sherlockian knows, Moran is bested by Holmes in that story, unwittingly playing the part of the tiger lured to his doom, rather than the role of hunter that he thinks he is playing. He is then led off by Lestrade and his men and his fate is in the hands of the court. Holmes seems relatively confident that the second most dangerous man in London will trouble the world no more. Whatever the court may have decided in terms of Moran’s sentence, he was not put to death, as Holmes refers to him as still among the living in “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client." That means Moran was still above ground in September of 1902, even though he was probably not a free man. While pondering his enemy list at the end of his career, Holmes once again refers to Moran in “His Last Bow," and once again Moran is still alive, at least according to Holmes. That places Moran on our side of the grass as late as 1914 or so, even though “His Last Bow” was not published until three years later.

If we take the long view, we can assume that Doyle was telling his readers that Moran remained alive until at least 1917, just four short years before The Crown Diamond was first performed in 1921. That year would have marked the 27th anniversary of Moran’s arrest in “The Adventure of the Empty House." If we accept the rather lengthy biography that Doyle provides for Moran, he was born in 1840. That means he was already 54 years old when he attempted to murder Holmes, and he would have been 81 when the play was released in 1921. In fairness, he would only have been 63 in 1903, the year in which both the play and the short story are set. Still, two factors must be considered here. The first is that our villain wasn’t getting any younger. That second is that, even if we arrest the aging process for the infamous Moran, his scant mention in the years since 1894 would have made him an unlikely choice for the antagonist in a play written as late as 1921.

All of this is, of course, only my perspective. However, I feel that the timeline works very strongly against the notion of the play and the short story being written within months of one another, given that Moran was the villain in the stage version. I think it far more likely that the play was written shortly after “The Adventure of the Empty House," when Moran’s character would have been far fresher in the minds of Doyle’s readers. There are still a few hiccups in my theory, the primary one being that the play is still set nine years after Moran’s arrest in the empty house across from 221B Baker Street. But after all, it is the stage we are talking about here, so we must allow for some poetic license where the canonical timeline is concerned. So I leave it to all of you. Are we dealing with a renamed, 63-year-old Moran in “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone," or are the two works thought to be mere months apart simply because of the proximity in their respective release dates? You have until May 13th to make up your minds😊 

TV detectives still learning from Sherlock Holmes by Wayne Flynn

Recently a friend of mine insisted that he learned everything he needed to know about Sherlock Holmes through television, specifically the series Elementary. I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes, the world’s greatest consulting detective, and Dr. Watson, his friend and protector, through television.  I would watch enthralled as Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce portrayed our heroes hunting down spies and tracking vicious dogs.  And while my friend may have learned everything he needed to know, I think a few details are missing.

Then the discussion took an entertaining turn.  We discussed how often we find a “tribute” to Holmes in television shows. You have to know where to look, and more importantly you need knowledge of the canon to recognize the clues.  

One of my favorite television series is Justified. The basic concept is a modern-day gun-slinging Deputy U.S. Marshall by the name of Raylan Givens who finds his way into more precariou

s situations than most U.S. Marshalls.  On an episode entitled “Foot Chase”, (S4:E6) our hero, U.S. Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens is searching for a fugitive.  He approaches the home of an informant under house arrest wearing an ankle-monitoring bracelet.  Although Givens does not find the informant, he does find the informant’s foot, cut off with the monitoring device still attached.  Givens’ boss, Chief Marshall Art Mullen, calls him to inquire about the investigation.  When he hears the news, the Chief Marshall states, “So as I understand it, ‘the game is afoot’”.  Here we learn that Chief Marshall Mullen is a student of Holmes. Chief Marshall Mullen clearly embraces the methods and spirit of the world’s greatest consulting detective. 

If you are familiar with Longmire, you know that Sheriff Longmire is a well-read individual.  In the pilot episode, Sheriff Longmire is challenged by a deputy as to the solution of a crime.  Sheriff Longmire replies, “If you’re going to be a sheriff you need to start brushing up on your detective work son.” (S1:E1) Longmire hands his deputy a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles.  The deputy certainly took the advice to heart as he didn’t return the book until Season 2 Episode 2.  Proving the lessons of Sherlock Holmes live on. 

These are just a few examples of Sherlockian tributes.  I’m sure Sherlockians have been spotting these references in television and books for years.  I invite you to add your own examples in the comments.  

Mrs. Holmes: Not Winning Mother of the Year Anytime Soon by Kevin Letts

The second Enola Holmes movie has come out and it has been warmly received much like the first one. On Rotten Tomatoes, both movies have been rated “fresh” with ratings in the 90s percentile and I won’t be surprised if they make Enola Holmes 3.

The movie stars Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes, the younger sister to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is played by Henry Cavill and we also have Helena Bonham Carter playing Eudoria Holmes who is the mother of the Holmes siblings. All performances are fantastic and these are movies worth watching even if they deviate from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle canon stories.

My focus is on Eudoria Holmes. She raises Enola by herself and teaches her many things from reading, mathematics, the sciences, and even archery. Eudoria is obviously a very intelligent woman and it rubs off on her daughter. Also, we see Mrs. Holmes not conforming to the norm that is common with Victorian women at the time. Being in the 21st century, we don’t see that as all that bad. Even though it was probably scandalous at the time. With that said, however, I don’t see Eudoria winning “Mother of the Year” any time soon. Why? First of all, as we see in the first movie, one morning Enola wakes up like any other day to find her mother not in the house. She wonders where she is and then realizes after a time, her mother has disappeared and is not coming back. Enola’s brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft do not really help matters much. 

After a short time in finishing school, which does not fit Enola’s independent personality, Enola escapes and goes to London to try to find her mother. During this time, we find the second reason I don’t see Eudoria as a good mother. During her search, Enola finds out her mother is a part of a more radical suffragette organization that owns a storeroom full of explosives and a map with political location marked. Not only does Eudoria abandon her daughter, but we also find she is, essentially, a terrorist. 

Before you scoff and think I am off my rocker, which some did when I first said this during a Parallel Case meeting, look at the definition and think about what a room full of explosives owned by a radical organization with a map of political location marked means. According to https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/terrorism, the FBI defines domestic terrorism as, “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.” Think about this as well, let’s say you found a storeroom of explosives owned by an anti-abortion organization with various Planned Parenthood locations marked on a map in that storeroom. You would probably think terrorist, wouldn’t you? I know I would. Women's suffrage was a worthy cause, but resorting to terrorist acts is still terrorism.

At the end of the first movie, Eudoria visits Enola and reveals she is wanted by British law. She said she didn’t expect Enola to find her and left because she wanted to protect Enola and change the world. 

Now is it obvious Enola’s mother loves her? Of course. She wants to protect Enola. However, I believe Eudoria Holmes abandoning her daughter and being part of a group that was about to resort to terrorist tactics are some pretty bad choices as a mother and I would not see her as “Mother of the Year” any time soon.

With all this said, are these fun movies? Yes. I enjoyed them very much and I look forward to a third installment should one come out.

Spies Among Us by Heather Hinson

Ideas and theories come out of seemingly nowhere, especially when you’re in a group of people. Ideas that start as rational debates can suddenly make that hard left into either wild imaginations or “Things that make you go Hmmm”. Nowhere else is this perfectly represented than when you have a group of Sherlockians gathered together discussing one of the stories. 

Picture this, it’s the first meeting of 2023, a group of Sherlockians are gathered discussing if the acts leading up to World War I were coincidence or a conspiracy to keep the people who could’ve stopped the war away from actually voting. 

Actually, we were discussing "His Last Bow."

The story is a simple one, possibly one of the shortest as well as everything seems to happen in rather quick succession. The story opens with Van Bork speaking to Baron Von Herling about getting important information about the British military and government secrets.  Both men are about to leave back to Germany the next day as soon as Von Bork receives the final information regarding Naval signals from his informant, Altamont. The story ends with the mission blowing up in Von Bork’s face as Altamont is revealed to be Sherlock Holmes and he and Dr. Watson return the German spy to Scotland Yard and circumvent what could have been a potentially disastrous blow to England at the beginning of World War 1.  

But Altamont, or rather Sherlock Holmes, was running all over the country gathering potentially false data for Von Bork, so how did he know everything that was happening in that small cottage? He couldn’t have been there for the necessary spying on the German. Instead he left that in the very capable hands of Von Bork’s housekeeper, Martha.   

This is where the fun begins.  One theory is that Martha is, in fact Mrs. Hudson, Holmes’ housekeeper.  We have the BBC and CBS/Paramount to thank for this. Because of these shows, Martha is the commonly assumed to be Mrs. Husdon’s Christian name. Also, we see housekeeper and Holmes together and just assume that Martha is the same person. 

While Mrs. Hudson’s name could be Martha, I would agree that the Martha who was working for Von Bork and Mrs. Hudson are not the same women. The argument for this is simple: Martha is actually a spy for the Home Office sent by Mycroft Holmes.  

There’s an entirely different argument that can be made regarding the eldest Holmes brother and even if he was part of the Home Office during the start of WW1 that I won’t get into now.  The assumption is that yes, Holmes is there and yes, has planned for this event as Sherlock Holmes casually states in a throwaway line to Watson, “Strong pressure was brought upon me to look into the matter” (LAST).  While this could be talking about the British Premier or the Prime Minister as Holmes mentions, there is an argument to be made that Mycroft himself tasked Sherlock with this mission, to spend two years creating an alias and working to stop the Germans from obtaining British secrets.  

Back to Martha. She’s described as a “dear old ruddy-faced woman” and “the personification of Britannia”.  Yet this dear old woman was instrumental in keeping Holmes up to date with the happenings of Von Bork, signaling when he was alone, getting names and addresses of Von Bork’s correspondences, and generally spying on the man all while keeping his house.  We know that Martha was a part of his household earlier, helping when his wife and children were also in residence. She remained after everyone else but Von Bork had left, the only housekeeper in his residence. 

Why a spy and not someone Holmes’ just paid off, much like his Irregulars?  Holmes answers this himself. “You can report to me tomorrow in London, Martha, at Claridge’s Hotel.” Martha is to make a full report to Holmes the next day, in London.  While Holmes’ Irregulars are usually mentioned to be kids or young teens, Martha is older. Which means she’s on a payroll somewhere and if Sherlock is working for His Majesty then it stands to reason Martha is as well. Given Sherlock’s love of disguises and the fact that he spent two years traveling from America to England, butchering the King’s English, and cementing his role as an American Irishman who had no love for England, it stands to reason that Martha was not the ruddy-faced old woman she portrays to Von Bork. Instead, she’s part of a spy network.  Holmes even mentions to Watson that “I got her the situation here when I first took the matter up” (LAST) meaning she probably came down with him on orders to act as a spy for the last two years.  While Holmes was traveling around England and America, Martha was working as a housekeeper, ingratiating herself with the family and becoming indispensable. All according to plan. And as Holmes is a master at the art of disguises, it stands to reason that Martha is as well.  

In World War II, women such as Virginia Hall and Noor Inayat Khan were being used as spies for the British Empire, it’s logical that Mycroft Holmes would begin using women as spies long before that. Who would suspect the housekeeper who is “Britannia personified” to be working as a spy for England? This mindset put Martha in the perfect place to serve her country.