2015

• March 7  Sisters in Crime, Chesapeake Chapter's noon luncheon meeting will take "an inside look at a maximum security prison. All the info is here
• March 10  Reservations are due for the Red Circle's March 13 meeting
• March 13  Red Circle dinner meeting
• April 10 - 12  221bCon   This fan con for all things Sherlock Holmes will convene for the third time in Atlanta. The event has become very popular very quickly, especially among younger Sherlockians. But the organizers point out that there's always something for everybody. For example, the specialty cocktails at the hotel bar will include "The Blue Carbuncle" and "The Twisted Lip." See all the details at the 221bCon website.
• May 1 - 3  Malice Domestic 27  Held at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda, the site of our own Red Circle dinners, Malice Domestic is the place to be if traditional mysteries are your cup of tea. Always great fun, with good authors and nice people. Check their website for updated information.
• June 12 - 13 A Scintillation of Scions VIII  The eighth edition of this popular Sherlockian gathering will be held at the Sheraton Baltimore-Washington Hotel near BWI Airport. Registration details and other information will be posted here as we get it.
• August 8 - 9  Gridlock DC 2015 The second edition of this popular fan event, to be held this year at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda. See the Inner Circle at left for details.

For a much more comprehensive list of Sherlockian meetings and events around the United States and beyond, see Ron Fish's

Sherlockian Calendar.

William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes Onscreen  Many Sherlockians know that the film version of William Gillette's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, long believed lost, was discovered recently in France. Shot in Chicago in 1916 and released by Essanay, the film has now been restored and had its world premiere on January 31 in Paris. It will be screened next during the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, May 28-June 1. The festival's site also includes a nice story about "The Gillette Jollification" at the December meeting of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Read it here. The Red Circle trusts that in due course a Washington screening will also be in the offing. Meanwhile, a three minute excerpt of the restored film is available here. To celebrate the film's discovery, restoration and release, The Société Sherlock Holmes de France have published Le Guide du Film Sherlock Holmes (1916), a profusely-illustrated 64-page discussion of the film and its actors, with articles by Thierry Saint-Joanis and Bernard Oudin; it is almost all in English, and costs 20 Euros. You can order it here, where you can also see thumbnail images showing the results of their splendid research.

Sherlockian author wins Oscar for film starring Sherlockian actor  As 2010 came to an end, Black Peter reported in his Logbook on this site that a young man named Graham Moore had written a new pastiche called The Sherlockian that had met with some critical acclaim. It was Moore's first novel, and it would not be the last we'd hear from him. Moore went on to write the script for The Imitation Game, the tale of British mathematician Alan Turing's quest to break the Nazi's Enigma code. The film, of course, stars Benedict Cumberbatch in a superb performance as Turing. On February 22 Moore took home the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and made what many consider to be the most memorable acceptance speech of the evening. See it here.

Gridlock DC 2015 will be expanded to a two-day event, on August 8-9, at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda.  Last year's convention was a one-day affair in Alexandria, with 195 people on hand for the festivities.  Some of the conventioneers were old Sherlockian hands, but the vast majority were young, and fans of film and television, some of them in costume, and everyone enjoyed the event.  You can see what last year's programming was like, and register for this year at their website here. Sign up now and save, because registration is just $40.00 for early birds (through March 8).

Red Circle Baskerville theater party a smashing success and the Washington Post took note. Read their report here.

Dan Stashower Scores Second Hat Trick   Washington writer, Sherlockian and Red Circle member Dan Stashower has won a third major prize for his book The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War. The Anthony Award, presented at Bouchercon in Long Beach in mid-November goes on the shelf along with the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar and Malice Domestic's Agatha awards. Dan's first trifecta was for Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters in 2008. Congratulations Dan!

Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal in Klinger case  In a one sentence ruling on November 3, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the Conan Doyle Estate's appeal in the copyright suit brought by Les Klinger. The judgment has the effect of upholding Klinger's contention and the decisions of two lower courts that the 50 Sherlock Holmes stories published before 1923 are in the public domain and not subject to rights payments to the estate. The copyrights on the remaining ten stories will expire over the next decade.

• Scuttlebutt: One Fixed Point in a Changing Age  Our own Peter Blau's monthly Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press has endured for more than four decades, and has a permanent home right here on our website. It's the most remarkable collection of Sherlockian news and notes anywhere, and your webmaster recommends a monthly visit. The very latest edition is available now, as are past numbers. It's just a click away--use the "Scuttlebutt" button at the top of the page.

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• For earlier, archived items from The Inner Circle, click here.