Our Mutual Friends
At long last, the sequel to My Particular Friend is available at Amazon. Our Mutual Friends picks up a few days after …
Our Mutual Friends
At long last, the sequel to My Particular Friend has been written. I’m now editing it and designing the book cover, so …
Wodehouse Trope-ical Bingo
Wodehouse Trope-ical Bingo is now available to play here. If you’re a fan of Wodehouse (and if not, you should be), you wonder …
Drones have their uses—flying through Painted Hall
Beautiful views taken by a drone of the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. The hall is undergoing …
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells review
I know I’m very late to writing a review of Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. After all it came out in 2013 and …
Austen Authors / Back to writing
Great news, everyone! I’m now part of the re-launched Austen Authors, which is a blog dedicated to those of us who enjoy and/or …
How To Be a Victorian review
Ruth Goodman is insane, but that’s good news for us because you’d have to be insane to become a freelance experiential historian. …
Review of The Pinecone: The Story of Sarah Losh
The Pinecone: The Story of Sarah Losh, Forgotten Romantic Heroine—Antiquarian, Architect, and Visionary by Jenny Uglow is a gentle and enjoyable read …
Our Mutual Friends excerpt: The Putative Prince
This is the first chapter of the sequel to My Particular Friend. The chapter is titled The Affair of the Putative Prince and …
Smacking Holmes upside the head; an analysis of Silver Blaze
Somedays you just want to smack Sherlock Holmes upside the head. Certainly that was my feeling after re-reading Silver Blaze, the first story in …
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches; was it all a charade?
Sometimes I appreciate a Sherlock Holmes story because of the Great Detective’s inspired logic—“the curious incident of the dog in the night-time”—or because …
Nicholas Nickleby audio book recommendation
I’ve just finished my second Charles Dickens book read by Mil Nicholson at Librivox: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. I can’t …
Another was Holmes based on a real person speculation
A story in the Telegraph of London suggests Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based the character of Sherlock Holmes on that of Mancunian …
That British Stiff Upper Lip Exposed!
I was delighted by this documentary exploring the origins of the British “stiff upper lip” presented by Ian Hislop, especially the idea …
The Invention of Murder review
It’s pretty obvious while reading The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime, that …
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at The Arvada Center
It doesn’t require an overabundance of the little gray cells to know that Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is something not to be …
Among the Janeite’s author coming to Denver
Deborah Yaffe, author of Among the Janeites, the definitive examination of the world of Jane Austen fandom, will be speaking to the …
Dan Andriacco review of My Particular Friend
Thanks, Dan Andriacco, for your kind review of My Particular Friend at your Baker Street Beat blog. Dan, as many know, is …
The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
Thanks to my Sherlock Holmes scion society, Doctor Watson’s Neglected Patients, I’ve recently re-read The Adventure of the Six Napoleons and have …
What I’m reading or have read
It’s been a while since my last post and in that time, I’ve collected quite a few books to put on my …
Being a know-it-all is a pain; my visit to the University of Minnesota Holmes collection
As a know-it-all, it’s so easy to hear someone give an interesting talk and dismiss it as—“oh, I knew that, and that, …
What I’m reading: P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters
I’m reading P.G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters, edited by Sophie Ratcliffe and although I am enjoying it, it’s also a somewhat …
A Scandal in Bohemia uncovered
I read, but I did not comprehend. That was obvious when fellow Sherlockian Mike Newman asked this quiz question at the July …
Review of The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
In my book, Jane, Actually,1 one of the characters writes a biography with the title, The Real Jane Austen, that “examines the …
Jane, Actually on sale now!
Jane, Actually is now on sale at Amazon for the Kindle, as a paperback, and at Barnes & Noble for the Nook. It should shortly …
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
Nothing succeeds like success and by all measures The Adventure of the Abbey Grange is a success for Sherlock Holmes, but it’s …
Jane Austen documentary double feature
I’m late to the post in writing this (almost everyone has shared or seen this on facebook), but I feel it incumbent …
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
By now, readers of this blog must know that I consider American documentaries to suffer miserably in comparison to those made across …
The Adventure of the Second Stain
Oh what a wonderful story for those who love to nitpick. It has so many nuggets that one can brood over on …
What I’ve read/watched: Cold Comfort Farm
For some reason, Cold Comfort Farm had been preying on my mind recently. Some oblique reference to “something nasty in the woodshed” …