Of course, the ultimate source for mementos was the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. I bought a Sherlock Holmes tie (see above), a magnet, beer coasters, a game for the grandchildren, some post cards, and a rubber duckie in a deerstalker. I really had my eye on the walking stick with the Holmes head, but I thought it would be too diffiucult to carry on the plane.
I also didn't buy the tea set, but my character Lynda Teal did in my upcoming mystery novel, The Disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore.
At Dartmoor, I couldn't resist buying a Penguin edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sure, I already own several dozen copies, but this one has great endnotes. And I'll always remember that I bought it at the Dartmoor visitors center, standing next to the statues of Holmes and the Hound.
At Winchester I bought another copy for our younger son, Sgt. Mike. In high school he failed a test on The Hound, giving the excuse that he couldn't find a copy. At the time there were more than 40 copies on the shelves of our home library.
Not being a true collector, I only bought one other Holmes-related book in England. It was Five Orange Pips and Other Cases. It's a handsome volume that attracted my attention mostly because I thought "The Five Orange Pips" an unusual story to be leading a collection. But it turned out to be a colleciton of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 12 favorite Holmes short stories, with an essay by him at the end of the book explaining why he chose each one.
I picked up quite a few reminders of an unforgettable trip.
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