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Welcome! Like the book of the same name, this blog is an eclectic collection of Sherlockian scribblings based on more than a half-century of reading Sherlock Holmes. Please add your own thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter @DanAndriacco and on my Facebook fan page at Dan Andriacco Mysteries. You might also be interested in my Amazon Author Page. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble and in all main electronic formats including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks for the iPad.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Another Winner in Dayton

Jacquelynn Bost Morris on poisons; the crowd was bigger than it looks

Holmes, Doyle & Friends: Two, held last weekend (March 20-21) in Dayton, Ohio, proved that the high quality of last year's seminar was no fluke.

Sponsored by the Agra Treasurers of Dayton, this year's program - successor to the long-running Holmes/Doyle Symposium in Dayton hat was not sponsored by the Treasurers, offered a parade of engaging and erudite speakers whose primary purpose seemed to be having fun with the Canon.

Philip K. Jones analyzed why the Sherlock Holmes stories are uniquely popular. Jacquelynn Bost Morris, ASH, BSI, looked at the clues and symptoms which indicate that Anna Coram didn't really die as assumed in "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez." Bill Cochran, BSI, theorized that the real groom at the wedding of Irene Adler was Holmes himself!

David Miller discussed snakes in the Canon in a way designed to evoked titters. Vincent Wright energetically surveyed the hangmen of the Victorian period, lingering over several ghoulishly humorous incidents of botched executions. Lorraine Reibert offered her opinion that the blue carbuncle was actually a Kashmir sapphire. Bill Mason, BSI, closed out the seminar with a fascinating look at Latin Americans in the Canon, and how Arthur Conan Doyle's later work was likely influenced by a Frenchman's book about Central America.

Two social events, an opening-night reception and a banquet on Saturday, served as bookends for the more formal program.

Mark your calendar for Holmes, Doyle & Friends: Three in 2016. Meanwhile, it's not too late to sign up for perhaps the premier annual Holmes symposium - A Scintillation of Scions VIII, coming in June in Maryland. Check it out!  

1 comment:

  1. Dayton events have always been fun. Thanks for the report.

    ReplyDelete