Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Category

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Copper Beeches” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on April 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Cooper Beeches”

The final story in this collection is spooky and very creepy.  It starts quietly enough.

A young woman comes in to see Holmes.  She is quite upset about a job offer.  She is being hired to look after a child for a gregarious and wealthy man and his quiet wife.  He had a daughter with his previous wife but she is in Philadelphia.  Now, he has a child with his new wife and he is looking for someone to watch the child and to help with his wife’s needs and whims.

It’s a little odd, but what’s very odd is the huge amount of money he’s willing to pay (four times as much as anyone else) and the very weird fact that he asks her to cut off her beautiful hair.  What does he think?

There’s nothing that Holmes can do right now, so he wishes her luck. But he confides to Watson that he thinks it’s a very bad idea. And he points out amusingly that if this appointment was in the city it wouldn’t be as scary but being in the middle of nowhere is where all the more horrible things happen.

It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside….
The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of country which makes the danger.

A short time later she reaches out to Holmes and wants to talk to him.  They meet and she tells him that the house is crazy.  She has found a length of hair that is just like hers and there is a wing of the house that is totally locked up.  The master of the house has asked her to put on a specific (used) dress.  And finally, when she expressed an interest in the locked area, he was menacing about insisting that she stay away from it.

I guessed what Conan Doyle had in mind but didn’t really imagine that he’d go through with the crazy idea–Conan Doyle is (I think) pretty out there with some of his ideas, but again I wonder if he was ahead of the curve or if there are other lesser known stories that deal with unusual storylines.

My suspicions were correct about what was going on, but as with the Noble Bachelor, he had more (unexpected to me) details to throw into the story.

And that’s the end of this book.  In a little while I’m going to bust into his next collection of short stories The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Beryl Coronet” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story, Thieves on April 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Beryl Coronet”

The eleventh story in this collection sees Holmes getting back to his old sleuthing skills–he even uses a magnifying glass!

The Beryl Coronet is a gold crown studded with jewels.  It is worth a fortune.  The backstory is that a banker has come to see Holmes.  He is so bad-looking that Watson presumes him to be a destitute alcoholic when he arrives.  But he is, in fact, head of the bank.  He says that he was recently approached by a man who needed a lot of money immediately.  Normally the bank would say no, but the man produced this crown (which is a national treasure) as collateral.

The banker said okay, but then was so nervous about it being stolen in the bank that he brought it to his house (which cannot possibly be more safe than a bank).

He proceeded to tell his son and niece (long story short: her parents are dead, he’s like a father to her).

Later that night, the banker hears a ruckus and his son (who is kind of a lazy boy and has recently asked for money) is seen in the anteroom with the crown (now broken).  The banker freaks out and accuses his son of theft.  The son says nothing, just gets offended and walks off.  The niece (whom the banker had often times implored to marry his son) rushes to his defense.

The banker is freaked, obviously, as the crown is ruined and three jewels are missing.

Holmes does some lengthy detection and figures things out.  The son is obviously innocent.  The thief is cleverly alluded to and there is much hand wringing.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit–even if the banker (once the crown part is recovered) is still left with a broken crown! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Noble Bachelor” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story, Weddings on April 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Noble Bachelor”

The tenth story in this collection is another one where Holmes doesn’t really do a lot.  The story is sort of a celebrity scandal.  I had to wonder, after reading this, if Conan Doyle was the first person to use this conceit in a mystery.

The story is a fairly simple one, but there’s lot of details thrown in to throw one of the scent, I assume.

This is the story of a failed wedding.  The bride left the groom at the altar.  But she had been in the church a few minutes before the wedding began.  And she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

Some back story is that the man is a Lord, the woman is American.  Her father struck it rich in the gold rush and is probably worth more than the Lord.  They had met when he travelled to California.  And then she travelled to England where they met again and were engaged.  I love the way this is worded: “I met her several times, became engaged to her….”

The only thing that the Lord noticed on the day of the wedding was that she dropped her bouquet and a person in one of the pews handed it to her.  And that a woman who he once was involved with was seen with his bride to be just before she disappeared.

The police come in and say that they found her clothes in the river and assume she was killed.  They also found a note with the initials of the woman who was last seen with her.

Holmes obviously dismisses everyone’s ideas and quickly comes to conclusion of what happened.  But it is the note with the initials that leads him to be able to put things to right.

I more or less guessed what was going to happen from the start, but the details are quite good and interesting as he does twist things a little.

It’s a minor spoiler to say that someone has followed her from America, but I’m curious if this was t he first time that someone had written a story where her past caught up with her in quite this way.

~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Engineer’s Thumb” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story, Technology on April 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Engineer’s Thumb”

The ninth story in this collection is one where even Watson admits that Holmes doesn’t really “do” very much.  The story reads a bit more like a (tame) horror story than a mystery.

A man comes running into Watson’s office with his hand all bloody.  He has had his thumb chopped off!  He recounts his story and when Holmes hears about it, he sets about trying to unpack what happened,

The man Victor Hatherley, was offered 50 guinea by Colonel Lysander Stark to come examine Stark’s hydraulic press which was broken.  Stark claimed it was to compress fuller’s earth (what? even the definition doesn’t help what would be going on here–uses include as absorbents for oil, grease, and animal waste, and as a carrier for pesticides and fertilizers.  Hatherley was suspicious about this fuller’s earth story, but figured, hey 50 bucks is 50 bucks, so he goes to check it out.

It’s all incredibly hush hush of course, and when Hatherley checks things out, he also seems to discover what Stark is up to.  Stark tries to crush him with the very press that he fixed (!) and then, when Stark gets away, he swings an axe at him (hence the thumb).

The bulk of the story is in recounting Hatherley’s story.  It’s not even clear that Holmes could “do” anything.  But it turns out that Holmes has read about a counterfeiting operation in town.  He puts two and two together and figures that the press is actually for printing coins.

They head to the house (which is where Holmes does his real deducing because he figures out where it was despite Hatherley being blindfolded, but it has been burnt down.

The question is whether or not the police can track down the thieves.

This wa sa pretty exciting story and well told, but it’s not a great example of Holmes’ detection.

~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Speckled Band” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on April 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Speckled Band”

The eighth story in this collection is a bit longer than the others and offers some good complications.

I enjoyed that Watson sets this story up by saying that it’s an older story but he has been prevented from writing about it because the woman it involved was still alive.  Now that she has recently passed, it was fair game.

A woman comes to Holmes fearing for her life.  She literally woke up in a cold sweat and flew as fast as she could to Baker St.

Helen Stoner has been living with her stepfather for many years.  He married Helen and her twin sister’s mother when the girls were two and living in India.  They moved back to England, but rather than him starting his medical practice as he proclaimed, he returned to his family’s old mansion and set about doing his own thing.

Rather than being a beloved old resident, he has become a monster–fighting with people, causing the police to come out to the house at all hours.  He has also become quite peculiar:

He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.

He has a cheetah and a baboon roaming the grounds. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Blue Carbuncle” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

Posted in Adventure, Arthur Conan Doyle, Christmas, Geese, Greed, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on March 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 4, 2024] “The Man with the Twisted Lip”

After a couple of lesser stories, the seventh story in this collection returns Holmes to his glory.  For instance, he looks at a felt hat and determines

That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him.

Outstanding.

The hat belongs to a man who was carrying a Christmas goose.  He was set upon by some thugs and dropped the goose.  But when he fought off the thugs, he smashed a window.  Peterson, a constable happened upon the scene, but everyone fled, leaving Peterson with a hat and a goose.  No one claimed the goose, so Peterson ate it and Holmes took the hat.

But Peterson comes back soon after saying that in the goose was a blue gem–the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle.

Holmes lays some simple traps and determines that at least two people are not suspects in the theft.  But this case, which seems so challenging actually get solved fairly easily.  The remainder of the story actually lays out how the jewel wound up in a goose.

I have read another version of this story (in comic book form) and I feel like the “how” part may have been placed in a different order, which made the story a bit more suspenseful.  But perhaps I am misremembering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Man with the Twisted Lip” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Drugs, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on March 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 4, 2024] “The Man with the Twisted Lip”

The sixth story in this collection was rather slight and seemed to have a lot more set up than actual mystery.

It was especially odd because it begins with a woman coming to Holmes (and specifically Holmes’ wife) for help finding her husband.  He has been going to an opium den for quite some time, but he always returns.  But he hasn’t been home for two days!

Holmes goes to the den and finds the man.  He puts him in a cab, but while he’s there, Holmes catches his attention.  Homes has been undercover in the opium den because of a case that he’s on.  He asks Holmes to help him.

The case is fairly straightforward.  A man left his home to go to the city to get presents for his children.  On the same day, his wife heads to the city to pick up a package.  While she’s in town, she sees her husband in the window of the opium den.  When she goes to investigate, she is foiled by the den owner.  The police are quickly called and the only person they can find is a beggar Hugh Boone who is well known to everyone (he has orange hair, a giant scar and a twisted lip).  There’s no sign of the missing man except for his clothes and an open window.

It is presumed that the man was tossed out the window into the sea and is now dead.

Holmes puzzles over this for a night and then reaches the conclusion that solves the mystery.

I know that some of the mysteries are ones that can be solved by the reader, but this one has a lot of details that the reader couldn’t possible know.  In fairness, I guess Holmes wouldn’t know them either.

On the other hand, the backstory about the missing man is pretty interesting and that alone pretty much makes the story a good read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Five Orange Pips” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Australia, Blackmail, Lady Lamb, Magana, Mitski, Murder, Mystery, Racism, Regrets, Robbery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on March 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: February 4, 2024] “The Five Orange Pips”

The fifth story in this collection is notable to me for the context of the mystery more than the mystery itself.

A gentleman named John Openshaw tells Holmes that his Uncle Elias has been killed.  As a young man, Elias went to Florida, joined the Confederate Army, made some money and came back to England.  John lives on his estate.

Recently Elias received a mysterious letter from India with the initials K.K.K. on it.  The only thing the letter contained was five orange seeds (pips).  Elias frekaed out and became even more reclusive.

Elias was found dead on the grounds of his house, but it was ruled a suicide.  John did not believe it was a suicide.

John’s father inherited the estate.  He soon received a similarly peculiar note with orange pips.  This note told him to leave Elias’s papers at the sundial.  But Elias had burnt the papers.  John’s father was dead soon after–this one ruled an accident.

John has now received a letter asking for the papers and that’s why he has come to Holmes.

What’s most notable about this story is that the K.K.K. (and this seems really obvious now, but who would have guessed) stands for Ku Klux Klan. The Klan was effectively defunct at the time he wrote this.  Sadly it has been revitalized since this writing and remains the scourge that it was at the time.

Obviously, Holmes didn’t go after the Klan, but it’s nice to know that the ship carrying the Klansmen was destroyed in the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Boscombe Valley Mystery” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Australia, Blackmail, Lady Lamb, Magana, Mitski, Murder, Mystery, Regrets, Robbery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on February 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAGANA-Teeth (2024)

I saw Lady Lamb back in 2019 when they opened for New Pornographers.  In my post I had singled out her bassist Jeni Magaña

fantastic bass from Jeni Magana.  Magana is also the bassist for Mitski and she has such a dynamite sound.  I could have listened to Magana play all night long.

I recently got a DM from Audio Antihero saying that since I seemed to be a fan, would I like to hear the new Magana solo record?  I initially assumed that it was a new album by the singer of Lady Lamb (Aly Splatro), it had been five years, I can’t be expected to remember everything.

The record didn’t sound anything like Lady Lamb, and that’s when I read the liner notes and saw my mistake.

Teeth is available next month, and you can hear a few songs now.  The bandcamp page says Magana describes the album

as “Witchy Rock,” … unlike any of her past works. An album about “regrowth and a new view on the world,” its sound touches on Acid Folk, Alternative Pop, and even Krautrock as she tackles the bleakest and most brutally honest subjects of her songwriting career.

I liked the album a lot and although I haven’t had time to write about albums so much anymore, I wanted to give this indie label a shout.

All other instruments: Jeni Magaña

The album opens with strummed guitar that sounds slightly-off–in an intriguingly (minorly) dissonant way that I found really intriguing.  Then “Garden” introduces Magana’s lovely full voice.  Keys float in to flesh out the sound as it builds somewhat.  It’s not really an indication of what will come next, but it does hint a little at the unusual music within.

“Beside You” introduces a starkly fuzzy guitar line and what sounds like electronic toy piano.  But most of the music fades back for the verses as an electronic drum (the snare is close to a clap sound) keeps the music going.  It’s like eccentric bedroom pop, but it sounds really clean.  The song is about 3 minutes long and half way through it’s like a full band joins in and the song explodes into fullness–with some terrific harmony vocals.

More unusual instrumentation follows on “Matter” which features not one but two (I think) clarinet melodies to introduce the song.  Then comes in a cool electronic bass sound to propel the song.  Incidentally, Jeni Magaña plays everything on the record except for drums (Jonathan Smith) and strings: Violin: Jenna Moynihan and Cello: Marie Kim.  The mixing of the clarinets and the big synth sounds works wonderfully together–in one of those moments where when the bass notes return after the middle part it’s like an old friend returning.

“Paul” strips the music back to a quiet, prepared-sounding guitar and her beautiful voice.  Magana’s voice sounds familiar in a way that I find very comforting (although I can’t place who I think she sounds like).  After a verse the song builds up with a few flutes and strings.  The melody is lovely.   And I love the return of the clarinets. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Red-Headed League” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

Posted in Adventure, Arthur Conan Doyle, Banks, Fraud, Mystery, Robbery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story on February 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: February 4, 2024] “The Red-Headed League”

The third story in this collection is one that I have heard of and that I know is significant in the canon.  But I didn’t know anything about it, which made reading it even more fun.

Like most stories, it starts with Watson coming over to Holmes’ place while he’s just meeting with a client.  He says he’s quite puzzled by this one.

Jabez Wilson is a man with red hair.  He owns a pawn shop and is not terribly busy these days.  He has a man working for him and the only way he can keep the man is because he accepts half pay.  The employee brought to Wilson’s attention an ad in the paper about the red-headed league.

The league has an endowment and they are looking for a new member to replace one who has left.  For 100 pounds a month, all you need to do is work for a few hours a week.  The line for interviews is very long, but Wilson has the perfect flame-red hair that gets him the gig.  His job is to copy the encyclopedia every day from 10-2.  He is not permitted to leave during those hours and he cannot miss a day or the gig is forfeited.

Pretty weird. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »