Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Read Along!

[InspectorCaracal]

so we're doing the Red-Headed League next weekend?

Every other week was the plan, so 18-19, but I could do 11-12 too.

Yeah we can do every week no problem

oh okay, i can do either one just lemme know

[Bee]

my inlaws were visiting for a week c'mon

That was a month ago!!

wh-- what? *looks at the calendar* omg don't scare me like that lmao (they were here from the 23rd to the 27th)

>:)

[Bee]

@thiskurt @InspectorCaracal hey let's do weekly readings, then

[thiskurt]

@thiskurt @InspectorCaracal hey let's do weekly readings, then

@Bee @InspectorCaracal Ok, let's do it.

The next story is The Red-Headed League: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Red-Headed_League

Arthur Conan Doyle's second favourite story according to one interview.

[InspectorCaracal]

@thiskurt @InspectorCaracal hey let's do weekly readings, then

@Bee @InspectorCaracal Ok, let's do it.

The next story is The Red-Headed League: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Red-Headed_League

Arthur Conan Doyle's second favourite story according to one interview.

Really? It's one of my faves too that's amazing

[InspectorCaracal]

(Re)Reading the Red-Headed League and I still love it, although it's an excellent case of Doyle not actually caring about consistency between stories.

Shan't say anything more until y'all have read it~

edit: ...wait a second. *frantically searches through my notes* WAIT a second! These got published in the wrong order!! I'd never noticed that before omg

[thiskurt]

Busy Saturday and didn't feel like doing much Sunday, so I'll put my thoughts here tomorrow, though.

[Bee]

(Re)Reading the Red-Headed League and I still love it, although it's an excellent case of Doyle not actually caring about consistency between stories.

Shan't say anything more until y'all have read it~

edit: ...wait a second. *frantically searches through my notes* WAIT a second! These got published in the wrong order!! I'd never noticed that before omg

What do you mean, wrong order? Non-chronological?

Anyway, yeah, RHL is a lot of fun, from the wildness of the concept to how they catch the bad guys. What makes it a favorite, though?

[skysailor]

In retrospect, the Red-Headed League reminds me of a lot of scam stories. People paying you money to do seemingly innocuous things and then you find out later it's all part of a scheme.

[InspectorCaracal]

(Re)Reading the Red-Headed League and I still love it, although it's an excellent case of Doyle not actually caring about consistency between stories.

Shan't say anything more until y'all have read it~

edit: ...wait a second. *frantically searches through my notes* WAIT a second! These got published in the wrong order!! I'd never noticed that before omg

What do you mean, wrong order? Non-chronological?

Technically non-chronological but not specifically because it's non-chronological? Okay so.

In the early Holmes stories, Doyle would do a thing to create a light sense of continuity where he'd throw in an off-hand mention to the previous episode in Holmes' dialogue at some point in the story. A sort of "previously, on Sherlock Holmes" kind of a thing, you know? Eventually he stopped doing that because he was playing more fast and loose with chronology and also didn't really care lol.

Anyway so in the Red-Headed League, I suddenly realized that the bit references the case of Miss Mary Sutherland. All the other times I'd read the story I'd just skimmed it assuming it was a throwback reference to the lady Watson marries, but this time I looked at the name and went "wait, that's not her name", and I checked and it's the client from the following story, A Case of Identity. And there's no reference to A Scandal in Bohemia.

So I scrolled down a bit (I was reading on the Gutenberg page for the Adventures collection) and sure enough, right in the beginning bit there's a throwaway reference to A Scandal in Bohemia. Which is extremely compelling evidence imo that the Strand decided to publish the two stories in reverse order for some reason.