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Showing posts with label Sherlock Holmes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sherlock Holmes. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2020
Sunday, August 20, 2017
221B Baker Street Key Pendant
It's at the Spookyisland shop on Etsy. $13.31
Comes with a chain in a variety of widths.
And, if the Sherlock 221B Baker Street Key pendant and necklace isn't your "cup of tea," Spookyisland also had a great Alice in Wonderland necklace, a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver, and a human brain (I like this one!)
More information here.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Lyndsay Faye: Clueless: Deductive Reasoning and Sherlock Holmes Pastiches
Lyndsay Faye:
Clueless: Deductive Reasoning and Sherlock Holmes Pastiches
As a Sherlockian omnivore, one who likes my The Great Mouse Detective and Basil Rathbone fighting Nazis and House, M. D. all piled together like a heap of Thanksgiving dinner sides, I was avidly looking forward to the fourth season of BBC’s Sherlock. This isn’t meant to be a review, so I’ll save the majority of my critique of those three episodes for elsewhere. There were high points and lo, there were lows. But after watching it, and finding a good percentage of the plotting about as sensible as a feline in a catnip packaging facility, I started reflecting on how very difficult writing Holmes’s “deductions”—at least, writing reasonable deductions—can in fact be.
All power to show creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss for giving us a meth-fueled carnival ride of a fourth series, one that challenged my perceptions of what the show was and occasionally even made me question if I was actually trapped inside a particularly vivid pizza dream. They have a tendency, however, to throw special effects at the screen when “clues” might fail to withstand scrutiny, and unfortunately the plodding writer of prose doesn’t get to wow the reader with computer-generated folderol whenever the soil samples don’t hold up. Over the course of the last eight years, I’ve written 15 Sherlock Holmes pastiches for the Strand Magazine and other publications, which are now being published in a collection titled The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. Now that I squint at the volume? That’s a lot of clues. Historical clues at that—Victorian sleight of hand designed to convince the reader that my Holmes is the real Holmes, that he can read entire histories in a man’s manicured pinky toe, or the lint clinging to the humble flower girl’s faint moustache.
It’s not that I’m annoyed at BBC’s Sherlock for skipping some of the gristly bits of writing detective work. They can present their adventures however they like, which is seemingly with disembodied set pieces hovering before Sherlock’s eyes, and with questionable CG firewalls. (Doubtless next season will feature a lizard army, an Elton John guest appearance, and a steampunk Jim Moriarty android—and I’m OK with that.) It’s just that it’s hard to come up with logical inferences, and I’ve been doing it long enough to know that you can spend upwards of an hour staring at your laptop screen and tapping your front teeth in bafflement, a parade of tarnished watch chains, dirtied boots, mismatched gloves, calloused thumbs, and unpolished spectacles parading before your eyes—any of which could mean literally anything, depending on how the author needs to manipulate the information Holmes will glean from the data.
Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle didn’t bat a hundred when it came to the Great Detective’s intuitive leaps. Take the classic scene in which Holmes studies a lost hat in “The Blue Carbuncle.” Sure, it’s perfectly fair for Holmes to say that the owner doesn’t have gas laid on in his house because the felt has too many tallow stains on it; it’s equally logical to surmise that traces of lime cream and snipped ends indicate his choice of pomade and the fact that he’s recently had a haircut. But Holmes goes on to deduce that because the man had a serious pumpkin of a noggin, he is intellectual (it’s not the size that counts—it’s how you use it), and that because his hat isn’t brushed, his wife has ceased to love him. Apparently either Holmes has never so much as heard of a woman who eschews housekeeping, or he’s ignoring that she may be abroad, or tending a sick relative, or simply has cataracts.
I’m absolutely certain that over the course of some 120,000 words’ worth of Sherlock Holmes adventures, I’ve fallen on my face plenty of times. (To the reader who identifies these highly unscientific moments: please just pour another brandy and carry straight on.) Other displays of Holmesian brilliance still seem successful years later. For instance, I am rather proud of an interlude in “The Beggar’s Feast” during which Holmes makes a string of deductions based on the fact that an anonymous man admitted to Bart’s hospital in the wake of an assault is not wearing his own clothing. The logic seems to me sound, and the circumstances peculiar enough to merit Holmes’s notice. On the other hand, like Doyle, I occasionally threw up my hands and resorted to inventing non-existent poisons and deadly animal species. Touché, Moffat and Gatiss. Apparently fake biological discoveries are my version of flashy dolly shots.
Of course, none of this is to say that my way of approaching Sherlock Holmes is the “right” one, or indeed that any such true path exists. I’ll happily sit down to watch Robert Downey Jr. parade around in bloomers and cornflower blue eyeshadow, or watch subtle character studies morph into the hunt for the Loch Ness monster in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. But there’s something rewarding about actually developing an inference that holds water. It may not be as satisfying as exploring the beautiful relationship between Holmes and his Boswell, or channeling the atmosphere of the Victorian gothic. It’s a small, keen pleasure, however, to work out what it means to Holmes when a client’s trousers have been recently hemmed, and one I look forward to experiencing on many future occasions.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Sherlock Season 4: Premieres New Year's Day
Co-creators, writers and executive producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss say: “Whatever else we do, wherever we all go, all roads lead back to Baker Street, and it always feels like coming home. Ghosts of the past are rising in the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and terror and tragedy are looming. This is the story we’ve been telling from the beginning and it’s about to reach its climax.”
Sherlock is written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Christmas Pudding
Love this. Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Christmas Pudding.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Toby Jones joins Benedict Cumberbatch & Martin Freeman on Sherlock
Toby Jones will star in the second episode of the brand new three-part season, which starts filming today. Episode two will be directed by Nick Hurran, who was Emmy®-nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries for "His Last Vow", a season three Sherlock episode.
Toby Jones said: “I'm excited and intrigued by the character I shall be playing in Sherlock..." Rumor has it that he will be a villain.
Promising laughter, tears, shocks, surprises and extraordinary cases, it was announced last month that season four will begin with the nation’s favorite detective, the mercurial Sherlock Holmes, back once more on British soil, as Doctor Watson and his wife, Mary, prepare for their biggest ever challenge - becoming parents for the first time.
Sherlock is written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock is produced by Sue Vertue and the executive producers are Beryl Vertue, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat for Hartswood Films, Bethan Jones for BBC Cymru Wales and Rebecca Eaton for MASTERPIECE. It is distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the American Twins
Contact: Hein at 209-223-2215 or info@bakerstreetwest.com for tickets.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakerstreetwest
Sherlock Holmes and The Case of The American Twins is a traditional Sherlockian adventure that begins, as one always seems to, at 221B Baker Street where a distressed female client (Miss Phoebe Dillingham) consults with Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson on the whereabouts of her twin brother. What follows is a trail that leads to Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's more intelligent brother) and on to Colonel Collins (retired intelligence officer from the Army) who sends Sherlock to Madam Flora Yao (a provocative connoisseur of information). The denouement of the case turns ruckus in Mrs. Hudson's sitting room and yet there is more . . .
Baker Street West is a Victorian tribute to Sherlock Holmes. The setting includes eight storefronts relating to characters or subjects drawn directly from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's four novels and 56 short stories of Sherlock Holmes. It is an event-oriented venue that includes eight retail storefronts and a recreation of Sherlock Holmes' flat: 221B Baker Street.
***
An interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro(Reprinted with permission of Saichek Publicity)
Some people may not realize you began your career writing children's plays. How does it feel to return to this medium?
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: I've written plays since I was eight, and for the last four decades, I do one about every ten years. There's nothing like writing plays to sharpen the ear to dialogue, and I find it refreshing to think theatrically from time to time.
Tell us how your association with Hein & Company and the Baker Street Players came about
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: When my old friends, Cedric and Jan Clute, moved from Volcano to Jackson, they became involved with the Hein & Company Bookstore (the largest used bookstore in northern California), whose owners, Linda and Wolf Hein, were starting a Holmesian society. They put on a play about the Houdini seance, which I attended, and mentioned that they would like to do more productions with ties to Holmesian literature. I had been doing some Tarot readings at the store as part of the publicity for the play and since there was a bit of an opening in my schedule, I offered to do them a Holmesian play --- after all, Bill Fawcett and I had done four Mycroft novels and two Victoire Vernet novels Napoleon Must Die and Death Wears a Crown (Victoire being the Holmes brothers' French grandmother) --- and they could perform it if it suited their purposes. So I wrote the play, and then wrote a novelette from it which is available and the Baker Street Players will be performing it on Friday and Saturday nights from May 20th through June 11th.
What was the inspiration for this play?
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: American Twins arose out of some of the gaps in the Doyle stories about the early days of Sherlock's career, plus I wanted to play around with the underworld of London.
In addition to this play (and the companion "novella-ization" available digitally) you co-wrote the aforementioned novels with Bill Fawcett featuring Mycroft Holmes (Against the Brotherhood, Embassy Row, The Flying Scotsman and The Scottish Ploy). These have been re-released digitally. Why do you think people continue to find the Holmes brothers so fascinating?
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: To me, the Holmes stories are artifacts of the late Victorian era, and as such have social echos that have become iconographic of an age that is just long enough gone that we can be caught up in it as a gesture of affection. I would like to think that the play touches on this aspect of Doyle's original work.
Along those lines, what do you hope Holmes' fans take away with them, after seeing your play or reading the digital story?
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: I hope that the audience/readers enjoys the story and that seeing/reading it was time well spent. When you've been writing as long as I have, you know that what readers/audiences take away from your work may have nothing to do with your intention, but that whatever they find in it, that is what it means to them.
What are you working on now? Do you have any plans to write another play? Will Sherlock Holmes or Mycroft Holmes appear in a new adventure by you, whether it's on-stage or in print?
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: I'm currently working on the third Chesterton Holte mystery novel (following Haunting Investigation and Living Spectres), and on the 28th Saint-Germain book. I have no plans at this point to do another play, Holmesian or otherwise, but the decade is young and that may change.
***
Avalerion Books has released Yarbro's "novella-ized" version of The Case of The American Twins in all digital formats. Avalerion also just released Yarbro's original Holmesian story Brother Keeper (not connected with the play).
While she is best known for her historical horror novels featuring the vampire Saint-Germain, Yarbro is no stranger to the Holmes universe. In addition to the above works she and Bill Fawcett co-wrote four novels featuring Mycroft Holmes that are available again digitally: Against the Brotherhood, Embassy Row, The Flying Scotsman and The Scottish Ploy. These four novels were authorized by Dame Jean Conan Doyle.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Douglas Wilmer, Sherlock Holmes actor: R.I.P.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
The London native played the famous detective for the BBC and in a Gene Wilder film and had many brushes with the character over the years.
Douglas Wilmer, who began a long association with Sherlock Holmes when he ably portrayed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary sleuth on a 1960s series for the BBC, died Thursday. He was 96.Wilmer, a respected veteran of stage and screen, died at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk, England, after a short illness, The Sherlock Holmes Society of London reported. (He was an honorary member of the society.)
The London-born actor first played Holmes opposite Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson in 1964 (for a pilot episode) and then for an 11-episode season in 1965. (For another season of Sherlock Holmes, Peter Cushing replaced him in 1968.)
Wilmer also portrayed the logical Professor Van Dusen, a Holmesian detective created by American author Jacques Futrelle, in 1971's The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes for the ITV network. Later, Gene Wilder insisted Wilmer return as the famous resident of 221B Baker St. in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975).
And for Sherlock, the current British series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Wilmer had a cameo as a cranky old man who gave Watson a hard time in the Diogenes Club in the 2012 second-season finale "The Reichenbach Fall."
There are many — including some at The Sherlock Holmes Society of London — who consider Wilmer the definitive Holmes.
HT: Doc Quatermass
Friday, January 1, 2016
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson return in a 90-minute special, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, set in 1890s London. Watch the premiere tonight: Friday, January 1, at 9pm or online at pbs.org/masterpiece. In the San Francisco Bay Area, an encore airs Sunday, January 10, at 10pm on KQED 9.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
New Sherlock Holmes Special to Premiere January 1
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the modern retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic stories. But now our heroes find themselves in 1890s London. Beloved characters Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington), Inspector Lestrade (Rupert Graves) and Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs) also turn up at 221b Baker Street.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
New Sherlock Holmes stories to raise money to restore Conan Doyle's Home
From Radio Times:
Sixty of the world’s leading Sherlock Holmes authors have come together to create the largest ever anthology of new stories about the Baker Street detective. The royalties from the project are to go towards the restoration of Undershaw, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home which will become a school for children with learning disabilities.
Undershaw is where Conan Doyle wrote many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories and where he brought Holmes back to life after having killed him off at the famous Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. The building fell into disrepair in 2009 when developers tried to carve up the house but were blocked by a determined group of Sherlock Holmes fans who fought the planning all the way to the high court. The group – supported by their patron, Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss – won an injunction in the high court. The developer appealed but that was quashed in 2012.
Read more here.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Conan Doyle Estate Sues Miramax Over Mr. Holmes
The heirs of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle have apparently accepted an appellate judge's conclusion that most of the Sherlock stories are in the public domain. However, that's not stopping the Doyle Estate from filing a new lawsuit targeting Miramax and others over the coming film, Mr. Holmes, which features the famous detective near the end of his life.
On Thursday, a copyright and trademark lawsuit was lodged in New Mexico federal court that alleges that Mr. Holmes treads upon the last ten of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, published between 1923 and 1927.
In a prior dispute with a Holmes expert (Les Klinger!), the Doyle Estate attempted to argue that it would be unfair to separate out the copyrighted elements from the post-1923 stories from the character traits of the detective that were described prior to 1923. Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner rejected that argument, and also ordered the Doyle estate to pay its legal adversary more than $30,000 in legal fees, but still left open an avenue where the Doyle Estate could attempt to protect the latter works.
The lawsuit attempts to take this opportunity.
According to the complaint, Doyle's public domain works "make references to Holmes’s retirement," but the ones still in copyright tell "much more about Sherlock Holmes’ retirement and later years," such as the detective's attempt to solve one last case, how he "comes to love nature and dedicates himself to studying it," and how Holmes develops "a personal warmth and the capacity to express love for the first time."
Read more here.
HT: Doc Quatermas
Monday, April 20, 2015
Ian McKellan -- Mr. Holmes Trailer
Can't wait! From Entertainment Weekly:
In Mr. Holmes, Ian McKellen stars as an older version of the famous detective, who is finally penning his own story about his life to correct the misconceptions that have already been written about him. So Sherlock, at the age of 93 (requiring McKellen to play almost two decades above his own age), sets about recalling a case in his life from 35 years earlier.
The new international trailer for the film shows off more of the film’s plot as a new take on the classic character, a stark contrast from other modern on-screen interpretations, approaches its summer release date. Mr. Holmes is set to release on July 17.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Sherlock Holmes Exhibit at Museum of London
Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die
From BookTrade:
The Museum of London opened the exhibit Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die today. This exhibit celebrates the world of the greatest fictional detective of all time. The exhibit will run through April 12, 2015 with a variety of rare treasures.
Highlights include:
•A rare oil on canvas portrait of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle painted by Sidney Paget in 1897, which has never been on public display in the UK
•Original pages from Edgar Allan Poe's manuscript of The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) never before seen in the UK
•The original manuscript of The Adventure of the Empty House (1903)
•The iconic Belstaff coat and the Derek Rose camel dressing gown worn by Benedict Cumberbatch in the Sherlock BBC television series
Visitors enter through the bookcase-come-secret-doorway. Tracing the history of Sherlock Holmes through the ages, the comprehensive exhibition navigates its viewers through London-esque pathways displaying original manuscripts written in Conan Doyle's hand (in a section entitled 'The Genesis of Sherlock Holmes') right through to his globally recognized protagonist's portrayals in modern culture (The Many Sides of Sherlock Holmes). Other treats include first copies of The Strand magazine in 1891 alongside drawings by the original illustrator, Sidney Paget.
Alex Werner, Head of History Collections at the Museum of London and lead curator of Sherlock Holmes said: "Peeling back the layers of Sherlock Holmes, we will reveal the roots of this global icon who has continued to enthral audiences for over 125 years. It is fitting that it be hosted here, in the city which shaped the stories and created such a rich source for its success."
Those more recently engaged with the Holmes phenomenon through the BBC's popular 'Sherlock' adaptation will not only appreciate the vast history behind the 21st century detective, but also see his famous costume Belstaff coat and the Derek Rose camel dressing gown, worn by Benedict Cumberbatch himself, on loan from Hartswood Films.
A particularly fascinating section of the exhibition focuses on The London of Sherlock Holmes bringing together paintings, drawings, illustrations and photographs to examine how Victorian London and the cultural climate of the day informed Conan Doyle's stories and characters, interpreting renowned artists and photographers through the prism of Sherlock Holmes and identifying key locations. The stories and images reinforce each other to create the seminal views of Holmes's London embedded in our cultural memory; a particularly enjoyable journey having stepped in from the very same city from which Conan Doyle took his inspiration.
As you walk through the door of 221B Baker Street, recreated to mark the final section of the exhibition, Holmes, the man, is analyzed through a series of studies on his analytical mind, his forensic and scientific approach to solving crimes, his ability to go undercover as a master of disguise, and his characterisation as a Bohemian drug taker yet model English gentleman. This is enhanced by a vast collection of objects from the period when Conan Doyle was writing, including costume, to provide a further understanding of the detective's notorious traits. The exhibition will explain where the ideas originally came from, and their real-world precedence, including the instantly recognisable symbols of the magnifying glass, pipe and deerstalker.
Many of these iconic objects have been replicated for purchase in the MoL shop, most notably the 'Museum of London Tweed' specially commissioned in collaboration with Christys' Hats and Lovat Mill. Inspired by the color palette described in the original Sherlock Holmes stories, along with late Victorian tweed and current menswear trending forecasting data, the 'sophisticated, contemporary design' as described by Sean O'Sullivan, Interim Director of Enterprise at MoL, is currently on sale in the form of the deerstalker and flat cap but will soon be appearing at Liberty and Christys' Hats.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Lost Sherlock Holmes Film Found!
Cinémathèque Française and San Francisco Silent Film Festival to Restore!
The silent film version of Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette has been found! Long considered lost since its first release, the Gillette film is a vital missing link in the history of Holmes on screen. Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in 1916, it was discovered at the Cinémathèque Française a few weeks ago.
By the time the film was made, Gillette had been established as the world's foremost interpreter of Holmes on stage. He gave his face and manner to the detective and inspired the classic illustrations of Frederic Dorr Steele. Dynamic but calm, he played Holmes in the colorful attire-bent-stemmed briar, ornate dressing gown, and deerstalker cap-that has been identified ever since with the character. Just as durable was Gillette's distinctive bearing, preserved in the film: the charismatic, all-seeing detective who dominates scenes with his preternatural stillness.
Booth Tarkington famously wrote after seeing Gillette on stage, "I would rather see you play Sherlock Holmes than be a child again on Christmas morning." For the well-known Chicago bookman, Vincent Starrett, Gillette was beyond criticism. But perhaps the most telling accolade came from Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who had killed Holmes off and thought he was through with the character. After reading Gillette's adaptation for the stage, he said, "It's good to see the old chap back."
"Sir Arthur, you don't know the half of it," says Professor Russell Merritt, the supervising editor of the project and member of the Baker Street Irregulars. "At last we get to see for ourselves the actor who kept the first generation of Sherlockians spellbound. We can also see where the future Holmeses-Rathbone, Brett, Cumberbatch, and the rest-come from. As far as Holmes is concerned, there's not an actor dead or alive who hasn't consciously or intuitively played off Gillette."
The newly found Essanay production is not only Gillette's sole surviving appearance as Holmes. It is also the only film Gillette ever made, a unique opportunity to view the work of a major American actor in the legendary role that he wrote for himself. The film faithfully retains the play's famous set pieces-Holmes's encounter with Professor Moriarty, his daring escape from the Stepney Gas Chamber, and the tour-de-force deductions-and illustrates how Gillette wove bits from Conan Doyle's stories ranging from "A Scandal in Bohemia" to "The Final Problem,"into an original, innovative mystery play.
The film is being restored and will premiere in France in January 2015 and debut at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May 2015.
HT: Frank Price, Sue Trowbridge & More!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Sherlock Holmes in Public Domain
From Leslie S. Klinger's post:
On Monday, December 23, 2013, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled on our motion for summary judgment against the Conan Doyle Estate in the case brought in my name last February. The case challenged the Estate’s contention that Laurie R. King and I needed to license the right for creators to pen new stories about the literary figures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. The Court’s ruling states, in brief, that creators are free to use the characters of Holmes and Watson without licensing them from the Conan Doyle Estate. The Court cautioned that new stories about the pair can’t use elements that appear exclusively in the ten post-1922 stories by Conan Doyle (those that remain in copyright). However, elements from the fifty pre-1923 stories are in the public domain.
Read Leslie S. Klinger's post HERE.
Also reported in Publishers Weekly HERE.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Pinkerton's Great Detective: Guest Post by Beau Riffenburgh
Beau Riffenburgh has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of the academic staff for fifteen years. He has written numerous books on exploration, including Shackleton’s Forgotten Expedition. He lives in Llanarthne, Wales, UK. In Pinkerton's Great Detective, Riffenburgh explores the Agency archives and other sources to compile the first biography of James McParland, the legendary Pinkerton detective who took down the Molly Maguires and the Wild Bunch. Pinkerton's Great Detective brings readers along on McParland’s most challenging cases: from young McParland’s infiltration of the Molly Maguires to his hunt for the notorious Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch to his controversial investigation of the Western Federation of Mines in the assassination of Idaho’s former governor—a case that he took on at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt. So thrilling were McParland’s cases that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented a meeting between him and Sherlock Holmes; he was referred to by those seeking his services, by newspapers around the country reporting his cases, and even by criminals as “The Great Detective”. Filled with outlaws and criminals, detectives and lawmen, Pinkerton's Great Detective shines a light upon the celebrated secretive agency and its premier sleuth.
BEAU RIFFENBURGH:
ON WRITING AND RESEARCHING PINKERTON'S GREAT DETECTIVE
Many serious readers of historical mysteries will be familiar with The Valley of Fear, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s final novel about Sherlock Holmes. In it, Holmes meets the mysterious American detective and undercover operator Birdy Edwards. Today’s readers might not realize it, but in 1915, when The Valley of Fear was published, virtually everyone in the United States understood that the book was a paean to the man considered America’s greatest living detective – the true-life Birdy Edwards – James McParland of Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency.
Born in Ireland, McParland moved to the U.S. in 1867 while in his early twenties. He eventually made his way to Chicago, where, in 1872, he joined Pinkerton’s. The next year he was assigned to go undercover in the anthracite coalfields of Pennsylvania, where a group called the Molly Maguires was accused of murder, sabotage, and other violence against the mining companies and their managers. After more than two years, McParland helped bring down the Molly Maguires by testifying in no fewer than 19 trials, his evidence and the subsequent hanging of 20 men helping make him a nationally known figure.
In the following years, McParland worked many more high-profile cases for Pinkerton’s, and in 1888 he was appointed head of the agency’s Denver office. He later became the manager of all Pinkerton’s operations west of the Mississippi, and his triumphs in many highly visible cases kept his name in front of the American public for decades. The constant praise he received from the press included being nicknamed “the Great Detective.” So common was this appellation that one could use it anywhere around the country, and the average listener would know that it referred to McParland.
However, due to being a key player in the western mine-owners’ struggles to suppress the growing unions – and particularly due to his noted role in developing the evidence that led to the arrest and trials of the leaders of the Western Federation of Miners for the assassination of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg – McParland eventually became a hated figure by the supporters of unions, the labor movement, and socialism. These historically differing views of McParland – being lionized by one part of society and demonized by another – have led to a situation where an online-search for him today is likely to bring up accounts that are both mistake-prone and extremely biased either in favor of or against him.
I first “ran into” James McParland after the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid inspired me to read about those characters, and I discovered that McParland was the man ultimately in charge of the Pinkerton’s hunt for them. Not long after that, the movie The Molly Maguires prompted me to find out the basics of his role in the investigation of that group, and later still I read about his key role in the investigation of Steunenberg’s assassination.
Later, as a professional historian, the changing historic treatment of McParland fascinated me, and I wondered where on the continuum of good and evil he truly fell, because there seemed to be no intermediate ground in people’s opinions about him. So I decided to try to find out who this mysterious and complex individual truly was. I started my own investigation into him, with no preconceptions, no agenda other than to tell his story based on the evidence, and a goal of putting forward an unbiased account of his life. It was vital to place this tale in its proper historic context and milieu – because much of what had previously been written about him failed to take into account or acknowledge the differences in the legal and social systems of his time and today. I think it is of great value to anyone interested in the historic or social setting or the changes of interpretation about McParland through time to take particular notice of the Notes, Appendices, and other materials that can be found online at: www.susannagregory.com/beauriffenburgh/pinkertons-great-detective or www.penguin.com/PinkertonsGreatDetective. These will give the reader a deeper understanding and appreciation of McParland and the cases that he worked on.
Most of the research for Pinkerton’s Great Detective was done in archives, libraries, courthouses, and other repositories around the United States. In fact, I collected original manuscripts and other primary research materials from twenty-two different states and four other countries. These included original reports, business and personal correspondence, trial transcripts, medical records, legal rulings, governmental documents, billing statements, confessions, and wanted posters. I also made examinations of accounts in approximately 150 different newspapers. The most important research source was the Library of Congress, which holds some sixty-three thousand items that were formerly part of the Pinkerton’s archives. This meant that there was lots of material to go through, but it gave me a wealth of information to work with to try to uncover the truth about the mysterious James McParland. And although I think that I was as successful as one might be, and that I understand McParland now in many ways, in others he has continued to be – just as he would have wanted – a riddle, a conundrum, and forever a man of mystery.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!
Read a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle here.
And, for your viewing pleasure... a few images of Sherlock Holmes.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
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