I do love a good mystery and there are so many of them! We are quickly approaching the next Sherlockians of Baltimore meeting which is always great fun in Little Italy (in Baltimore of course.) The meetings are always interesting with analysis by some of our scholars and the quizzes on individual stories. Last time I constructed a crossword puzzle like some of our more gifted members. Little did I know how much time they took to create! I bow my head to all those who do this on a regular basis. Below you will find my puzzle for The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Quiz for the Speckled Band

I’ll give you the answers next time.  At the next meeting we’ll have a presentation about Sherlock and Jack the Ripper and will discuss  The Adventure of the Abbey Grange. I’ll have to pull out the Canon to review that one!

This group has been growing by leaps and bounds with some reminders from Greg Ruby who first told me about the group. He even put together a publication of all sorts of interesting bits of information called The Newspapers. One of my short stories about Sissy Holmes who is the reincarnation of Sherlock appears in that issue. It’s available for purchase at http://tinyurl.com/SOBNewspapers if you want to take a look.

What does all of this have to do Margaret Atwood? I just finished reading A Handmaid’s Tale which has been produced for Hulu and is also my book club’s selection. Technically it’s not a mystery, but I would argue that it’s a thriller. Her lead character is always at risk, always fearful that she will die, even to the point of acting like her former life with a husband and child did not exist. Captivated by the book, I read it in one day.  Kudos once again to our master of dystopian novels. I do love that she focuses on human motivations and interactions instead of volcanoes and tidal waves.

Read More