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Category Archives: The Game is Afoot

CHRONICLER WATSON PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN an analysis of Dr. John H. Watson’s chronicling of the world’s greatest consulting detective. Today in Part 2, we discuss penmanship, obfuscation, a downright goof, and the … Continue reading

April 14, 2020 · Leave a comment

CHRONICLER WATSON PART 1

THE WORLD’S GREATEST consulting detective had, appropriately, one of the world’s greatest chroniclers. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are tidbits about chronicler Dr. John H. Watson … Continue reading

April 13, 2020 · 2 Comments

INVISIBLE MEN, SEEN AND UNSEEN

I’VE RECENTLY ENCOUNTERED invisible men; I’ve even seen one of them. A photo, actually. One encounter was in an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, a Canadian TV series that Wife Dottie … Continue reading

February 12, 2020 · Leave a comment

ALPHONSE BERTILLON’S ANTHROPOMETRY PART 2

WAS FRENCH Criminologist Alphonse Bertillon really superior to Sherlock Holmes? Today in Part 2, French criminologist Bertillon gets involved with one of the world’s major miscarriages of justice. Retrospectively, on … Continue reading

January 29, 2020 · Leave a comment

ALPHONSE BERTILLON’S ANTHROPOMETRY PART 1

IN THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, James Mortimer, Medical Officer for Grimpen, Thorsley, and High Barrow, irks the world’s first consulting detective by recognizing him as “the second highest expert … Continue reading

January 28, 2020 · 2 Comments

THE MISSING MONA CAPER

ON AUGUST 21, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s famed Mona Lisa disappeared from The Louvre’s Salon Carré, not to return to the museum until 1914. Was the culprit Vincenzo Peruggia simply … Continue reading

December 20, 2019 · 2 Comments

HOLMES: DOUBLE-0 221B?

WAS THE WORLD’S first consulting detective also a British agent? As Sherlock Holmes himself says, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” … Continue reading

December 11, 2019 · Leave a comment

ON CHANDLER’S GREATNESS PART 2

RAYMOND CHANDLER’S ENTICING and elegant prose encourages this two-part collection gleaned from The Annotated Big Sleep. Here in Part 2 are burbank tops, license holders, and California’s sturdy front doors. … Continue reading

October 30, 2019 · Leave a comment

ON CHANDLER’S GREATNESS PART 1

I’VE BEEN savoring the annotated version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Annotations, bibliography, and all, the book is 474 pages long, and I feel no urgency to finish it. … Continue reading

October 29, 2019 · 2 Comments

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE UNDEAD

WHAT WITH Halloween approaching, and with the world’s greatest consulting detective being immortal, it’s not inappropriate to address Holmes and the Undead. Scary. Here are tidbits from the Sacred Canon, … Continue reading

October 22, 2019 · Leave a comment