Since the start of this year, I’ve been writing monthly updates to a newsletter I’m calling the strand, a project where I read all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels and talk about the mysteries, characters, my favourite moments, and try to better understand the broader pop culture phenomenon of Holmes through returning to the original canon.
This is a list of all of the posts related to this project, which I hope will make it a bit easier to navigate this series, find specific content, and see how this project progresses.
Generally, these posts all follow the same structure(although it is continually evolving), and feature the following segments: an introduction/recap, the mystery(quick summary of the story/stories, also usually some brief commentary on my impressions), the science of deduction(notes on how the stories operate as mysteries, the techniques and tricks used to solve them, and the detective skills of Sherlock Holmes), the great detective(notes on Holmes as a character, especially interesting or funny character moments that appear), regulars and irregulars(notes on other recurring characters, especially Dr. John Watson), catchphrase corner(drawing attention to language or quotes that have become especially well known or repeated in popular culture), special edition(a miscellaneous topic of interest, often related to iconography from the canon or Victorian cultural history), and finally a case of adaptation(connecting elements of the original text to more contemporary adaptations of the characters and stories).
the strand.
in this first edition, I read A Study in Scarlet, the original Holmes novel, talked about my motivations/inspirations for this project, discussed the story and characters, and looked at a few of the ways that this text has been adapted on screen and in video games.
here, we read and discuss the second novel, The Sign of the Four and talk about the legacy of dogs(and especially bassett hounds!) in detective stories.
This is the first collection of short stories, starting strong with a few of Holmes’ best cases. In this volume, we talk about a lot of topics including how women are depicted in the canon and Holmes’ love of laughter.
red hair, boomerangs, and other mysteries
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includes: A Scandal in Bohemia, the Redheaded League, A Case of Identitiy, The Boscombe Valley Mystery, and The Five Orange Pips
this volume brings us through another excellent set of short stories, with lots of weird mysteries, Victorian technology, and eliminating the impossible.
it’s not so impossible!
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includes the adventures of: the Man with the Twisted Lip, the Speckled Band, the Engineer’s Thumb, the Noble Bachelor, the Beryl Coronet, and the Copper Beeches
in this volume we learn about Holmes’ history and some very fun mystery stories featuring race horses, riddles, and lots of melodrama.
a murderer in my company
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includes the adventures of: the Silver Blaze, the Yellow Face, the Stockbroker’s Clerk, the Gloria Scott, the Musgrave Ritual, and the Reigate Squire/Puzzle
volume vi
this volume concludes with the famous fall of Sherlock Holmes. :(
the fall !
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includes the adventures of: the Crooked Man, the Resident Patient, the Greek Interpreter, the Naval Treaty, and …. the Final Problem.
we read quite possibly the best of the Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles and some of its fun and spooky adaptations.
vol. vii (holiday special!)
In this special volume we read one of my favourites of the short stories discuss wintry and holiday themed mysteries.
Coming soon: vol. ix, the empty house, the dancing men, the norwood builder,
Thanks for reading <3 This list will be updated to include any new additions to this series, and I will link back here on upcoming newsletters for easy archival viewing.
This is a more-administrative-than-usual newsletter, but I’ll be back with a regular update soon!
improbably yours,
isobel