The Stormy Petrels of BC will drop the hammer on Thor Bridge.  We are certain it will leave a chip in the stonework and Sherlock Holmes will discover it!

First published in the February-March 1922 edition of The Strand Magazine and in Hearst’s International in the February-March 1922 edition in the US.

 

Watson begins this adventure (set in 1901) by teasing us with the mention of some unrecorded cases.  Successful or not, they sound intriguing! Mysterious! Dare I say somewhat paranormal?  The imagination knows no bounds!

We are given a further glimpse into life at 221b Baker street.  Watson, we are told, descends to breakfast. Does he have rooms on the floor above?  Perhaps 221c?  There is also a new cook.  Has Mrs. Hudson finally had enough of Holmes’s complaints about her “limited cuisine”?

This case features some interesting characters, to be sure!  We have a wealthy American dubbed ‘the Gold King’, his Brazilian wife, who is a fiery woman “tropical by birth and tropical by nature.”  We have the sweet, young governess, accused of a horrible crime. The manager of Thor Place, terrified of his villain of an employer.  What could possibly go wrong?

It is interesting to note Holmes’s attitude toward each individual.

All are welcome to join the Stormy Petrels as they ‘travel’ to Thor Place in Hampshire to discuss the case “The Problem of Thor Bridge”.

When:  Tuesday, May 7th at 7:00 pm

Where:  The Chatham lounge, Hampton Place (UBC)

For more information, please contact Fran at:  franziskah@shaw.ca

Bonus question for those attending the meeting:  What is the name of the body of water over which Thor Bridge spans?

The next adventure for discussion is “The Three Garridebs”  First published in Collier’s in October 1924 and in The Strand in January 1925. (The case itself was set in 1902).

Dr. Watson begins recording this case with “It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy.”   How would you class it? Watson prompts us to judge for ourselves.

We learn that Sherlock Holmes refused a Knighthood.  What was it for? Why did he refuse? Others have questioned if he would have accepted had it been Queen Victoria who offered it? (The Queen passed away in 1901).

Arthur Conan Doyle reluctantly accepted his Knighthood at this time (Oct. 1902)

We also learn that there was a telephone in the room at 221b. We have now reached the 20th century!

The Stormy Petrels will have much to discuss at their April meeting.  What about the gun play? Do you think Holmes had it in him to actually pull the trigger?

What about poor Nathan Garrideb?  Watson says:  “When his castle in the air fell down, it buried him beneath the rubble.”

When:  Tuesday April 2, at 7:00 pm

Where:  The Chatham Lounge at Hampton Place

The “Caption This” competition winners will be announced. The captions have been judged by an impartial third party

Bonus question:  Does the plot sound familiar?  John Garrideb was familiar with Watson’s accounts of the cases.  Name one of the two adventures that this case sounds like.

 

 

 

Re:  Vampires

The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire was first published in The Strand Magazine and in N.Y. Hearst’s Int’l Magazine in January 1924

Vampires in Sussex?

No, this case has nothing to do with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was a popular play touring England at the time.  (Bram Stoker was a business manager at the Lyceum Theatre, where Holmes and Watson accompanied Mary Morstan for a rendezvous with Sholto’s agent.)

Holmes’s opinion on vampires?  “Rubbish, Watson, rubbish!”  “…it’s pure lunacy!”  “…we seem to have been switched on to a Grimm’s fairy tale.”  “No ghosts need apply.”

Holmes and Watson travel to Sussex, nonetheless, where the old house is full of curiosities.  A beautiful Peruvian wife and mother who lays dying.  Her young step-son, with whom she has come to blows, her loyal servant, her loving husband (from whom she is keeping a secret) a baby with a wound on its neck and a lame dog.

From Bill Blackbeard’s “Sherlock Holmes in America”

The Stormy Petrels will sink their teeth into The Sussex Vampire  on Tuesday, March 5th at 7:00 pm, meeting at our usual Hampton Place lounge.

For more information, please contact Fran at:  franziskah@shaw.ca

Bonus questions for members attending the meeting:

(1) What was the name of the ship associated with “The Giant Rat of Sumatra”?

(2) Name another ship mentioned in this adventure

“Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,” said Holmes……