In 2026 I plan to read all the Conan Doyle “Sherlock Holmes” works – 56 short stories and 4 novels (here’s why and how). If you haven’t already read it, Michael Green’s “undiscovered letter” from John Watson is fricking hilarious.
I may also read various Holmes homages/pastiches etc. Who knows? (btw I’d recommend the Seven Per Cent Solution, by Nicholas Meyer where Watson has to trick Holmes into going to Vienna to be treated by Sigmund Freud)
Title: Review of Sherlock Holmes Short Story: “The Red-Headed League – “obese pompous and slow” 2/56
Published: August 1891
Wikipedia here
Online here
Review: I would recommend this.
Best sentence(s):
“…for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.”
“A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.”
“You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right
Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow
I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.
le in his profession. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone.
“It saved me from ennui,” he answered, yawning. “Alas! I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence.
Words I didn’t know:
| Albert Chain | Albert chains are named after a style of watch chain Prince Albert wore during the Victorian period. Traditionally this style of watch chain has a bar on one end used to affix the chain to a vest button hole. |
| Omne ignotum, pro magnifico | everything unknown is taken as grand : we exaggerate the importance or difficulty of the unknown. |
| Sarasate – musician | Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβlo saɾaˈsate]; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish violinist, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), the Spanish Dances, and the Carmen Fantasy.[1] |
| Partie caree | a party of four persons |
| Why are handcuffs derbies? | masc. personal name, representing a southern England pronunciation of Derby. Also see Joan. Darbies, slang for “handcuffs,” is by 1670s, implied in other forms from 1570s, but the association is obscure. These handcuffs were the most common type in the Victorian era. They were locked and unlocked using a screw-in key, which took a long time and made arrests difficult for officers. The cuffs were kept on a thick leather belt when they were not being used on a criminal. |
marchudson.net 
Leave a comment