BOOK REVIEW: “Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes”

Maria Konnikova; Publisher: Viking (U.S.)/Canongate Books Ltd. (U.K.) (January 2013)

“I am inclined to think –” said I.

“I should do so,” Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently. (VALL)

Not long after I began reading Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, by Maria Konnikova, I found myself having to attend an all-staff meeting at my office. This wasn’t unusual, occurring at least once a week, and often lasting anywhere from one hour to as many as three hours in duration. Typically, I will take a cup of coffee or a bottle of water with me, but as this meeting promised to be much shorter than a usual one, I decided to hold off. As I was seated in the conference room, waiting for the meeting to begin, my supervisor sat down next to me. She looked over at me with a strange expression. “Why do you have a coaster in front you?” she asked. I looked down only to discover that she was right – I had arrived for the meeting and mindlessly grabbed a coaster for the cup of coffee I did not have – but usually did. I had been on auto-pilot, moving thoughtlessly through my actions without giving the slightest thought to what I was doing.

Cover artwork of U.S. edition

Konnikova would say that I was using my Watson system of thinking, and with good reason. I wasn’t far along in her book before I realized how many things I did mindlessly, distractedly, how little thought I sometimes put into my daily life. I actually became very concerned as I progressed through the book – forget trying to think like Sherlock Holmes, I just wanted to correct what I began to think were terrible deficiencies with my brain. In one instance, Konnikova off-handedly mentions learning to drive, which, for me, set off a train of thought – beginning with a memory of a friend learning how to drive a manual transmission in the middle of a particularly brutal winter – and spiraling down a rabbit hole of related remembrances until I ended up in a rather dark corner of my memory, deeply depressed and resentful of Konnikova’s book for reasons I couldn’t fully comprehend. But that was my Watson thought system in action again. “Think of the Watson system as our naïve selves,” Konnikova says, “operating by the lazy thought habits – the ones that come most naturally, the so-called path of least resistance – that we’ve spent our whole lives acquiring” (18).

It would be an easy thing to say that the Holmes system of thinking is just the opposite of the Watson one – that it is unnatural and difficult, and that anyone who wishes to acquire it will have to spend the rest of his or her life doing so. But it’s not that simple, nor is the outlook that grim for someone who wishes to think like Sherlock Holmes. There is hope for people like myself, who have been running on autopilot for years and who sometimes experience terrifying and inexplicable thought processes. Thinking like the Great Detective is not just about thinking harder – spending hours with your eyes narrowed in endless concentration until you develop a monstrous headache – nor is it just about learning expansively. Even Sherlock Holmes didn’t know everything, Konnikova points out. Did he not have to look up information about the villainous jellyfish in “The Lion’s Mane”? For once, he did not have the material at his fingertips – but he knew where to find it. To think like Sherlock Holmes is to think with awareness.

Cover artwork of U.K. edition.

Konnikova provides a perfectly plotted map to the brain of Sherlock Holmes – that previously undiscovered country so often remarked upon. Each road and pathway charted in wholly accessible detail, making it possible for her readers to retrace and recreate, to redesign their own minds in the model of the Great Detective. If Holmes’s mind was akin to an attic, as has so often and so famously been stated, then like any attic it must have a framework, and the framework can be replicated, in theory. Within the pages of Mastermind are the instructions on how to create, stock, explore, navigate, and maintain a Brain Attic of one’s own. And it’s all just so marvelously comprehensible. Pulling evidence not just from the Canon, but also from 21st century psychological studies and neuroscience, a book this entrenched in scientific theory could have easily been a difficult, tiresome slog. Instead, Mastermind proves fresh and vital, pertinent to readers of all ages, because as Konnikova points out – it’s never too late to learn something new (really, science has proven it).

There is no limit to the instances that Konnikova could have referenced from the Canon – from Holmes’s first impression of Dr. Watson (“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”) to the Doctor’s mostly incorrect deductions based on a walking stick left behind at Baker Street in The Hound of the Baskervilles (and Holmes’s much more correct ones) to the changes in the Detective’s deductive system as seen in “The Yellow Face” and then later in “The Red Circle” (demonstrating the growth and flexibility of his process). Konnikova doesn’t waste a single one. She even adroitly uses examples from the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, such as his role in the case of George Edalji (a perfect demonstration of how the creator influenced his creation) and in the instance of the Cottingley Fairies (showing how even Doyle had human failings, capable of the same mental weaknesses as the rest of us). Mastermind shows that the intellect of Sherlock Holmes was indeed as limitless as Sherlockians always thought it would be, but as Konnikova demonstrates, the limitlessness of the Great Detective’s mind is not predictive of the untapped resources of our own.

“See the value of imagination,” said Sherlock Holmes in “Silver Blaze”. “It is the one quality which [Inspector] Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed.” Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes is not a lecture, nor a series of cleverly reiterated Canonical tales – it is a book built to grow on, for forward movement, for proceeding. But even that is not necessarily enough if one truly wants to think like the Great Detective. “Education is all well and good, but it needs to be taken from the level of theory to that of practice, over and over and over – lest it begin to gather dust and let out that stale, rank smell of an attic whose door has remained unopened for years” (221). There was once a time when a coaster unaccountably at my seat would have thrown me entirely off track, and I would have found myself trapped in an endless cycle of wandering into rooms and forgetting what I wanted, opening up a blank document and no longer remembering what I wanted to write, and dialing a phone number without a clear sense of what I wanted to say. But awareness of the thought process is the first step, and awareness of my own mindlessness helped break me from the cycle. In short, to think like Sherlock Holmes, one must first know that they are thinking.

“How absurdly simple!” I cried. (DANC)

oOo

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“It needs careful playing, all the same” (SHOS): “The Testament of Sherlock Holmes”

"I play the game for the game's own sake… But the problem certainly presents some points of interest, and I shall be very pleased to look into it. (BRUC)

“…for you have never failed to play the game. I am sure you will play it to the end.” (MAZA)

“Look how close they play the game.” (3GAB)

oOo

“I was wondering what kind of person bought this game,” the clerk behind the counter said as he placed my preordered copy of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes in a plastic bag. “I couldn’t figure out the target audience.” I was running on fumes after a long day, desperate for my next dose of caffeine and a meal made from actual food – not a “food-like product” from the microwave, and something about his tone hit a raw nerve. I was beyond the ability to comport myself with grace, but I made an effort and tried not to look offended as I tightly clutched my purchase. Instead, I found myself asking, “And now that you’ve met the intended demographic?” The clerk shook his head, “I still don’t understand it. Or why someone would want to play it. But I hope you enjoy it. Have a nice day!” The last bit was tacked on, I’m fairly certain, because I was suddenly looking less and less like I wasn’t offended, and more and more like I was about to “accidentally” knock my purse into a nearby display of discounted “Pokémon” merchandise. Later on, as I listened to the voice of Sherlock Holmes tell me – with no little amount of venom – as I failed solve a puzzle for the fifth time in as many minutes: “No! That’s not correct! Start again!” – I, too, began to question my judgment. But I did not question the appeal.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, released in September 2012, is the most recent outing in the “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” series from the independent game development studio, Frogwares.  Previous adventures include: Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin (also known as Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis), and Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper. All games in the “Adventures” line are available for Windows, with the exception of Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper – which is available for Windows and the Xbox 360 – and The Testament of Sherlock Holmes – which is available for Windows, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Frogwares also released a title for the NintendoDS in 2010, Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House, which—while featuring Holmes and Watson—does not appear to be a part of the studio’s “Adventures” series, as it is more of a casual puzzle game than a fully-plotted and complex exploit.

Now time for a startling confession: I’m not coordinated. Clutch your pearls, I know. I exhibit remarkable deficiencies in both depth perception and peripheral vision. Any command that requires more than, say, two buttons to be pushed at the same time is something that I simply will not be able to execute. Once Nintendo advanced beyond its initial “sidescroller” format, I was utterly lost. My husband once convinced me to try my hand at a game of “Halo” with him, only to get frustrated because I couldn’t find my way out of whatever room I was dropped into, or kept falling off whatever vehicle I climbed aboard. The games in the Frogwares “Adventures” line, however, are simply made for someone like me. Someone without any physical dexterity to speak of, but who is instead very, very patient and who enjoys a good story just as much as a good game.

Another day, another grave to unearth.
Wait, what?
(Photo Credit: http://www.strategyinformer.com)

And the Frogwares games are brilliant in no small way because of their remarkable storytelling. The plotlines are intense, the scenes viscerally compelling, and The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is no exception. After opening with a brief scene in which three small children find a manuscript hidden in the attic of an old cottage, the game begins with Sherlock Holmes retrieving a lost necklace (and thereby introducing the player to the basics of gameplay). It is soon revealed, however, that the necklace returned by Holmes is nothing but a brilliant forgery, and the Detective is the prime suspect in the deception. Over the course of the game, the crimes become more and more sinister and violent, and Sherlock Holmes’s behavior becomes more and more unpredictable and suspect. As gameplay switches between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (and for a brief period, every Sherlockian’s favorite canine, Toby), the player watches as Watson’s faith in his remarkable friend is slowly diminished by the Detective’s increasing madness, dubious behavior, and uncharacteristically volatile temperament. For those who have played other games in the series, the plot of Testament builds somewhat on the plot of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, but it is not at all necessary to have completed the previous installment in order to understand the latest one.

Thank goodness this wasn't Baker Street.
Mrs. Hudson would have been so mad.(Photo Credit: http://www.strategyinformer.com)

Both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are rendered wonderfully in the game, with superb voice acting (despite Holmes’s remonstrations for every incorrect puzzle, which often made me doubt my abilities to perform even the simplest tasks) and careful artistic detail. The Holmes character appears to be inspired by Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone – although apparently slightly more weathered versions of the actors. And there is more than a little bit of David Burke in the Frogwares rendition of Dr. Watson (with all of Edward Hardwicke’s put-upon longsuffering intact). In addition, the game-board is immense. The city of London is expansive, with its varying locales and points of interest available for exploration. The Baker Street setting is filled with lovingly crafted minutiae. The game feels like a journey, rather than a trudge through a series of continuously repeating scenes, only slightly differing from one to the next. But, to be warned, the game is also violent, while the player does not actually perform any of the violence. The game is largely puzzle-based, but the investigations are gory. There is quite a bit of close examination of mutilated body parts, grotesquely disfigured corpses, filthy sewers and unsettling abandoned funfairs. It is atmospheric in the way any of the original stories might be.

A would-be King of England, previously speaking to a theater full of
mannequins dressed as "subjects," now threatens Watson with a gun.
One of the game's saner moments. I'm not kidding.
(Photo Credit: http://www.strategyinformer.com)

Without a doubt, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes engenders compulsive and obsessive play. Not because there is a need to collect points or coins, to defeat another player, or unlock hidden achievements (although the latter is certainly a possibility on the Xbox platform), but because there is an uncontrollable need for the story to simply continue. The player is desperate for a conclusion to the plot, even as they are desperate for a solution to the diabolical puzzle with which they are currently presented (there is a particularly nasty one involving a word problem, a slew of zoo animals, and series of complex control options that still gives me night terrors). Without divulging any plot points, the conclusion of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes seems to indicate that this may be the final installment in the Frogwares series of Sherlock Holmes games, at least chronologically – although I certainly don’t know that definitively. It’s always a joy to see Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson come to life, and this particular format is a unique way to experience their lives in an interactively. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes tests the parameters of the Sherlockian universe – in a literal, if somewhat limited way – and finds that the universe is more than a little bit pliable, with the potential for a little more immersion.

You have been warned.

oOo

Vist Frogwares’s site dedicated to its line of Sherlock Holmes games, including The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, here.

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Sherlock Holmes on Screen: “The Crucifer of Blood” (1991)

“It would seem that [Paul] Giovanni had fun with the characters’ names, dragging them in from other Doyle stories. Major Ross borrows his name from the Colonel in ‘Silver Blaze’; Birdy Edwards, the butler at Pondicherry Lodge, appears in The Valley of Fear, Neville St Clair is really ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’; and his daughter is named Irene which, especially because of her apparently amorous nature, has resonances with Irene Adler – ‘The Woman’.” (David Stuart Davies)

The Crucifer of Blood originated as a stage play by Paul Giovanni – opening on Broadway in 1978 and running for 236 performances. The original cast included Paxton Whitehead as Sherlock Holmes, Timothy Landfield as Dr. John Watson, and Glenn Close as Irene St. Claire. The play would also appear in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in in 1979, where it ran for 397 performances, with Keith Michell as Sherlock Holmes and Denis Lill as Dr. John Watson. Perhaps most famously, however, was the Los Angeles production, which premiered at the Ahmanson Theatre in 1980. The cast included Charlton Heston as Sherlock Holmes, and Jeremy Brett as Dr. John Watson. Though Brett would famously go on to play Sherlock Holmes for the Granada Television series (and become one of only a handful of actors who could boast having played both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson), he said of playing Dr. Watson:

“In some ways Watson is stronger than Holmes. That comes through his kindness, I suppose. He sees Holmes' weaknesses and tries to protect him from them. Look how Watson rants at him about cocaine. Watson is always on the lookout in order to save his friend from pain, indignity or destruction… Watson is much more my kind of person. Watson is a warm, loving, sunny person who's very enthusiastic – and hurt and slightly upset when his friend is rude to people or him. This is much more like me.”

In 1991, The Crucifer of Blood was brought to the small screen with Charlton Heston again in the leading role as Sherlock Holmes, but this time featuring Richard Johnson as Dr. John Watson. Notably, the film also features Heston’s son, Fraser, in his first directing role. The film was first broadcast on the cable network TNT on November 4, 1991. With a plotline based largely upon The Sign of Four, the film opens with an extended sequence taking place during the Siege of Agra in 1857. The production’s stage origins are almost immediately apparent in the close, confined sets and painted backdrops. The sequence echoes the story that Jonathan Small tells in chapter twelve of SIGN (“The Strange Story of Jonathan Small”), even if it is not an exact parallel. Most notably, the characters of Major Sholto and Captain Morstan have been replaced instead by Major Alistair Ross and Captain Neville St. Claire (perhaps, as was mentioned earlier, in homage to some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s other Sherlock Holmes stories). The scene is often laborious and frontloads the film, taking the viewer away from the very brief glimpse of Baker Street that they have had thus far – in which Dr. Watson narrates briefly in a black and white cutaway of Heston’s Sherlock Holmes playing the violin.

Thirty years later, Captain St. Clair’s daughter Irene (pronounced “Eye – reen – ee,” in this instance for those who are interested) arrives at 221B Baker Street, seeking the help of Holmes and Watson. Miss St. Clair is played by Susannah Harker, who would later appear in Granada Television’s 1994 adaptation of “The Dying Detective,” as Adelaide Savage, the wife of the unfortunate Victor Savage. Irene arrives just after Holmes has famously deduced the identity and characteristics of Dr. Watson’s unfortunate older brother by using the late man’s pocket watch, another scene famously lifted from SIGN, with Watson’s angry indignation intact. She has also missed Watson offering Holmes the newly arrived post, and Holmes telling him that, “[Watson] know[s] where it goes” – as if waiting for an audience response of “on the mantle, under the jackknife.” It is only one of many canonical allusions that come across as forced or stilted throughout the production. (The movie ends with a similarly wooden reference to the “Giant Rat of Sumatra” – and a sea captain collapsing theatrically on the hearthrug.)

Charlton Heston is not entirely unsuccessful in his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Undeniably tall, with an elegant bearing, he interacts well with Johnson’s Watson. He is aggressive and uncompromising when appropriate and apparently very motivated. He enjoys the hunt and relishes the thrill of the chase, with all its nuances and clever contrivances. But he isn’t well-spoken, often seeming to mumble, sounding as if he is perpetually speaking around the stem of a pipe, even when he’s not. As Sherlock Holmes Heston is often forgettable, a non-entity, allowing many scenes to be commandeered by co-stars, fading into the background, pipe between his lips and deerstalker on his head. According to David Stuart Davies, author of Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen, “The star’s best moment, oddly enough, comes not when he’s playing Holmes as Holmes, but when he plays Holmes in the guise of an ancient Chinese proprietor of a Soho opium den. Stereotypical though it is, it’s one of the best Holmes-in-disguise sequences ever committed to film” (156).

At the time of filming, Richard Johnson was 64-years-old (comparatively, Jeremy Brett, when he portrayed Dr. Watson in the 1980 stage play, was only 47-years-old). The somewhat advancing age of Johnson’s Watson rather changes some of the dynamics in the film. Nowhere else is this more obvious than when a drugged Irene both confuses Dr. Watson for her aging father, and then confesses to her “father” that she is falling in love with the Doctor. And then they kiss, passionately. It turns the stomach a little. Like the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson of Murder by Decree – where the distinct age difference between Christopher Plummer’s Holmes and James Mason’s Watson generated a more paternal relationship between the two men than a fraternal one – the advancing ages of Heston’s Sherlock Holmes and Johnson’s Dr. Watson change many of the interactions in this film version of The Crucifer of Blood, not always for the better (or even indifferently). The romantic subplot of the story, so obviously meant to correspond with the courtship of Dr. Watson and Mary Morstan from SIGN, actually comes across as a bit unsettling, even creepy.

The Crucifer of Blood ends on a strange note – perhaps in keeping the tone of the film – with Irene transforming from mistreated ingénue to aggressive siren (complete with low-cut, red dress), Watson fainting dead away (presumably from the absurdity of it all), and Sherlock Holmes disgracefully begging for Watson to remain at Baker Street (once the Doctor regains consciousness and his indignation). A film adaptation allows a story to become available to a wider audience when it was once only accessible to a small one. However, there is something lost in adapting this particular play for the small screen. A presentation that was perhaps elegant and theatrical on stage becomes claustrophobic and outlandish on television. Without access to the original stage production, a Sherlock Holmes completionist could do worse than to add this particular film to their collection, with the awareness that the spirit of the production was willing, even if the flesh of it was weak.

oOo

Sources:

• Stuart Davies, David. Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen (January 2006).

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BOOK REVIEW: "The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book"

Kathleen Kaska; Publisher: LL-Publications (May 2012)

"To a great mind, nothing is little," remarked Holmes, sententiously. (STUD)

When beginning any serious endeavor to collect books about Sherlock Holmes, his world and his creator, one is going to need bookshelves. Many, many bookshelves. Sturdy ones, preferably, made of a solid materials and reinforced with some sort of titanium bracket. And as those shelves start to fill up with books about Sherlock Holmes and his relationship with the holy scriptures, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and British imperialism, and the various incarnations of the Great Detective on stage and screen – there is bound to be some inevitable overlap. And as the collection grows, there is also bound to be some difficulty in locating that precise bit of information that one needs, when one needs it, and one starts to debate the advisability of some sort of card catalog before one descends into utter madness. And while we're at it, why is my cat always sitting on my collection of annotated Sherlock Holmes anthologies when I need them most – it's not as if they could possibly be comfortable?

*cough* Where was I?

Back to my original, and not at all deranged, point of discussion – Kathleen Kaska's new edition of The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book, published earlier this year, is perfectly placed on the shelves of any collector of Sherlockian volumes, newly devoted or earnestly experienced – preferably a shelf that easily accessible, about shoulder-height, perhaps? Because it is the sheer accessibility of the volume that is both its brilliance and its greatest strength. Some collections may profess the same breadth and depth of material, but will boast none of Kathleen Kaska's readability. Originally published in 2000, the quiz book is the same treasure trove of Sherlockian information as many larger volumes, but is infinitely more portable, approachable, and portioned out in easily digestible bits, in the forms of multiple choice, true/false and short answer quizzes (and crossword puzzles, my personal favorite). The trivia spans all manner of Sherlockian subjects from the original 56 short stories and 4 novels, to the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to the world of Sherlock Holmes on screen. 

In the (sometimes seemingly) infinitely expanding world of Sherlockiana, Kaska's book is more than just a collection of trivia. It is a reference work that presents a new dazzling array of information, while offering old and familiar knowledge in a manner that will surprise and delight even the most learned of Sherlockian scholars. The measure of a good reference work is in its ability to teach, but also in its ability to surprise – to keep the reader pursuing, searching, endeavoring to find answers to even the remotest questions. Kathleen Kaska's triviography book takes a little of the legwork out of that search, but none of the joy. It balances both form and function into one indispensable volume.

Ms. Kaska graciously answered a few of my questions about her books, her writing process, and her relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Read her responses below:

oOo

You have written three triviography books – on Sherlock Holmes, Alfred Hitchcock, and Agatha Christie. Would you tell us a little bit more about your interest in trivia? Does your career as an educator have any influence? 

In the 1990s when I decided to finally write “that” book, I quickly learned that it was much easier to break into the publishing world with nonfiction rather than fiction. Trivia books were becoming popular and I decided to make use of my complete Agatha Christie collection by writing the Agatha Christie trivia book. I reread each and every story and novel. Dissecting and analyzing Christie’s writing turned out to be a valuable tool when I began writing my own mysteries. I can’t say that being an educator had an influence, but it certainly helped when I begin writing all those quiz questions.

I was constantly amazed by what I learned from reading your Sherlockian trivia. Can you share a little bit about your process of research and writing? For example, how did you determine the framework of the book – how it would be structured and why? Were there any interesting bits that didn’t make it into the book? 

My research involved reading every story and watching every film these three geniuses created. The framework of my Sherlock Holmes and Alfred Hitchcock trivia books were the same, but different from the Agatha Christie trivia, which has more of a cozy style. In the Hitchcock book, I began most quizzes with behind-the-scenes anecdotes describing Hitchcock’s practical jokes, bizarre antics, and innovated filming techniques. I did the same with the Holmes book, giving readers information on where Conan Doyle got his ideas for each story. What I discovered about Conan Doyle was that he was called in to assist in locating Agatha Christie when she disappeared for eleven days. Instead of using Sherlock’s deductive reasoning, Conan Doyle consulted a medium. The medium’s prediction of when Christie would surface turned out to be right.

I believe most Sherlockians are always looking to expand their libraries. Is there a Sherlock Holmes reference book or other resource that you found critical in creating your own trivia book? Are there any other works that you believe belong in every Sherlockian library? 

It seems like new books about Holmes and Conan Doyle hit the shelves every week. The Holmes trivia first edition was published in 2000, and since then I've added several more to my collection. But the two most valuable reference books were Jack Tracy’s The Ultimate Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia and Matthew E. Bunson’s Encyclopedia Sherlockiana.

What do you think is the most important thing that young, aspiring writers (mystery or otherwise) could learn from the writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the stories of Sherlock Holmes? 

This answer requires its own separate book; there’s so much a young writer can learned from Conan Doyle: creating voice, setting, characters, relationship between characters, and of course, plotting.

How have Doyle and the Canon influenced your own mystery series, featuring reporter Sydney Lockhart? 

Conan Doyle’s stories hooked me and made me a lover of mysteries, however, when I began writing, my biggest influences were the hardboiled detective writers from the early 1900s. I like to think of Sydney as a female Phillip Marlowe.

I understand you read some Sherlockian pastiche. What elements do you think are critical for a well-executed pastiche? Why are some appropriations of Holmes and Watson successful, where others are not? 

The voice is the most crucial, followed by setting. I enjoyed Nicholas Meyer’s pastiches, The West End Horror and The Canary Trainer. Another excellent example is a story written by Dan Andriacco entitled The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden. Andriacco has captured Dr. Watson’s voice and Conan Doyle’s writing style perfectly.

Who was your favorite actor to portray Sherlock Holmes on film, television or stage? Similarly, what elements do you think are necessary to make such adaptations successful? 

So many excellent actors have played Holmes: Basil Rathbone, John Barrymore, Peter Cushing, Robert Downey, Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, but I have to go with Jeremy Brett. The Granada TV series stuck as close to the original stories as possible and Brett’s portrayal of the Great Detective is flawless.

Tell me a little bit about your ideal Sherlock Holmes adaptation. Would it be a canonical story, a pastiche, or a conglomeration? Modern or Victorian? Who would appear in it, and why? 

Although I love the new BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch, which is set in current time, I prefer the canonical stories set in the Victorian era. Whenever I open Conan Doyle’s collection, which I do often, I hear the clacking of hoofs as the horses trot down the streets of London and I smell the dank air as it drifts across the Thames and I’m instantly transported back in time.

You have written three trivia books about well-known figures in the mystery and thriller genre. Do you have any plans for a fourth? And, even hypothetically, who (or what) would be the subject of a fourth book? 

I am toying with the idea of focusing on another one of my favorite detective authors or writing trivia about several whom all belonged to the same genre. Who he is and who they are is a secret. But, if you want a hint, you can refer back to my answer in question six.

Finally, what is your favorite Sherlockian quote (something from the Canon, or even from a scholar), and why? 
Authors are always asked to summarize their work in one sentence. This quote, without a doubt, summarizes the entire Canon. It’s my overall favorite: “My name is Sherlock Holmes and it’s my business to know what other people don’t.” 

oOo

Kathleen Kaska writes the Classic Triviography Mystery Series, which includes The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz Book, The Alfred Hitchcock Triviography and Quiz Book, and The Sherlock Holmes Triviography and Quiz Book. The Alfred Hitchcock and the Sherlock Holmes trivia books are finalists for the EPIC award in nonfiction.

Kathleen also writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mysteries set in the 1950s. Her first two books Murder at the Arlington and Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus-books for the Pulpwood Queen Book Group, the largest book group in the country. The third book in the series, Murder at the Galvez, will be out in December. 

Her nonfiction book, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story, (University Press of Florida) was released on September 16 and has been nominated for the George Perkins Marsh award for environmental history. 

Kathleen can also be found via her blog, her Facebook page, and her Twitter feed.

oOo

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Currently on Twitter...

As part of an ongoing project on my Twitter feed, I'm delivering stories from the Sherlock Holmes canon in tiny installments of 140 characters or less. I recently finished up "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," a seasonal story in which Sherlock Holmes famously states, "This agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply."

The current story is "The Beryl Coronet," in which Watson imparts some sage advice about the treatment of madmen, and Holmes shows that even the most damning evidence does not necessarily indicate a concrete conclusion.

Check out my Twitter feed for a daily installment, although I am usually inspired to post more than once a day. And don't forget you can read through the original canon online.

“The Meaning of This Extraordinary Performance” (COPP): Granada Television’s “Silver Blaze”

“Another of Colonel Huggins' interests was riding, an enthusiasm also embraced by Jeremy. As a child, Jeremy had a pony named ‘Babs’ whom he trained to climb stairs. Jeremy actually rode Babs into the Grange, which didn't sit well with Nanny Clifford, especially when it came to the inevitable by-products of Jeremy's four-legged, unhousebroken guest. (Nanny wasn't too pleased when Jeremy rode a donkey up into his room, either – the donkey had no trouble going upstairs, but balked on the way down.) Jeremy took riding lessons and competed in gymkhanas (equestrian field days consisting of exhibitions of horsemanship and pageantry). Although Jeremy decided at an early age that he wanted to become an actor, he once said that he wished he could have been a jockey, too. (He probably enjoyed filming the Holmes story ‘Silver Blaze’.)” (Lisa Oldham, The Brettish Empire)

“My ignorance cries aloud to heaven,” wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about “Silver Blaze,” a short story appearing in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. “I read an excellent and very damaging criticism of the story in some sporting paper, written clearly by a man who did know, in which he explained the exact penalties which would come upon everyone concerned if they had acted as I described. Half would have been in jail, and the other half warned off the turf forever.” And the 1988 adaptation of “Silver Blaze” by Granada Television certainly included its own share of mistakes. The episode famously exceeded its allotted budget due to its need for an on-location shoot, and the large number of horses and human extras needed for the race scenes. The episode was preceded by Granada’s rendering of “The Devil’s Foot,” another episode that had required an expensive on-location shoot. This confluence of factors meant that by the time Granada was ready to produce their adaptation of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” the series’ budget was already seriously compromised, and the fate of the HOUN adaptation with it (Davies 139). There are many arguable reasons as to why Granada’s HOUN failed when it had every expectation of success – not the least of these being that because of the DEVI and SILV adaptations, producer Michael Cox simply could not afford to construct the HOUN film that he had envisioned.

But its role in the failure of the HOUN adaptation does not necessarily mean that the production of SILV was not a success in its own right. The episode’s location, expensive as it must have been, is atmospheric in a way that a sound stage or even a cleverly set-dressed local field could never be.  The vast and unforgiving loneliness of the fields of Wales, Cheshire and Lancashire in the north of England are desolate and forbidding in the way that the moorlands of Dartmoor must certainly be. The stables of King’s Pyland appear as a mere dot on the landscape as Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) travel in with Colonel Ross (Peter Barkworth). The neighboring stable of Backwater is miles away and likewise the odds of finding the missing Silver Blaze seem remote in the extreme. It is the expansiveness of the landscape that impresses upon the viewer the enormity of the Detective’s task. A horse lost on the sprawling moor – even a racehorse as extraordinary as Silver Blaze – will be as difficult to locate as a black cat in a coal cellar. “I expect a miracle from you, Mr. Holmes,” says Colonel Ross. The atmosphere created in the episode (of which the landscape plays no small part) is a testament to the extent of the miracle that was produced.

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And in regards to those costly horses and extras that seem to adorn every scene in SILV? The presence of more horses makes the absence of Silver Blaze even more profound and even more significant. King’s Pyland appears to be positively brimming with horses – why is the missing one so important? It is clear that none of the other horses can match Silver Blaze in strength, speed or skill – and the horse in question is not even present for the comparison! Bayard, the only other horse mentioned as being remotely in the same league as Silver Blaze, is admitted by Colonel Ross as just “intended for a pacemaker.” Indeed, Colonel Ross seems to be going to great lengths to reacquire Silver Blaze – even calling on Sherlock Holmes against his better judgment. The identity of the murderer of John Straker, Silver Blaze’s trainer, feels almost secondary to locating the missing horse. Sherlock Holmes even goes so far as to chide Colonel Ross for his neglect. He asks Colonel Ross, “[The location of Silver Blaze] is a minor point, of course, compared with the question of who killed John Straker?”

As for the extra cast members – what is a dramatic reveal without a crowd of people to witness it? When Holmes theatrically reveals the identity of Straker’s killer (who was Silver Blaze, of course, acting in self-defense), it is in the Winner’s Circle of the Wessex Cup, surrounded by a large crowd of well-wishers. As the realization dawns on Colonel Ross that he has been horribly deceived by a man that he trusted implicitly, the slowly encroaching crowd makes his error in judgment seem palpable. For a moment the man seems surrounded by his mistakes – rather than by onlookers – unable to escape them. But perhaps even more simply: what is a story about a racehorse without other horses to race against, and people to watch the race?

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The episode also lends the necessary weight and grandeur to one of the most vaunted and recognizable canonical lines. But before Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes ever speaks a word about the infamous “dog in the nighttime” (the one who did nothing, of course), there is a scene in which he enters the missing racehorse’s stable and is subjected to the snarling and vicious barks of the resident canine. There is a pause, a moment of utter stillness, marked by nothing more than the subtle upward curve of Brett’s mouth. This is not the frenetic silence of a man frozen in terror by the unexpected onslaught of an unruly dog, hoping to avoid injury. This is a moment of intensity and gravitas, as understood by a man for whom the moment of knowing supersedes all other factors and distractions.

There is quite a lot that is tangible about Granada’s adaptation of SILV – moments that are so significant and weighted that the viewer can seemingly reach out and touch them. Holmes reaching out to gently touch the hand of a distraught maid as she recounts finding John Staker’s corpse. Holmes reaching barehanded into the muddy landscape to retrieve a hidden nail. Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Inspector Gregory (Malcom Storry) passing around a cataract knife as if it were some precious artifact. The Great Detective hanging his cane on the door of the stable with a significant look and gesture, just before he washes the black paint from a horse, only to reveal the animal beneath as the missing Silver Blaze. Holmes grinning and snickering as he collects his winnings after the Wessex Cup race (one of those moments of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “ignorance” that mentioned earlier). Finally, Holmes reaching out to stop an annoying ringing dinner bell with his hand, as he recounts the solution of the case to Colonel Ross and Dr. Watson.

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The viewers of Granada’s Sherlock Holmes series can wistfully speculate what would have become of their adaptation of HOUN had budgetary mistakes not been made in the production of DEVIL and SILV. Even Jeremy Brett was known of having wished that they could go back and re-film that episode (Davies 144). But speculation is a fruitless endeavor, changing nothing. And it distracts from the fact the Granada’s SILV episode is outstanding and artfully constructed in its own right, with unforgettable moments that linger after the episode ends – which leave an indelible impression on the screen.

oOo

Sources:

• Stuart Davies, David. Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen (January 2006).

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