Ed Van der Flaes (left) visited from Toronto 

and quickly joined Frank Mentzel

in Red Circle cocktail conversation

As did Mary Burke (left) and Evelyn Herzog (right)

with guest speaker Marilynne McKay

Marilynne McKay holds forth on 

The Annoying Violet de Merville

--Thanks to Linda Hosek for her photos

The Red Circle of Washington gathered at the National Press Club on Friday evening, June 15. The largest turnout since 2007 was on hand, with 45 familiar faces and new friends alike joining in the festivities. Among them was Ed Van der Flaes who was visiting all the way from Toronto. Ed is a Member of The Bootmakers of Toronto, The Baker Street Irregulars and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. He's now a member of the Red Circle too, since lifetime membership is attained by attending one meeting.

Guest speaker Marilynne McKay gave a marvelous, witty presentation on Violet de Merville, the naive young lady who was smitten by the evil Baron Gruner and who would not heed the warnings of Sherlock Holmes in "The Illustrious Client." It was an appropriate subject for Marilynne, since she is invested as Violet de Merville in the Baker Street Irregulars. She's also dubbed "The Great Dermatologist" by the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, has presided over the dermatologists' James Saunders Society, and is a member of the Confederates of Wisteria Lodge in her home town of Atlanta.

Marilynne's well-researched talk on the annoying Miss de Merville centered on what Holmes saw as the young lady's "infuriating" attitude, typical of teenagers. As Holmes said, "All my hot words could not bring one tinge of colour to those ivory cheeks or one gleam of emotion to those abstracted eyes." Marilynne's analysis reckons that Violet was quite young. She mused that the consulting detective knew so much about medieval art, but so little about stubborn 13-year-old lovestruck girls.

In addition to Marilynne's presentation there was much discussion about the many upcoming Sherlockian events around the country (see the Sherlockian Calendar on the home page), and the recent "Scintillation of Scions" in Maryland. No fewer than five people reported and raved about that excellent gathering. The usual enjoyable menu of food and anecdotes rounded out the evening. The well-fed and happy assemblage convinced Peter to postpone the quiz on "The Illustrious Client" until September.

The next meeting of the Red Circle is scheduled for Friday evening, September 14, 2012.

--Thanks to Cindy Coppock for her notes.