Trifling Issues in December

by Scott Monty January 02, 2018

"some trifling matter" [3GAB]

If you frequent this site, you're certainly familiar with our 10 year-long show, in which we interview notable Sherlockians who are doing their part to keep the memory of Sherlock Holmes green. I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere has evolved over that decade, but we're on a steady cadence of long-form interviews on the 15th and 30th of every month.

Meanwhile, over on Trifles, we're engaged in something different: we have short discussions of about 15 minutes in length every week in which we talk about one or two issues that we've noticed within the Sherlock Holmes stories. It's an approach that we hope brings more people into our fold who are new to Sherlock Holmes and are fascinated with the details within the story, or who may have some questions about what they read.

And now, on with the recap of our December shows.

December Update

December is always a fun month because we know what it will conclude with. But in the meantime, we got to discussing other items that came to mind, either because they were interesting or filled the timeline of the chronologies. One such story was "The Missing Three-Quarter" which gave us a chance to discuss Sherlock Holmes and Rugby.

While we don't hear much of The Agony Column these days, there was a time when the London papers were filled with them. Like a Craigslist or classified ad of its day, the agony column granted Sherlock Holmes the opportunity to peek into the lives of regular Londoners and even to crack a few cases.

As we approached the Christmas season, Episode 51 - Peace in the Canon gave us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the less stressful events and times in the Sherlock Holmes stories, when all was right.

And of course, it wouldn't be December without "The Blue Carbuncle." Episode 52 - The Second Week After Christmas gave us a chance to unwrap some of the inconsistencies in this "Christmas story without slush" and see just how realistic it was.

We hope you enjoy these discussions and that you're fully up to speed on what's going on with the show in 2018, where we're bringing new regular features to the show and addressing some long-standing questions. If you so, please subscribe to Trifles via the podcast provider of your choice, or to the email updates.

And if you'd like to learn more about Tom Richmond, the talented artist behind the show's logo, check out Episode 65: Art in the Blood.