Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #22. Arthur Conan Doyle

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      The Cavalier’s Cup, in the H.M. novel of that name, is kept in the vaults of Cox & Co. bank in London. This is the same institution where Dr. Watson deposited his battered tin dispatch box with those priceless notes of his unrecorded cases. One wishes that the manuscript of The Cavalier’s Cup had been left there as well. This is the last and weakest of the book-length H.M. adventures. The supposed comic relief, Signor Ravioli, talks like Chico Marks. “I’m-a-Dr. Watson,” he declares, putting on a black felt hat which he seems to think is Watsonian.

      Although described as a “whisky-only” or a whisky and punch drinker in other books, the old man and a friend share a bottle of Beaune in The Red Widow Murders, evoking Dr. Watson’s Beaune-soaked lunch in The Sign of Four. And the description of the murder victim’s body in The Punch and Judy Murders strongly recalls that of Bartholomew Sholto in the same Holmes novel. His bald head is leaned against his shoulder with a grin on his face.

      The name of a typist in My Late Wives, Mildred Lyons, inevitably recalls Laura Lyons, also a typist, of Baskervilles fame. The Sherlockian salute is subtler than the name of the winsome Maureen Holmes in Behind the Crimson Blind, but unmistakable nonetheless.

      The unconventional, unforgettable Sir Henry Merrivale appeared in 22 novels, one novelette and one short story between 1934 and 1956. Sherlockians would find them well worth seeking out, for there is much that they will find familiar in the wacky world of H.M.

      d

      Dan Andriacco, a long-time Sherlockian, is the author of Baker Street Beat: An Eclectic Collection of Sherlockian Scribblings and nine Holmes-themed mystery novels and collections. His amateur sleuth, Sebastian McCabe, and brother-in-law Jeff Cody appear most recently in Bookmarked for Murder. A frequent contributor to SHMM, Dan blogs at www.DanAndriacco.com

1 Only in the third to last novel do we learn her name, Clementine, and that she is a blond former chorus girl. “Clemmie’s years and years younger than I am.”