Interesting Interview: Ann Andriacco

This week's Interesting Interview is with the fabulous Ann Andriacco!  You've probably seen her at a million events, whether it's behind a vendor's table with her amazing creations, overseeing the Gaslight Gala during the January Birthday Weekend, or a million places in-between.  No matter where you see her, you can guarantee she's enjoying herself and if you're lucky to spend some time with her, your day will always be better!

Ann is a stalwart within The Beacon Society, now overseeing two large competitions each year.  She is married to the editor of The Baker Street Journal, Dan Andriacco, and it's plain to see that they both enjoy Sherlockian events, but enjoy each other's company even more!  Ann is a smart and friendly person to be around, and if you're one of the few folks out there who don't recognize this face, get ready to get to know one of the warmest people in our hobby!

How do you define the word “Sherlockian”?

I would define “Sherlockian” as someone who walks in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes and inhabits his world.

How did you become a Sherlockian?

I read Sherlock Holmes in 9^th grade English class and my mom was a big fan of the Basil Rathbone movies. I would often sit and watch them with her late at night.

Then in high school I met a guy who was immersed in Sherlock Holmes named Dan Andriacco. (It was a blind date arranged by my brother.)

What is your profession (or previous if you are retired) and does that affect how you enjoy being a Sherlockian?

I have had several professions in life. I believe I enjoyed using the stories the most in teaching science to 7^th graders. I am big on process skills and often had activities which used Observation vs. Inference. My students had to collect data, analyze what they were doing, etc. Once, much to the principal’s chagrin, I had a crime scene set up in my classroom with yellow tape, an outline of the victim on the floor, and clues scattered about. (I was not aware that my room was used for the Education Commission meetings. It apparently was quite a lively discussion that took place that night.) The students processed the scene, collected items, did fiber burn tests, checked fingerprints, interviewed people, analyzed statements, and finally had to conclude what happened with their team. They were so involved (and came up with two different ideas) that we then had a trial to see if they could decide if there had been a murder and who the perpetrator was.

What is your favorite canonical story?

I think The Hound of the Baskervilles. It is creepy, gothic, and draws the reader in to the story. I say this after having visited Dartmoor and seen the area in person. I do feel sorry for the Hound, though.

Who is a specific Sherlockian that you think others would find interesting?

I would pick Glenn Miranker. At the “Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects” exhibit in Bloomington he chose one object out of his collection and dove into where it came from, who owned it, how he tried to find out about it, etc. It all began with a stamp on the front cover and took him down a fascinating rabbit hole.

What subset of Sherlockiana really interests you?

Since I am an artist, I like the foggy streets, the atmosphere, the characters, and the period.

How does being married to another Sherlockian enhance your experience in this hobby?

We look at the stories and process them differently. Dan, being a writer, has a different mindset from mine. So, it is good to hear a different point of view. Plus, I don’t ever have to buy a book or go someplace to look something up! The answer is generally in our house some place. He does have a FEW books. I personally like Sherlock Holmes objects. For Christmas a few years ago, I bought him a miniature Persian slipper which then needed a fireplace, which then needed a wall which had to be wallpapered. Before I knew it, he had a miniature replica of 221B down to the bearskin rug and newspapers of the period scattered around. 

You've been head of The Beacon Society's Awards Committee for a few years.  What are some highlights from your tenure in this position?

I spent all my “careers” working with children and challenging them in some way.  I have been involved with writing contests in the past. It seemed a natural transition to take over the Awards Committee. We oversee the R. Joel Senter Writing Contest and recently added the Nancy Springer Pastiche Writing Contest as two of our projects. 

Joel Senter was my professor for a class at the University of Cincinnati when I was 19. We then met Joel and his wife Carolyn in the Sherlock Holmes world and a wonderful friendship began. It seemed right for me to help carry on his name and introduce others to his love of Sherlock Holmes stories.  (I was a Fine Arts major and Dr. Senter taught Psychology. It wasn’t in my field but sounded like an interesting class. When I did Statistics with another professor—also not in my major area—we used the book he had written for our class. I asked him to autograph my copy. He was shocked that I still had it!)

What book would you recommend to other Sherlockians?

I would choose the Canon itself. I enjoy the stories themselves. Find an area you really enjoy, whether it is analysis, chronology, pastiches, etc. But I can put a plug in for a writer I know named Dan Andriacco….and he did not tell me to say that. I am his last reader before publication, and I do enjoy his stories.

Where do you see Sherlockiana in 5 or 10 years from now?

I see younger Sherlockians coming in and falling in love with the stories now, and I see that continuing if we promote the world of Sherlock Holmes. And of course, It is always 1895.

Interesting Interview: Edith Pounden

This week we are getting to know Edith Pounden!  If you've been on a Zoom meeting in the past four years, you probably recognize the face because Edith is one of the most far-reaching meeting attendees.  In fact, her love of Sherlockian meetings led her to become one of the founding members of The Legion of Zoom scion society.  Since its formation, Edith has taken on the role of coordinating the group's annual conference.

But she isn't content with Arthur Conan Doyle's 60 Sherlockian tales.  Edith is also an active member of The ACD Society and is quick to point out that her home scion, The Bimetallic Question, routinely spends time discussing the life and work of Arthur Conan Doyle.  And she know her stuff both in and out of the Canon!  Every time I've seen Edith speak up, you can count on people nodding their heads in agreement with her or watching the wheels turn as she gets folks to look at a topic from a new point of view.  So let's spend some time with her outside of the Zoom meetings in this week's Interesting Interview! 

How do you define the word “Sherlockian”?

To me, a Sherlockian is someone who has a special fascination with Sherlock Holmes. I don’t think there’s a particular requirement for this, but it’s hard for me to imagine being deeply into Sherlock Holmes without eventually wanting to dive into the original stories.

How did you become a Sherlockian?

There are so many waypoints for this. I grew up with the Rathbone/Bruce films, and my sister lent me her Doubleday Book Club 2-volume edition of the canon when I was still a kid (then made me return it, worse luck). So, I’d read many of the short stories before seeing the Granada series, and remember thinking at the time that Jeremy Brett was no Rathbone. I think reading Nicholas Meyer’s The Seven-Per-Cent Solution was what made me care about what might be happening behind the page in the original stories. I was a teen in the 80s, so I found Doyle again through the stacks of New Age books in my high school library. In one of these, there was a paragraph about Sherlockians and the Great Game, and I remember thinking that I’d arrived too late to play, because surely everything must have been figured out by that time. (Reader, it had not.)

I didn’t really pick up Sherlock Holmes again to read until my first hiking trip to New Hampshire with friends in the early 2000s. I found myself out of my depth, and rather than continue over Mt Washington as planned, I returned to our starting point (which was overbooked) and hid out in the library, where I picked out the now familiar cream-covered Oxford The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to read overnight (Steve Mason, if you are reading this, my chapter in Holmes and Me would have been called “A Study in Pinkham” for this reason, had I written it). I liked this edition so much that I soon tracked down my own copy, as well as its mates, and finally read all 60 stories, along with the insightful annotations in that series. But I only started actively playing the Game after watching the BBC series Sherlock, which I think is criminally underrated.

What is your favorite canonical story?

My usual answer to this question is that I don’t have one, but just for you, I’ll name “The Dying Detective,” because I’ve been spending a lot of time with it lately. I will say that there is not a single canon story that I would downrate; each of them offers pieces of the puzzle.

Who is a specific Sherlockian that you think others would find interesting?

I will name fellow Bimetallic Question member Kristin Franseen, who is a musicologist and has a particular interest in a much-maligned professor of mathematics. She is full of good insights on the canon and, if I recall correctly, was the original instigator of the “All of Doyle” Bimetallic Question discussion group.

What subset of Sherlockiana really interests you?

Writings about the writings. I’ve been both a bookseller and an academic, and I enjoy tracing ideas through publications. Cross-border shipping is lethal these days, so lately I’ve had to stop acquiring and focus on reading what I’ve got. I am also doing some writing of my own, which should shape itself into a book before too long.

Your interest in Arthur Conan Doyle is well-known.  What would you say to Sherlockians to convince them to spend more time with Doyle outside of the Sherlockian Canon?

I would say that Doyle’s non-Sherlockian writing strongly complements his Sherlockian writing. The characters and tropes that draw people to the canon also appear in these other stories, although the genres may shift. I would turn to these stories before pastiche to satisfy the need for more than sixty Holmes and Watson adventures.

As an officer of the Legion of Zoom, what are some highlights you've experienced from this digital age of Sherlockiana?

Sherlockian Zoom meetings during the pandemic introduced me to a much wider community of Sherlockians than I had previously been acquainted with. I was suddenly in contact with people I had known only through their writing, and I feel fortunate to call many of these people my friends now. And being involved in the founding of the Legion of Zoom and organizing its annual conference has been an absolute blast. I’m glad that several societies have maintained an online presence so that those of us who can’t travel may participate in meetings held by a variety of Sherlockian groups. Each has its own distinct character, and offers different perspectives on the canon.

What book would you recommend to other Sherlockians?

One book—you are killing me here. I have great affection for The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes, which was a series edited by Christopher and Barbara Roden in the 1990s. These books are a delight to read both for their ideas and high production quality. Sadly, only four were produced, on “The Blue Carbuncle”, “The Speckled Band”, “The Musgrave Ritual”, and “The Dying Detective”. More recently, I’ve been enjoying Trevor Hall’s books (currently reading Sherlock Holmes and His Creator).

Where do you see Sherlockiana in 5 or 10 years from now?

Five to ten years is not so long; I think things will be more or less the way they are now, with BSI-type societies meeting either in person or online (or both), and a parallel social media-based Sherlockian community, each offering different perspectives on the canon. There is already some traffic between these communities; I’m sure that will continue.

All That a Good Friend Could [DYIN]

We all think of Doctor Watson as Holmes’s reliable companion, but do we really appreciate what a good friend Watson was to Sherlock Holmes?  In the very first paragraph of “The Dying Detective,” he describes Holmes as a tenant:

“His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.”

While the landlady was at least getting princely payments for the rooms that Holmes so greatly abused, Watson did not; in fact he was PAYING to share rooms with such a man.  And even though “The Dying Detective” takes place after Watson has moved out, we know that these two men roomed together for years.  It really shows how deep their friendship had become since A Study in Scarlet for Watson to room with such a man.

The crux of this story is that Holmes is desperately ill and Watson rushes to Baker Street.  You can hear his heart breaking as he describes his friend’s condition to the reader:

“It was that gaunt, wasted face staring at me from the bed which sent a chill to my heart.”

Even as Holmes is exceedingly mean to Watson throughout this tale, Watson’s loyalty and friendship shine through.  Watson lays clear to us what respect he has for Holmes in these pages, and we can see him wrestle with the situation.  

Holmes “bitterly hurt[s]” Watson by criticizing his qualifications as a doctor, he forces Watson to keep his distance, even though Holmes is in desperate need of medical attention, and then Holmes locks them in a room together preventing Watson from retrieving even another doctor!  

And the nonsense that Watson puts up with while locked in that room?  Holmes lets out a dreadful cry that makes his friend’s skin go cold and his hair bristle.  He has to listen to Holmes raving about oysters and how Watson should displace the coins in his pocket.  John Watson is a more patient man than I.

But once Holmes releases him to bring in a specialist, Watson promises to bring the man, even if he has to carry him to the cab.  Of course, Holmes convinces Watson to go along with a plan that isn’t explained and Watson’s loyalty shows through again.  He delivers a message to this strange “specialist,” pushing though ceremony to talk to him as he pictures Holmes lying sick and dying.  After convincing Culverton Smith, Watson rushes back to Baker Street alone, and then HIDES!

Would any of us here hide behind someone’s headboard in this situation?  Think of the contortion that would have been required to do so.  And this wasn’t just for a minute or two, Watson had to sit there and listen to Culverton Smith gloat of how he was killing his best friend.  Not only did Watson have to endure that conversation, but he then had to stay hidden as Smith sat and waited for Holmes to die.  Watson said it was all he could do to hold himself quiet in his hiding place.  This is true friendship, indeed.

(And a quick side note before we raise our glasses to the friendship of John Watson.  If Sherlock Holmes had not left his sick room for three days, would he have been able to use a water closet if the Baker Street rooms even had one?  Probably not to keep up appearances, which means a bedpan would have most likely been down by Watson this whole time.)

So let’s all take a deep breath of fresh air and appreciate the loyalty that Doctor Watson showed to his friend Sherlock Holmes.  I stink think we can all agree that he was the best friend that Holmes could have asked for. 

Interesting Interview: Ray Riethmeier

December of 2023 was supposed to be the end of the Interesting Interview series.  I had hit the 100 mark and thought that would be a good place to wrap things up.  But then I got to sit with Ray and Becky Riethmeier at the BSI Luncheon in January, and they expressed their disappointment when I told them that I was hanging it up.  In fact, Ray is SO nice, that I couldn't tell him no when he asked me to continue the series.  (And if you've ever met Ray, you probably can't imagine saying no to such a great guy, either!)

Well, if I was going to keep these interviews chugging along, it seemed only natural that Ray become part of this series.  And let me tell you a little bit about him.  He is unfailingly likeable, which makes him a perfect fit for the Norwegian Explorers, a group that exudes a welcoming vibe like no other I've ever seen.  And have you seen the publications they put out?  You can thank Ray for a lot of that.  Every year, Ray has been part of the machinery that publishes their lovely annuals, and he is also one of the editors of the books that come out at every triennial conference. (Side note: the next one is coming up sooner than you think!)  I've personally never submitted anything to the Norwegian Explorers' annual, but after this interview I plan to just submit something so I can work with Ray!

How do you define the word “Sherlockian”?

A Sherlockian is somebody who has more than just a passing interest in Sherlock Holmes.  A Sherlockian is someone who is a fan of the characters and has integrated some part of the lore into their lives in a meaningful way.  It doesn’t have to be someone who has read the entire Canon numerous times (or even once), nor someone who can win the various trivia quizzes that so many of us fail miserably.  You can take it very seriously, or you can be in it for the fun, and either approach is valid.

How did you become a Sherlockian?

I often want to defend the more casual fans, because you can start anywhere and find yourself drawn into the Canon.  For instance, my Sherlockian story began in 1986 when I encountered the first issue of “The Cases of Sherlock Holmes” from Renegade Press at my local comic shop.  The painted cover attracted my attention, as I was always looking for something new and different.  These weren’t comic book adaptations of the canon; they were Doyle’s original stories copiously illustrated in moody black-and-white by Dan Day, and I immediately fell in love with the authentic Sherlock Holmes stories.  I had, of course, been familiar with Holmes from all the pop-culture references that make him nearly ubiquitous in society, and I had seen a few of the Rathbone films on TV, but once you actually read the original stories by Doyle, I don’t see how anyone can escape their allure.  There was no going back for me after that.

What is your profession and does that affect how you enjoy being a Sherlockian?

I am an attorney who works as an editor of law books, which I’ve done for almost 30 years now (schooled in Indiana, admitted to practice in New York, employed in Minnesota, where I work on Alabama laws).  On the side, I also edit, copyedit, and/or proofread fiction for a variety of publishers, mostly in the pulp fiction community.  As a result, I like to describe myself as “a nitpicker for fun and profit.”  I’m not sure why it took me so long to apply my editorial skills to Sherlock Holmes, but it’s been only the last few years in which I’ve started to work on Sherlockian titles, and I’ve been pleased to put together several anthologies for Belanger Books, including my most recent, The Consultations of Sherlock Holmes, which was released last summer.  I love being able to contribute to Sherlockiana in this way, and I hope that the books I help bring into the world are enjoyed by others.

What is your favorite canonical story?

That’s easy for me: I like “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” best.  It was the second story presented in Dan Day’s illustrated comic series, and so it was an early favorite of mine that has stuck with me ever since.  It also has what I think is the best “cozy” intro in the whole Canon, with Holmes making the “absurdly simple” deduction that Watson was not going to invest in South African securities.  Holmes didn’t really shine his best in the rest of the story, but I think that helped me appreciate him as less than the super-human thinking machine that we often expect him to be.  Holmes can be fallible, and I think that makes him even more appealing.

Who is a specific Sherlockian that you think others would find interesting?

My best friend in the Sherlock Holmes community is Tim Reich, a member of the Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota, my local scion society.  When I moved to Minnesota and discovered the group, Tim was one of the first people who really welcomed me, and his camaraderie helped me feel that I belonged there.  Over the years, we’ve collaborated on a number of projects together, including co-editing the Explorers’ Christmas Annual (which I now co-edit with Phil Bergem, another dear Sherlockian friend).  Tim was the one who convinced me to make my first pilgrimage to New York City for the BSI weekend in January 2018, and our long-suffering wives joined us for that adventure.  He’s just a great guy with a lot of enthusiasm for the Canon, and it can be infectious.  We also share interests in classic rock music and obscure pulp fiction characters.  In addition to our mutual Sherlockian hobby, folks also might enjoy talking to Tim about baseball and beer!

What subset of Sherlockiana really interests you?

Pastiches.  As much as I adore the original stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, I like finding new perspectives on the character provided by other writers, particularly in stories that put Holmes and Watson in situations other than those that Doyle did already (and usually did better).  I am particularly drawn to those pastiches that take Holmes out of his usual comfort zone, either in new settings around the world, or crossing over with figures from history or literature, or even investigating true-crime mysteries from the Victorian era.  So long as Holmes remains true to his character, I’ll be happy.  But if he becomes a villain, or if he travels through time, or if he starts accepting applications from ghosts, then I’m out.

You have co-edited The Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota Christmas Annual for quite a few years.  What do you look for in submissions each year?

The Christmas Annual is a great venue for members of the Norwegian Explorers to share their ideas with the rest of us.  I work with Phil Bergem, my co-editor, to come up with a theme for the Annual each year, and then we ask folks to submit whatever strikes their fancy.  We get a lot of great submissions every year, and I’m pleased to note that the Annual has gotten bigger every year that Phil and I have been doing it.  So long as the submissions are related to Sherlock Holmes in some way, they don’t even need to relate to the selected topic (but most of them do).  We tend to include everything submitted, which can make for quite a varied end product.  If the contributor is enthusiastic enough to share his or her creativity with us, then that’s usually sufficient to merit a place in the next Christmas Annual!

As someone who has edited more than a few Sherlockian story anthologies, what advice can you give to writers out there working on their own pastiche and fan fictions?

Oh, wow.  That is such a broad question.  I guess my advice is to remember that, although there are a number of different ways to sort the Canon into a coherent chronology, that doesn’t give writers license to place their stories in any random year and expect them to work.  Your editor should be able to help you with the details and remove any pesky anachronisms, but if you have Watson living at Baker Street when he should be married, or if clients profess to know all about Holmes from the stories in The Strand before any had been published there, or if Holmes is still in London when he should be busy keeping his bees, then we’re going to have to make some more substantial changes!  I do enjoy catching those details when I start going through submissions for the books I edit, and I hope that the writers aren’t put out too much when I suggest ways to fix things.  My job is to make the writers look better, and if it all goes well, then nobody will be able to tell that I was even there.  Oh, and please don’t have our heroes address each other as “John” and “Sherlock.”  (Leave that for the TV productions!)

What book would you recommend to other Sherlockians?

I spent the last year re-reading the Canon as I received “Letters From Watson” in my email courtesy of the Substack online platform.  After I reread each story, I decided to finish off with a dip into D. Martin Dakin’s A Sherlock Holmes Commentary to see what he had to say about each story.  I found it to be an extremely rewarding experience viewing the Canon through his eyes.  But to stay more on what seems to be the focus of this interview, the single best pastiche I’ve read in the last few years is One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes, written by J. Lawrence Matthews.  It takes a bold, alternative view of Holmes’s life story, but he never really contradicts anything Doyle wrote.  I look forward to whatever additional Holmes books Matthews gives us next!  He did contribute a related story to The Consultations of Sherlock Holmes, but I don’t want to get too cheeky by recommending one of my own books (unless I just did by mentioning it again).

Where do you see Sherlockiana in 5 or 10 years from now?

It’s certainly not dissipating, that’s for certain.  In 5 or 10 years, we’ll still be trying to figure out how many wives Watson had, where Holmes went to school, what Watson meant by mentioning his “bull pup,” and all your other favorite Canonical conundrums.  Nobody is ever going to have the single, definitive answer to any of these puzzles, and that might be what makes the Canon so enduring and endearing, that it contains such compelling additional mysteries that keep us thinking about the stories for so long.  That may have been Doyle’s true genius, leaving us with all of those unanswered questions that we could ponder long after he put down his pen.

Interesting Interview: Ann Margaret Lewis

Ann Margaret Lewis is one of those familiar faces that you just feel at home with when you see her at Sherlockian events.  I've seen her talk a few times and have always been impressed by the depth of what she knows, no matter the topic.  Some smart people can give off a vibe that makes them feel unapproachable, but that is definitely not the deal with Ann.  She's always surrounded by friends and is quick to talk with anyone in her vicinity.

As you'll see below, Ann has written plenty on Sherlock Holmes, both research-based and pastiche.  But she's also written for DC Comics, Star Wars, and a stand-alone space fantasy novel.  She's won the Independent Book Publisher’s Award, a Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval, and was a finalist for the Catholic Arts and Letters Award for 2010.  See?  I told you she was smart!  But I also said she gives off a welcoming vibe and that comes across very much in this week's Interesting Interview.  So let's get to know Ann Margaret Lewis! 

How do you define the word “Sherlockian”?

A Sherlockian (or Holmesian) is someone who loves Sherlock Holmes, and who participates in activities that celebrate him. 

How did you become a Sherlockian?

After reading all of my mother’s Agatha Christie books in high school, she suggested I read The Hound of the Baskervilles. I was hooked, and I ended up checking the Double Day Complete edition out of the library. I kept checking it out until my mother got me a copy for Christmas. Later in college I connected with The Greek Interpreters of East Lansing, and I was a Sherlockian for life.

What is your profession and does that affect how you enjoy being a Sherlockian?

My day job is working for the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis at their newspaper The Criterion. However, I also write novels and I’m a classical singer. I earn money at all three, so I guess we can say they’re all my professions. I also taught high school English for 10 years, so you could count that as a former profession. 

What is your favorite canonical story?

I have several, but I’ve always been fond of “The Yellow Face.” It’s not that difficult of a mystery, but Holmes character development in that story is quite moving. He admits he made a mistake. It’s interesting when he does that because it shows his humility and growth. 

Who is a specific Sherlockian that you think others would find interesting?

Robert Sharfman of Chicago. He was just made a BSI this year (Killer Evans), and he truly deserves it. He has so many interesting stories, and even at his advanced age, he drives long distances to many scion meetings in the Midwest just because he loves his fellow Sherlockians. I only hope I am as interesting and have as much energy when I reach his age.

What subset of Sherlockiana really interests you?

It’s hard to pick one, but I really do like film and the portrayals of Holmes on screen. I guess I was influenced by my late dear friend Patricia Ward of the Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis who knew everything about every Holmes portrayal on screen. She taught me a great deal. 

Your book, Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, collects three mysteries that Sherlock Holmes investigates connected to organized religion.  What drew you to connect the church and Sherlock Holmes?

I am a practicing Catholic (obviously…that’s where I work) and I founded of a scion for “Catholockians” called “The Vatican Cameos.” But what really connected the two concepts for me is that the pope of the time (Leo XIII) is mentioned twice in the canon. In fact, it looks like he is the only person to have hired Holmes twice – for the “sudden death of Cardinal Tosca” and the “missing Vatican cameos.” I figured since Watson pointed that out, I might as well take these untold tales and tell them. Besides, Pope Leo XIII was a really interesting man. In the book I imitate his voice (as translated into English) from his encyclicals along with that of Doyle. It was a challenge, and I really learned a great deal from that project.

As the Sherlockian who probably knows the most about the polyphonic motets of Lassus, can you explain to us lay people just what in the heck those are and why Sherlock Holmes would be writing about them?

Let me see if I can give you the short explanation:

First, all motets are polyphonic, so the term “polyphonic motets” is redundant. (Oopsie, Watson!) But a motet is a piece of religious Renaissance choral music meant for the Mass. The lyrics for the pieces are certain scriptural portions assigned to given days of the Church calendar. The music, as I said, is polyphonic, which means each voice has its own melody line, and those melody lines combine to create an extra-worldly sound. Orlando di Lasso (aka Lassus) was a Renaissance composer of renown during this time, and his harmonies are interesting and different from others of his period. In fact, some of his harmonic patterns were not seen again until the 20th century, which is why I think Holmes found his music compelling.

I wrote about this subject in more detail in two books: Referring to My Notes by BSI Press and 70 Years by Gaslamp: The Illustrious Clients’ Sixth Casebook, so if people want more information on this, they can check those out.

What book would you recommend to other Sherlockians?

As crazy as it sounds, I think Sherlock Holmes for Dummies is a great book, not only because it’s written by my good friend Steven Doyle, BSI, or because it is an original scholarly work of great depth (it wasn’t meant to be) but because it helps the Sherlockian explain to non-Sherlockians what this Holmes thing is all about. It gives us a language to use to communicate our love for the Great Detective. It’s also a great resource for newbie Sherlockians. While it’s not still in print currently, it’s not hard to find used copies on Amazon. 

Where do you see Sherlockiana in 5 or 10 years from now?

I think we’ll have new film and TV series to follow, drifting into works based on pastiches (like Enola Holmes). I’m hoping we’ll have some really cool new adaptations of the original canonical stories, but I doubt that’ll happen. Hollywood seems more interested in their own stories rather than those of Doyle. 

Meanwhile, I think our scion groups will start to connect with each other more often and help each other grow. That seems to be happening now as a result of Zoom. Covid made us connect with each other, and suddenly Sherlockians of all different scions started to visit each other in person afterward. I believe that trend will continue because we’ve started to discover how cool all our fellow Sherlockians are. We’re such an interesting bunch. If you haven’t visited a scion from another town, I do recommend it. You meet great people and always have a good time. It’s like finding family wherever you go. 

Several Trustworthy Books of Reference [VALL]

At the BSI Weekend, Peter Eckrich and I debuted our new anthology, Canonical Cornerstones: Foundational Books of a Sherlockian Library, at the Wessex Press dealer's table.  And man, we were not prepared for the reception it received.  It was a whirlwind of signing books until we looked up and the stock of Canonical Cornerstones had completely sold out in less than 90 minutes!

So what made this book such a hot item at the BSI Weekend?  This anthology is a collection of 17 essays by different authors making arguments for 17 books that are important to any Sherlockian library.  And we all love reading about Sherlockian books!

Will you have some of these in your library already?  Hopefully.  

Will you have a different opinion on what 17 titles should make up this list?  Probably.  

Will you enjoy reading everyone's impassioned arguments for their particular title?  Absolutely!

But I'm going to let the table of contents speak for itself, because the contributors are the real selling point for this anthology.

Foreword - Michael Dirda

Introduction -  Peter Eckrich & Rob Nunn

“Shall they not always live in Baker Street?”: Vincent Starrett’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - Ray Betzner

In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes by Michael Harrison - Catherine Cooke

The Baker Street Journal - Peggy MacFarlane

Let Me Recommend This Book: Leslie S. Klinger’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes - Peter E. Blau

D. Martin Dakin’s A Sherlock Holmes Commentary - Mike McSwiggin

A Pastiche That Plays the Game: Nicholas Meyer’s Seven-Per-Cent Solution - Anastasia Klimchynskaya

Daniel Stashower’s Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle - Mark Jones

Beyond the Canon: Apocrypha et Cetera - Ross E. Davies

“Only For The Madmen”: Jack Tracy’s Encyclopedia Sherlockiana - Sonia Fetherston

“Respectful, waggish, farcical” — The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes by Ellery Queen - Timothy J. Johnson

Holmes and Watson: A Miscellany by S. C. Roberts - Roger Johnson

From Holmes to Sherlock by Mattias Bostrom - From Concept to Classic - Mark Alberstat

Sherlock Holmes for Dummies: Not Just for Dummies - Regina Stinson

The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson by Ronald Burt De Waal - Ira Brad Matetsky

The Classic Doubleday Omnibus: A Bible All Awry - Russell Merritt

An Era in Profile: Edgar W. Smith's Profile by Gaslight - Dan Andriacco

William Baring-Gould’s The Annotated Sherlock Holmes - Julie McKuras

You can see why I'm so excited about this book!  Since that morning in New York when it sold out so quickly, Peter and I have been receiving messages left and right from readers who are enjoying the different essays in this collection.  So, if the idea of this book interests you, head over to Wessex Press to grab a copy.  You'll be gad that you did!

The Events Occurred Which I am Now About To Summarise [ENGR]

Last weekend was the annual Sherlock Holmes Birthday Weekend in New York.  If you were anywhere on the Sherlockian internet, I'm sure you saw tons of pictures and posts from people who were there.  

It's always a pleasure to get to see so many friends in one place, and there are many people I honestly spent less than ten seconds with in the hubbub of everything, despite wanting to talk more with them.  This year's weekend had more events than previous ones, with the Gaslight Gala coming back from its Covid hiatus and things starting on Wednesday (or maybe Tuesday, I'm not really sure), so there's always something going on!

My time in New York was split between Sherlockian events, touristy stuff, and carving out time with friends.  I'll try to keep my rundown of the weekend as brief as a synopsis of four packed days can be.

I booked the earliest possible flight out of St. Louis on Thursday and landed in New York around 9am.  Even getting there that early, I was missing things!  As I arrived at the Westin hotel and 10:30, people were leaving for the Doylean honors horse race at The Mysterious Bookshop and The Christopher Morley Memorial Walk had already been going on for half an hour by then.  

I texted Rusty Mason when I hit town and he and his dad, Steve, were waiting for me to get settled in and we headed for lunch at McSorley's Old Ale House.  Jim Hawkins and Rich Krisciunas were with us as we got there and beat the crowd.  That back room really fills up when Sherlockians are in town!  

Once we realized it was time to give our seats up to folks who needed a place to sit, the five of us went to a dessert bar, The Spot.  Fantastic desserts, and even five midwestern and southern guys could appreciate New York takes on classic desserts (even if all of us were too old to recognize the TikTok celebrities that were photographed on the wall).

If you've never been to the weekend, one thing you need to know is that there is a ton of food.  My next stop was another meal, this one at an Italian restaurant with Rusty, Jim, and Cynthia and Bill Mason.  After that, Rusty and I were off to see Back to the Future: The Musical on Broadway.  Not Sherlockian, but definitely fun.

Every night of the weekend ends at Rosie Dunn's, with a revolving cast of people to spend time with.  One thing that hit me differently this year was how tired I was all of the time.  I had fun conversations with lots of folks on many different topics (The Simpsons, Dolly Parton, etc.), but it would be a lost cause for me to try to tell you which night things went down at the pub.  But trust me, if you're in New York for the Birthday Weekend, Rosie Dunn's should be on your itinerary.

A newer tradition at this weekend is folks who have been invested into the BSI getting together for breakfast with their classmates on Friday morning.  This was my class's second year gathering, and it's great to have a dedicated time to spend with people around a meal.

One great thing about the Westin's location is its relative closeness to the New York Public Library.  Even if you don't get to go inside every year, walking by those beautiful lions out front and knowing you're close to so many books is wonderful.  But this year, Crystal Noll, Heather Holloway, Rusty Mason and I went to visit their Treasures from the Archives exhibit.  It had everything from Civil Rights flyers to Charles Dickens's writing desk to the Bill of Rights.

After that, it was time for the William Gillette Luncheon.  I somehow signed up early enough to get a table right up front.  In fact, I was sitting with some of the afternoon's performers!  Two skits were performed to laughs, a nice meal was had, and everyone got to see each other in one of big events of weekend.

And that night was the event that the whole weekend revolved around: The BSI Dinner.  This is the event that the rest of the weekend has grown up around, but I think it's important to point out that this is the only invite-only event of the weekend.  Everything else is open to everyone and everywhere you go, people are happy to welcome friends old, new, and ones they haven't yet met.

This is the event that probably gets recapped the most, so I will keep mine brief.  There were some great toasts and talks, which will be in the Spring issue of the Baker Street Journal, and of course everyone is always clamoring to learn who will be included in this years investiture class.  It's been shared elsewhere, but I will post the picture of my notes from that night.  

The list of investitures always makes me happy.  It's a combination of recognition of those folks I have known to be doing great work in Sherlockiana and names of people I haven't met yet but look forward to getting to know in the future.

After the dinner, everyone goes downstairs to enjoy an hour or so at the Yale Club, and then people make their way to Rosie Dunn's to meet up with everyone from the Gaslight Gala.  Two things stood out to me from this part of the night.  

1. While everyone from the BSI Dinner flooded into the Yale Club's lounge, one other patron was determined to sit in his armchair and read a newspaper amid the clamor of all of us.  I wish I had that kind of focus!  

2. By the time we were kicked out of Rosie Dunn's, it was POURING rain outside.  It took my suit a day and a half to dry from that onslaught of rain.

Saturday kicks off with the Dealer's Room with Sherlockians selling all kinds of things.  Wessex Press and BSI Press debut their new titles here, and Belanger Books and MX Publishing have tables with their latest books as well.  If those four aren't enough to drain your wallet, there are plenty of individuals selling enough old books and ephemera to fill your suitcase.

One of Wessex Press's new books this year is one I'm very proud of, Canonical Cornerstones: Foundational Books of a Sherlockian Library.  This is an anthology that Peter Eckrich and I oversaw and will be the subject of its own blog post at a later date.  It was great to get to sign copies for everyone who picked one up, but unfortunately not everyone could get one because it sold out in less than 90 minutes!  Every time I think of how excited people were to check this book out, it just makes me smile.

After that, it was back to the Yale Club for the BSI Luncheon.  Even though, this has BSI in the title, this event is open to everyone and in the past few years it has been selling out very quickly.  It's a nice time for everyone to mingle and talk with everyone from across the country.  It's always fun to see who ends up at your table.  As usual, I had a good group this year: Rudy Altergott, Peter and Joe Eckrich, Brian and Derrick Belanger, Max Magee, Ed Petit, and Ray and Becky Riethmeier.

That night, I had dinner with Ray Betzner, Ashley Polasek, and Tim Greer.  You couldn't ask for more pleasant company!  It's interesting that with this being a Sherlockian weekend, so many of my conversations with folks were about other topics.  That night's conversation wandered from heist movies to theater performances to college commencements.  I've found that Sherlockiana is a great jumping-off point for meeting folks and we then build our friendships from there.  (Well, maybe it wasn't all non-Sherlockian... we may have tried out our Nigel Bruce impressions)

Sunday always brings one of my favorite events of the weekend, the ASH Brunch.  It's the wind-down event where people can move around and visit with one another without any kind of program (and there's as much bacon as you want).  I've equated this event to the last day of summer camp.  People are comparing notes of what they saw and did over the past few days and making plans for the upcoming year.  As its time for folks to catch their flights, they drift off one by one until the locals have their city back.

I'm not standing on anything, there's just that much of a height difference.

I had one more stop on my weekend, though.  I'm a big Muppets fan, so I made a trip over to Queens to the Museum of the Moving Image where they had a Jim Henson exhibit that included all kinds of original Muppets and the sign that was used in the Muppet Show.

By this time, winter weather was hitting the Midwest and causing delays with flights across the country.  Luckily, I was only delayed by an hour and a half (which allowed me to get last week's Interesting Interview posted) but I know others had a much longer wait.  It sounds like everyone eventually made it home safely, with suitcases of new books and brain attics full of good memories.  I'm already looking forward to next year's weekend.