Online survey points the way for future meetings  Spring is the time for renewal, and our January online survey gave us terrific guideposts for planning upcoming Red Circle meetings. Our spring meeting will be a March 30 luncheon at Alfio’s La Trattoria restaurant, just blocks from the DC line in Bethesda. You can get complete details by clicking here or on “the details” link in the Next Meeting box above. Mindful of the Great Detective's admonition to “Give me data!,” Red Circle members responded to the survey in force. The Committee on Venues, along with the Committee on Victuals and the Committee on Data were gratified that 70 stalwarts keyed in their preferences. Among the interesting findings: nearly 40% use public transportation, and the overwhelming majority are comfortable with a meal price of $40 to $50, with many saying that even a bit more would be OK. Alfio's is three blocks from Metro, has free valet parking, and the luncheon price for March 30 will be $35. There was a virtual tie between those who prefer Friday dinner meetings and Saturday luncheon meetings, so some combination will probably be in our future. No other day/time choices were strong favorites of most of those responding. So come along to Alfio’s on March 30 for good company, good food, and a presentation by our own Carla Coupe.  

 

Wounded at the Bar   If you’re like Watson, you never know where the after-effects of a wound from a Jezail bullet will show up. The same may also be true of the Jezail Bullet cocktail, an interesting concoction with a nicely Canonical name and a Sherlockian history. Four years ago our friend and author Lyndsay Faye commissioned her husband Gabriel Lehner (who does this sort of thing professionally) to create a specialty cocktail for the Baker Street Babes’ “Daintiest Bee Under Your Bonnet Ball.”  Laurie Fraser Manifold contributed attractive artwork, and the cocktail is reported to have met with universal approval, with relatively few needing to be carried away on a stretcher or requiring the ministrations of young Stamford. A readable, downloadable and printable .pdf version of Laurie Manifold’s art can be found here. Thanks to Mike Quigley for the tip.

 

The Queen's Prerogative  One of the funnier memes floating around the internet these days is bringing belly laughs to chess players, as the Bishop seems to be in imminent danger! But there's a clear Sherlockian connection too. It brings to mind Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Holmes in the 1943 film Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, based on "The Musgrave Ritual." Holmes says, "Look at it Watson! Look at it. Like a giant chessboard. This is no gibberish. These are chess terms and that's the chessboard. The key to the Musgrave murders is locked up in that floor. And by Jove, we've got the key to it!"

 

A Sherlockian Coin of the Realm   The new year brings a commemorative coin set from Great Britain's Royal Mint that includes a 50p coin with a tribute to Sherlock Holmes on the reverse. The coin is issued to mark the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The handsome image was created by artist Stephen Raw, whose intials appear at the bottom of the design. The obverse carries the standard image of the Queen. Our UK friends tell us that the coin will go into standard circulation, but in very limited quantities. Collectors can buy it directly from the mint, but at this point it appears it must be purchased as part of the year's commemorative set at a price of 55 pounds plus shipping. See the information here. The Red Circle is making energetic enquiries into whether the Holmes coin may be purchased individually, and further information will be posted here.

  

The Red Circle's December 7 dinner meeting was all about fun, games and holiday cheer. Carla Coupe kept track of the doings and you can read her notes here.

 

Boxing Day Quiz   As Carla Coupe mentions in her Meeting Notes for December 7, one of the evening's brain teasers was a Boxing Day Quiz devised by Dana Richards. Dana has provided the quiz for us here. Note that it's a six-page file, with the first three pages devoted to the questions only. The answers are revealed on pages 4-6. You can read and/or download the quiz here.

 

Mueller Investigates  The New Yorker's year-end cover by artist Barry Blitt is a natural for Sherlockians in and around our captial city. Special Counsel Robert Mueller plays the part of Holmes as he "smokes out" his prey. Take a look at the cover story that goes with the image.

 

 

 

Our website has just passed it's eighth birthday, so it seems right to rummage back in the archive to find an article your webmaster wrote in November 2001, as we celebrated our first anniversary as the Red Circle's online home. We've reached a lot more people since then, and built a much more robust archive of people, places, events and passages. Thanks to all who've contributed. . .those who've written articles and reviews, supplied texts of their presentations, given us quizzes and puzzles, and responded to our meeting notices enthusiastically as The Red Circle proudly continues to keep the memory green. Read Alan's article about the early days of our website here.

 

Politics Watch: “My favorite line”   Always alert to mark the confluence of politics and Sherlock Holmes, The Red Circle notes the statement made to Fox News by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) concerning the disappearance of Washington Post columnist and US permanent resident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey. Said Graham, “You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes (my favorite line) to figure this out.”

  The Red Circle welcomed Monica Schmidt to our luncheon on September 8. Monica is both a Sherlockian and a mental health counselor, and her presentation on Sherockian hoarding was very well received, as reported in Carla Coupe's Meeting Notes. Read them here. In addition, Monica has kindly provided a text version of her talk which you can read here and in the Writings section. Both are highly recommended.

 

Curious Incidents at the Reference Desk   One of the joys of living in the Washington area is knowing that one of our local libraries is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill. The Library of Congress has all sorts of resources, including a well-staffed reference desk, where for more than 30 years you could find Red Circle member Thomas Mann, who like all good Sherlockians seemed to know just where all the bodies were buried. Now retired, Tom has found time to write Doc at the Reference Desk (Washington: Alexandrina Press, 2017; 77 pp., $7.00). This collection of fictional but revealing "small stories in a large library" gives us an idea of some of the strange things that can happen at a reference desk. It’s non-Sherlockian (but obviously written by a fellow traveler), and great fun for all those who like real libraries.