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The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes an His Contemporaries

Release Date: 02/28/2025

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“Holmes took it with admirable good-humour” [PRIO] For years, Holmes and Watson have served as a blueprint for an "odd couple" dynamic, usually by poking fun at the detective’s ego, and the doctor’s struggle to keep up. Humor can humanize these literary giants, making them feel less like statues and more like friends. Now Nicholas Sercombe’s The Unexpurgated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series goes down this path, suggesting Watson’s reports were just too risque for the morals of Victorian England. Join us as he shares the facts Watson really discovered...

Sherlockian Road Tripping

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“Important issues might hang upon our journey.” [SIGN] Join us as we speak to Steve Mason and Greg Ruby about their adventure this past summer — a whirlwind, five-day odyssey through the rugged landscapes of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, tracking down 39 locations with hidden ties to Baker Street. Decades after a simpler, four-stop Texas road trip set the precedent, our intrepid investigators clocked 2,414 miles in heat of the last week of August, all to prove that the Great Detective’s influence knows no borders. You’ll hear how they bridged the gap...

Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“Particularly bright and joyous” [THOR] Forget about the silence you might think is suggested by the word “pantomime.” British panto is a raucous, musical, holiday tradition that expects the audience to be as loud as possible, booing the villain and cheering the hero. It’s usually a comic, theatrical retelling of a fairy tale — like Cinderella or Aladdin — with slapstick for the kids, cheeky innuendo for the adults, and a cast that includes a campy "Dame" (a man in an over-the-top dress). Now Holmes, Watson, and the world of 221B have been lovingly added to the...

The Scourers of Dancing Men

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“‘Why, Holmes, it is a child’s drawing,’ I cried.” [DANC] Just when you thought everything about Sherlock Holmes and popular culture was known, a new mystery emerges from dusty U.S. newspaper archives. Join us as we interview the remarkable Ross E. Davies, BSI ("The Temple"), organizer of "The Scourers of the Dancing Men," a fascinating research project that dives deep into a 1903 advertising campaign for the publication of "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" in Collier’s magazine. They've discovered dozens of unique advertisements — including a...

Sherlock Holmes Into the Fire

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“An expression of the most dreadful horror.” [HOUN] Join us as we explore Sherlock Holmes Into the Fire, a new, two-volume collection that reimagines Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Gothic tales through the lens of Sherlock Holmes. Our guest Margie Deck discusses how Doyle’s eerie, atmospheric stories — often overshadowed by Sherlock Holmes — reveal the author’s deeper fascination with mystery, psychology, and the supernatural. We talk about the creative process behind pairing each original tale with a modern Holmesian retelling, the challenges of preserving Gothic dread...

It Is NOT Always 1895

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“the biggest mystification of all” [COPP] Bruce Harris, BSI ("Harris") is a longtime Sherlockian whose love of the stories goes back more than half a century. During that time, Bruce has put his considerable talents to work in a number of directions, not least of which is in chronologies. In fact, his latest work ("Rolling on the River in The Sign of Four") appears in Autumn 2025 issue of The Baker Street Journal and poses an interesting question around the involvement of Athelney Jones. It was thanks to his work on chronologies that got him there. Bruce has of course...

The Sherlock Holmes Club in Denmark

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“a member of an aristocratic club” [BERY] Sherlockians from around the world joined the members of the Sherlock Holmes Klubben i Danmark earlier this year to mark their 75th anniversary. While the club first met in 1950, the Danish appreciation of Sherlock Holmes is as old as the Great Detective himself, when translations, movies, and parodies of his cases first graced the pages of the country’s newspapers. Join us for a wide-ranging discussion with Christian Monggaard, BSI ("Neville St. Clair") to discover the exceptional community of artists and writers who first brought...

Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“the goodness of Providence.” [NAVA] It began with an idea for a series of radio mysteries, each five minutes long, that listeners could solve by considering the evidence. Sherlock Holmes would then give the solution — and to make it even more interesting, Watson could conclude with a moral lesson reflecting the story. Thanks to the author, journalist, and broadcaster Kel Richards, it became a popular feature on Australian radio, and Ray Riethmeier, BSI ("Morrison, Morrison, and Dodd") thought it would make a wonderful book. Through a strange series of...

Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“Pooh, pooh! Forgery.” [SCAN] Nicholas Meyer, BSI ("A Fine Morocco Case") is an accomplished storyteller who has made a mark in both the literary and film worlds. He's best known for his 1974 best-selling novel, , which revitalized Sherlock Holmes for a new generation of readers. His other Holmes novels, including , , , and , and have cemented his place as a celebrated perpetuator of Watson’s reports. Beyond his literary achievements, Nick is a prolific screenwriter and director, credited with directing the iconic films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek...

The Sherlock Holmes Pub

I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

“Here is the key. You can look for yourself.” [GOLD] Imagine having the key to 221B Baker Street, and what it must feel like to open that door. And imagine being trusted to keep Holmes and Watson’s famous sitting room in good order. That rare honor belongs to Roger Johnson, BSI ("The Pall Mall Gazette") and Jean Upton, BSI ("Elsie Cubitt"), a well-known couple among the small community of married Sherlockians. Jean and Roger have preserved and maintained the sitting room at London’s Sherlock Holmes Pub for 30 years. Join us as we hear how the Northumberland Hotel evolved...

More Episodes

“the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries.” [VALL]

When the first Sherlock Holmes short stories came on the scene, they were something of a novelty: non-serialized, self-contained tales that put the Strand Magazine on the map.

As with any success story, this one inspired imitators. These contemporaries of Sherlock Holmes inhabited the pages of the Strand and many other magazines of the day. Author Michael Cohen has stepped forward to catalog and categorize them from the years 1891 to 1914. This surprising array of characters includes those who were consciously not trying to be Sherlock Holmes, ranging from the occult to females, bumbling detectives, doctors and scientists, the criminal class and more.

In The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes and His Contemporaries, Cohen gives us a handy and valuable resource; its subtitle indicates it is a Mystery Guide and Finding List. For readers interested in detectives in this golden era, this book is an essential companion to help identify and locate these sometimes famous, sometimes obscure detectives.

We also take a quick look at Sherlockian societies in "The Learned Societies" segment, Madeline Quiñones tells us about her absolute favorite Sherlock Holmes podcast in "A Chance of Listening," and the Canonical Couplet quiz tests your knowledge with a reward of a copy of The Golden Era of Sherlock Holmes and His Contemporaries for one lucky winner. Send your answer to comment @ ihearofsherlock .com by March 14, 2025 at 11:59 a.m. EST. All listeners are eligible to play.

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“the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries.” [VALL]

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