May Flowered Brightly in These Parts

by Scott Monty June 06, 2019

"This is the Devon County Chronicle of May" [HOUN]

Over the weekend we (quietly) celebrated the 12th anniversary of our program I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. The show has evolved over the years, but we're on a steady cadence of long-form interviews on the 15th and 30th of every month, and we've got plenty of great guests lined up for the remainder of the year.

Over on Trifles (available on any podcasting service and at sherlockholmespodcast.com) we're doing something a trifle different: every Wednesday, we take about 15 minutes to 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 May shows.

May Update

If you've listened to more than one episode of Trifles, just a word of caution: don't skip the intro or the final few seconds of each show! We vary the introductions and we have a different closing quote on every episode.

We began the month with a delicate subject: Poisons. The bottom line: be careful about your choice of friends. A toxic friendship is likely to end when you least expect it.

Our monthly feature of games and sports led us back to the parlor, where we expanded from our initial discussion of whist in March to the broader instances of cards in You've Got a Deal. Deal 'em out - we feel really lucky!

We see our fair share of coachmen, messengers, bankers and politicians in the Canon. But what about yeggmen, mendicants or gamekeepers? We track down some of these Odd Jobs and what they did.

Our next regular monthly feature, International Sherlock Holmes, is a monthly look at various nationalities and countries in the Canon and how they impact the stories. This month, it's French and Sherlock Holmes, we find ourselves on the continent.

And the month of May ends with us pondering about how Sherlock Holmes (not to mention Brunton!) was able to calculate the location of the object of the Musgrave Ritual when that elm hadn't been standing for some ten years in Where Was the Shadow?

A Question for You

How are we doing so far? Is there anything that's been burning your mind about the stories that you think we should discuss? We'd love your suggestions! Simply email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com and we'll add it to our queue of topics.

Also, if you like what you hear, please subscribe to Trifles via the podcast provider of your choice, or to the email updates.

If you'd like to learn more about Tom Richmond, the talented artist behind the show's logo, you can hear his story in Episode 65: Art in the Blood.