moi@thebearcave

While I was growing up my mom belonged to both the Book of the Month Club and the Mystery Guild and so there was always a stack of new books to read every month. As well, we subscribed to Time, Life and Look for years. My very early reading was supervised by Miss Helen West — a Norfolk County treasure if ever there was one, the librarian at the old Simcoe Public Library down on Argyle Street. She started early on to broaden my horizon by recommending books concerning history, architecture and archeology. Many years later, I thought of Miss West as I gazed up at Mycenae'a Lion Gate; and walked the cobbled streets of Roman Pompeii in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

Amelia Peabody

Elizabeth Peter's series of mystery novels featuring Amelia Peabody and
set mostly in late 19th and early 20th century Egypt

The history of Mrs. Amelia P. Emerson (also know as Amelia Peabody) is an amazing family saga, encompassing three generations, a world war, and thirty-five years of turbulent history.

It began with the first trip to Egypt of Amelia Peabody (as she then was) in 1884. She was accompanied by a young companion, Evelyn Barton Forbes, who, like Amelia, found a career and true love in the Land of the Pharaohs. They married brothers -- Amelia accepting the hand of the distinguished archaeologist Radcliffe Emerson, and Evelyn that of his younger brother Walter. Amelia's love of Egypt almost equaled her love for her hot-tempered (but extremely handsome) husband. She joined him in his annual excavations, which, except for a few brief hiatuses, continued for the entire thirty-five years.

Inevitably, as Amelia might say, a second generation of Emersons ensued. Walter Emerson and his wife retired to her family estate in Yorkshire, where he could pursue his study of ancient languages. They became parents of six children (one of whom perished in infancy): Radcliffe Junior, Margaret, Amelia Junior (who insisted on being addressed as Lia to avoid confusion with her aunt), and twin boys, Johnny and Willy. Johnny died in France, serving his country during the First World War.

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Mary Russell

Laurie R. King's series of mystery novels featuring Mary Russell and
her husband Sherlock Holmes

In any case, whether through ignorance or inclination, when I sat down to write about my new imaginary friends in what became The Beekeeper's Apprentice, I felt as if I were setting out in an uncharted system of caves with a questionable flashlight in hand. (Truth to tell, I feel the same every time I begin a book, although after fourteen times, it is a sensation I have come to anticipate.) This is the story of a young woman, just fifteen when the book opens, who meets the retired Sherlock Holmes on the Sussex Downs in southern England, impresses him with the sharpness of her eyes, wits, and tongue, and becomes first his apprentice, then his partner. She is, one might say, a young, female, Twentieth century version of the Great Detective; the two mix like oil and vinegar.

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[Note: Laurie R. King has also penned a series of detective novels featuring San Francisco cop Kate Martinelli who just happens to be a lesbian.]

Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's series of mystery novels featuring Sherlock Holmes and
his assistant sleuth Dr. John Watson

Sherlock Holmes... is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take on almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.

Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887, was featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character grew tremendously in popularity with the first series of short stories in Strand Magazine, beginning with A Scandal in Bohemia in 1891; further series of short stories and two novels published in serial form appeared between then and 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1880 up to 1914. ...

Doyle said that the character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations. Sir Henry Littlejohn, Lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, is also cited as a source for Holmes. Littlejohn served as Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, providing for Doyle a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.

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• The REAL Dr Watson: The Victorian army medic who was the inspiration for Sherlock's trusty sidekick [Daily Mail, February 2, 2012]

To boost his finances, Conan Doyle began writing detective stories. A Study in Scarlet, the first story to feature his detective Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1887.

Among those wounded at Maiwand was an army doctor, Surgeon-Major Alexander Francis Preston. His experiences so closely mirror those of Dr Watson, he is thought to be the model for Holmes's sidekick.

Sherlock-i-ana

Ian Sansom: Review: The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

The game, once more, is afoot. The world's greatest private consulting detective returns to solve another case. Anthony Horowitz is not, of course, the first to add to the Holmesian canon - the 56 short cases and four novels first collected together and published as The Complete Sherlock Holmes in 1930. There are many other books and stories that vie for inclusion, most significantly the many apocryphal writings by Arthur Conan Doyle himself not among the sacred 60: plays, commentaries, self-parodies and pre- and sub-Holmesian detectives. And then there are the many profane writings, films, and TV and radio shows based on, inspired by or otherwise deriving from the originals, ranging from the early Ellery Queen-edited The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes (1944) to the movie The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes's Smarter Brother (1975), with a star turn by Rumpole-to-be Leo McKern as Moriarty. Naturally, some of these non-Doylean adventures are better than others: Julian Symons's ingenious A Three Pipe Problem (1975) is unjustly forgotten, the BBC's recent Sherlock rightly praised. But The House of Silk is in a class of its own: Horowitz's novel is the first Sherlock Holmes addition to have been written with the endorsement of the Conan Doyle estate. It is not a pastiche. It is not an update. It is, as its cover proudly declares, "the new Sherlock Holmes novel". ...

It's 1890. We ascend the 17 steps up to the first floor of 221B Baker Street. All is as we might expect. The usual cast assemble. Mrs Hudson is there with a plate of scones. Wiggins and the Baker Street irregulars make a welcome appearance, as do rat-faced Inspector Lestrade and Mycroft ("He is still alive, by the way. When I last heard, he had been knighted and was the chancellor of a well-known university"). Moriarty ("'I am a mathematician, Dr Watson . I am also what you would doubtless term a criminal'"). Poor Mary, Watson's ailing wife. Outside, fog and hansom cabs. Inside, Holmes, with his Strad and his 7% solution.

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The BBC's latest iteration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

• Sherlock returns to the BBC: 'He's definitely devilish' [The Guardian, December 17, 2011]

The flat in 221b Baker Street is in a bit of a state. Home to Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr John Watson, the kitchen table is coated in the powdery remnants of some botched chemistry experiment, while a trail of yellowed newspaper clippings obscures much of the carpet. There's a human skull perched on the arm of the sofa, a bag of severed thumbs in the fridge, and a smiley face spray-painted on to the living room wall.

Slumped in armchairs at the centre of the room and seemingly oblivious to all this chaos are Sherlock creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. They've taken time out from shooting the second series of the hit BBC drama to have a chat with the Guardian about all things Holmes. Despite an arduous filming schedule, both look relaxed; Gatiss has reclined so far back into his chair that he is practically horizontal, while Moffat is recalling some of his favourite fan correspondence. "I got a tweet this morning where someone said, 'I so wanted to hate this but I couldn't.'" He shrugs: "It says more about the person, I think."

• Sherlock and the case of nudity before 9pm: BBC under fire for raunchy pre-watershed scenes in adaptation of Conan Doyle classic [Daily Mail, January 3, 2012]

Families settling down to watch the Corporation's latest Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adaptation were shocked to see actress Lara Pulver - playing the great detective's romantic interest Irene Adler - strolling around with no clothes on a full 25 minutes before 9pm.

The character had already been shown wearing a thong and carrying a whip as she walked into a room containing a woman tied to a bed.

• Sherlock: How did Holmes fake his own death? [Telegraph, January 16, 2012]

Fans of Sherlock, the BBC detective drama based on the novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and which ended its second series on Sunday night, have pooled their wits in a bid to crack the mystery.

In the climax to the three-part series, Sherlock Holmes, played by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy star Benedict Cumberbatch, stood on the roof of St Bartholomew's hospital in central London and telephoned his best friend and side-kick Dr Watson, played by The Office's Martin Freeman, to bid him farewell.

He is then seen leaping from the parapet and striking the pavement, before being carried away without a pulse and bleeding from the head by paramedics.

Miss Marple

Agatha Christie's series of mystery novels featuring St. Mary Mead's female sleuth Miss Marple

Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous of Christie's characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Sketch magazine in 1926, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.

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Hercule Poirot

Agatha Christie's series of mystery novels featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot... is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.

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