Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

Sherlock Holmes Podcasts
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You know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.

  1. 3D AGO

    Earls

    "You evidently do not know the Earl" [CHAS]     For modern audiences (particularly those not familiar with British aristocracy), the titles of the nobility could be a bit confusing. In the Sherlock Holmes stories, we find our fair share of dukes, barons, and lords. But what about earls?   There are only a handful of earls in the Canon, so in this episode, we spend a little time investigating the duties of earls and what it is their female counterparts are called. So grab your coronet! It's just a Trifle.     If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode ponders a message we never quite see. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Earl (Wikipedia) What Did an English Earl Actually Do? (History Facts) Coronet (YouTube) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    23 min

  2. JAN 21

    Oxford or Cambridge

    "one of the brightest intellects of the University" [3STU]     Of the long-running debates about the Sherlock Holmes stories (the location of Watson's wound, the true dates of "The Red-Headed League," the location of 221B Baker Street), one of the most perennial is Sherlock Holmes's university.   There are cases to be made for each of the great universities, but it was Gavin Brend who made a definitive case in a chapter of his 1951 book My Dear Holmes. This Mr. Sherlock Holmes the Theorist episode may be academic, but it's just a Trifle.     If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode ponders a message we never quite see. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links My Dear Holmes (Abebooks) The Sherlock Holmes Society of London Oxfords Not Brogues (Real Style) Previous episodes mentioned: Episode 310 - The Route of the Blue Carbucle All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    30 min

  3. JAN 14

    Professor Moriarty

    "I must really know more before I leave him." [MISS]   Professor Moriarty. We know him as the arch-rival of Sherlock Holmes. In many ways, he was the original model for the supervillain. But what do we really know about him?   The answer is surprisingly little. And what we do know about him comes primarily from Sherlock Holmes. Join us as we dig a little deeper (or as deep as we can) on this Napoleon of crime. It's just a Trifle.     If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode ponders a message we never quite see. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links Previous episodes mentioned: Episode 213 - The Three Moriartys Episode 219 - Moriarty's Mathematics All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    22 min

  4. JAN 7

    Upon the Dating of Blood Stains

    "whose interest is it that the letter should come out?" [SECO]   Season 10 kicks off with another Morley-Montgomery Award winning article from The Baker Street Journal — a series we're continuing in which we look at notable pieces of Sherlockian scholarship about certain trifling issues.   In Vol. 52, No. 4, Robert Schultz, BSI ("The Gloria Scott") examined "The Second Stain" for historical clues and then applied them to British foreign relations to discover, despite earlier scholars' results, that there is only one possible author of the dangerous letter. It is most definitely a Trifle.     Find all of the Morley-Montgomery series in one place (Patreon | Substack).     If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. The latest episode wonders about J pens. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links The Morley-Montgomery Award Remembering Robert S. Schultz (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    38 min

  5. 12/31/2025

    The Chronology of the Apocrypha

    "that is the biggest mystification of all" [CREE]  You thought we were done with the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes? Silly you. As Inspector Baynes said, "I thought I had squeezed all the juice out of it, but I see there was a little over." [WIST]   Now we turn to a fascinating study: dating the Apocryphya. Or at least part of it. An entry by Brett Graham Fawcett in Timelines, the newsletter of the Chronologist Guild, looks at how we might assign dates to some of the stories. And it's just a Trifle.      Find all of the Apocrypha series in one place (Patreon | Substack).     If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. The latest episode wonders about J pens. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links Episodes of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere mentioned in this episode: Episode 144: The Chronologies of Sherlock Holmes Episode 309: Holmes in an Hour or Two Episode 320: It is NOT Always 1895 All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    27 min

  6. 12/24/2025

    The Man Who Was Wanted

    "evidence was wanted" [GOLD]  The final installment in our series on the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes brings us to "The Case of the Man Who was Wanted." Its discovery and provenance seems to have been both wanted and not wanted by the Conan Doyle brothers, who discovered it thanks to a biographer of their father in the 1940s.   How it came into their possession and the story behind what was once assumed to be the 61st Sherlock Holmes story — and its eventual debunking — is anything but a Trifle.    Find all of the Apocrypha series in one place (Patreon | Substack).   If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. The latest episode wonders about J pens. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted Classics of Sherlockiana: The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes (I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere) The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The "Lost" Sherlock Holmes Story (Black Gate) Nova 57 Minor: The Waxing and Waning of the 61st Adventure of Sherlock Holmes (Abebooks) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    25 min

  7. 12/18/2025

    Sherlock Holmes and Edwin Drood

    "Oh! a mystery is it?" [STUD]    When Charles Dickens died in 1870, The Mystery of Edwin Drood was only six chapters into its 12-chapter run. There were no sketches or outlines of what would come next, so for a century and a half, scholars have puzzled over the solution.   In 1968, Colin Prestige, BSI ("Captain Jack Croker") made a bold claim: that Sherlock Holmes could have handily solved the case, in "Sherlock Holmes and Edwin Drood," which appeared in Vol. 18, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal. It's this month's "Mr. Sherlock Holmes the theorist" episode and it's just a Trifle.    If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. The latest episode wonders about J pens. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Charles Dickens Page) The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Wikipedia) The Baker Street Journal (BSI) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    19 min
  8. Calling Cards

    12/10/2025

    Calling Cards

    "He sent in his card with a message" [CROO]    In our own digital age, business cards are nearly artifacts of the past. And calling cards? They're so outdated we had to create this episode.   Numerous individuals in the Sherlock Holmes stories present their cards to Sherlock Holmes and Holmes presents his card to a few people as well. What's the history behind calling cards and visiting cards and how did they play into the stories? It's just a Trifle.    We have bonus content for our supporters: images of Victorian calling cards that might surprise you. If you have a question for us, please email us at trifles@ihearofsherlock.com. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift.   Don't forget to listen to "Trifling Trifles" — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode, released at the beginning of every month. The latest episode wonders about J pens. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack).   Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today.     Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts   Links Calling Cards and Visiting Cards: A Brief History (Hoban Cards) Calling Cards & Paying Calls: Social Etiquette in Georgian England (Paullett Golden) The Gentleman's Guide to the Calling Card (Art of Manliness) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com    Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

    31 min
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You know the plots, but what about the minutiae? We delve into the Sherlock Holmes stories and answers questions that arise, clarify muddy details, and look into some of the period terminology in this weekly podcast.

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