However Improbable

This podcast is just what I was looking for after finishing All About Agatha. I also love that you can listen to each story and then listen to the two hosts discuss them. Very intelligent and entertaining—highly recommended!

The content is mostly excellent, as it is based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, read aloud. That said, it is amateurishly done. For instance, the first narrator fails to correctly pronounce common words, such as melancholy and determined. The series is rife with mispronunciations. The commentary is all over the place. In some cases, the stories are expanded upon and intelligently discussed. In others, misogyny is assumed and found, where little to none actually exists within the stories, especially considering the time when they are written. For instance, they go on and on about the “assumption” of the characters about the threat of Irene Adler to reveal her affair with the king in ‘A Scandal in Bohemia,’ when in the story, the king plainly states that she has actually made such a threat. While there is some misogyny in the stories, there is no need to make it up. The chronology of the stories is terrible. They used Baring-Gould’s chronology, which creates two fictional wives for Watson. It would make more sense if they had done their own chronology, ignoring the dates given in the stories, which Conan Doyle clearly pulled out of the air. Lastly, episode 16 is recorded so badly that it is completely unlistenable. Low volume, punctuated by whistles and squeals. Even the famous detective could not get me through it.

This podcast is exactly what I’ve wanted. While there are incredible and prolific feminine voices, men continue to dominate the Sherlock Holmes discourse. These two scholars are amazing and I can’t wait to see where this project goes!

I love Sherlock Holmes, and I do enjoy this podcast. Except when they bungle themes. For example, much of what they say about ACD’s statements about imperialism are oversimplified. They Ali talk about period typical racism like it’s a surprise. It’s nineteenth century literature, you expect some weird racism. This author is actually somewhat better about it than a lot of them, and all the villains are caricatures because that’s his entire writing style.