I read "Band" but I still have to read "Carbunkle".

I think Watson, as the narrator, deliberately diminishes his own intelligence to make Holmes seem that much smarter. I like to think there's a little harmless exaggeration in there.

Yes, this.

I think Watson, as the narrator, deliberately diminishes his own intelligence to make Holmes seem that much smarter. I like to think there's a little harmless exaggeration in there.

Plus Watson was probably brought up not to brag about himself. I doubt Holmes would abide living with an idiot.

I always laugh at references to "doctor is a great profession for a writer, because of all the free time between patients." Not anymore, for sure. I've gained a lot of respect for how much work doctors do.

I've gained a lot of respect for how much work doctors do.

Me too. And the more the HMOs put the squeeze on them, the harder their burdens become and the lower the quality of care gets. But that's another rant.

So, I'm no-talking girl this time, but I'm enjoying reading everyone else's comments.

Yeah, Nilly, I do feel that Holmes, like, Agatha Christie is a "gateway" to mystery/ procedural fiction.(damn me and my drug metaphors) Christie felt it, both with Poirot's Hastings, and with "Roger Ackroyd" that completely jerked the "Watson" thing out of shape. Philip Marlowe is a loner, like Holmes.Even now, I think a detective's inner circle is pretty small. Early FrankenTim, in Homicide, could be characterized by a Holmes and Watson dynamic, I think, but unlike Watson, Tim was allowed to find his identity as an investigator. But, you know, Frank's moody, intense, not one of the guys(even Kay is more one of the guys than he is) doesn't like going on unattended deaths because they are boring to him, and he tells the idealistic Bayliss point-blank that he doesn't need him. Uh, Munch is a big pothead still haunted by his high school sweetheart?(Ok, so all the examples aren't so serious... oy vey is mir. I'm so meshuggenah I could plotz.) I'll, uh, get ahold of the rest of those stories now. And maybe those Adler books.

I was watching an episode of Remington Steele this afternoon when it struck me that only in detective fiction are detectives famous (and for very good reason).

Yeah. Ask Park Dietz. Although I don't really think that is the sort of peril Sumi was talking about.

The peril I'm talking about is that most PI work is about sitting in a car waiting for somebody to do something that they're not supposed to do.

Difficult when you're surrounded by papparazzi.

Yep. You could end up dragged across your trailer like Jim Rockford. Who seems to have been the seventies answer to Giles when it comes to being dragged across places after being hit on the head. Mr. Dietz, is, of course, a criminologist/expert witness who also advised on L&O. But recently he lost some credibility when he cited, in the the course of a real trial, a "Law and Order" episode that didn't exist. And this is probably natter.

I have been remiss in my duties, mostly because I was attacked by the evil Dragoncon plague.

A few pieces of trivia, by way of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes about "The Speckled Band" and "The Blue Carbuncle."

"The Speckled Band"

Holmes says "'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals.... Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession." William Palmer (1824-1856) was a surgeon who was hanged for poisoning his wife, brother and business associate for their insurance money and who was rumored to have poisoned perhaps 15 people. Edward William Pritchard (1825-1865) was a surgeon who was hanged for poisoning his wife and mother-in-law.

There is no such snake as as a "swamp adder." There is no snake venom that kills in 10 seconds. Snakes can't hear, so what was the whistle for?

"The Blue Carbuncle"

The word "carbuncle" normally refers to a garnet, but Holmes refers to it as "crystallized charcoal," which could only refer to a diamond. Also, there are no blue garnets.

The "billycock" hat that Holmes studies so closely is a bowler or derby.

Geese do not, strictly speaking, have crops.

Holmes says, "'When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet.'" The Pink 'un was a popular name for the Sporting Times, which was printed on pink paper like The Financial Times.

One Holmes scholar computes that in the 60 chronicled cases, there are 37 definite felonies in which Holmes determined who the guilty party, and, in 14 cases, Holmes freed the guilty person.