Episode 102: Summer at Baker Street

"In summer it is a favourite resort" [VALL]

How often do you think of hot summer weather when you read the Sherlock Holmes stories? According to our calculations, it should be about 25%. But it doesn't seem that way, does it? It turns out that 16 of of the 60 stories took place in the summer months.

For those of you keeping track at home, they are (according to William S. Baring-Gould):

• "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" - June 1889
• "The Man with the Twisted Lip" - June 1889
• "The Engineer's Thumb" - Summer 1889, alternatively August or July
• "The Stockbroker's Clerk" - June
• "The Crooked Man" - Summer - August, 1888/9
• "The Greek Interpreter" - Summer
• "The Norwood Builder" - August 1894/5
• "The Dancing Men" - July 1898
• "Black Peter" - July 1895
• "The Six Napoleons" - July/August 1900
• "The Cardboard Box" - August late '80s
• "His Last Bow" - August 1914
• "The Mazarin Stone" - Summer 1903
• "The Three Garridebs" - June 1902
• "The Lion's Mane" - July 1907
• "The Retired Colourman" - Summer 1898

We also take you to the Norwegian Explorers' triennial conference The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes in Minneapolis, courtesy of our intrepid correspondent Steve Mason. We also reflect on your kind words from our 100th episode and enjoy Christopher Morley's "Sherlock Holmes Prayer" as our Gas-Lamp. Erik Deckers tries his skill at "Mental Exaltation" - will he be successful?

And perhaps there's an Easter egg somewhere as well...

We thank Mary Miller for her ongoing and generous support of our program on Patreon. And we thank the many listeners to turned out to support us for our 100th show with one-time PayPal contributions.

Notes 1:32 Introduction and welcome
2:57 Sherlock Holmes's childhood and summers
7:18 Sponsor - Wessex Press, "a blended, splendid catalog"
8:32 A special report from the Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes conference in Minnesota
20:02 Summertime in the Canon
37:16 Sherlock Holmes Brand spot
38:16 A reflection on IHOSE 100
40:38 Mental Exaltation
49:49 Gas Lamp
55:47 Sponsor - BSJ
57:57 Closing thoughts

Sponsors

This episode includes our two longtime sponsors and we thank them. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:

• The Wessex Press, featuring a "blended, splendid catalog" of over 50 Sherlock Holmes items.
• The Baker Street Journal, where you can find the summer issue of the 2016 BSJ.

Would you care to become a sponsor? You can find more information here.

Links:

• William S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective
• Tim Johnson on Episode 67
• A Baker Street Four-Wheeler
• Standard Doyle Company
• C.W. McCall - Convoy (YouTube)

Many more links, articles and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at ihose.co/flipsherlock, as well as on the The Sherlock Holmes Community on Google+ (with over 3,800 members), as well as through our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Tumblr.

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