TEA TIME at Baker Street: "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client"

Holmes & Watson continue to save the day!  

THIS WEEK: "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client"
Sir James Damery comes to see Holmes and Watson about his illustrious client's problem (the client's identity is never revealed to the reader, although Watson finds out at the end of the story; it is heavily implied to be King Edward VII). General de Merville's young daughter Violet has fallen in love with the roguish and sadistic Austrian Baron Adelbert Gruner, who Damery and Holmes are convinced is a shameless philanderer and a murderer.

The victim was his last wife, of whose murder he was acquitted owing to a legal technicality and a witness's untimely death. She met her end in the Splügen Pass. Holmes also finds out that the Baron has expensive tastes and is a collector and a recognised authority on Chinese pottery.Holmes's first step is to see Gruner, who is amused to see Holmes trying to "play a hand with no cards in it".

Da5id Abbot, Savannah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower present the adventure, live on stream from the Seanchai Fireside Room.

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SUNDAY, May 19th at 1:30pm: TEA TIME on The Lighter Side

You know, it's Spring.  And we are feeling the need for a break from Murder, Mayhem, and Death. So today we take a brief departure from the world of mysteries and detectives to relish an hour with a favorite: H.H. Munro, better known as "Saki" - one of the masters of the late 19th, early 20th C short story.

Munro (1870-1916) was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and culture. He is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. Influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, he himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward and P. G. Wodehouse.

Da5id Abbot, Savannah Blindside, and Caledonia Skytower share an alfresco buffet of short adventures, and tales of manners by the noted author, including:

• The Remoulding of Groby Lington
• The Match-Maker
• Hermann the Irascible - A Story of the Great Weep
• Mrs. Packletide's Tiger
• The Stampeding of Lady Bastable
• The Sex That Doesn't Shop

Live on stream, in Ceiliuradh Glen.
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SUNDAY, May 12th at 1:30pm: TEA TIME at Baker Street

THIS WEEK: The Adventure of The Lion's Mane

From THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1927),notable as one of the few Holmes stories narrated by Holmes himself.

Holmes is enjoying his retirement in Sussex when one day at the beach, he meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster of a nearby preparatory school called The Gables. No sooner have they met than Stackhurst's science teacher, Fitzroy McPherson, staggers up to them, clearly in agony and wearing only an overcoat and trousers. He collapses, manages to say something about a "lion's mane", and then succumbs. He is observed to have red welts all over his back, possibly administered by a flexible weapon of some kind, for the marks curve over his shoulder and round his ribs.

Moments later, Ian Murdoch, a mathematics teacher at The Gables, comes up behind them. He has not seen the attack, and has only just arrived at the beach from the school. Holmes sees a couple of people far up the beach, but thinks they are much too far away to have had anything to do with McPherson's death. How did he die?

Savannah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower, live on stream from the Seanchai Fireside Room.
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SUNDAY, May 5th at 1:30pm: TEA TIME at Baker Street

THIS WEEK: The Problem of Thor Bridge

Neil Gibson, the Gold King and former Senator from "some Western state", approaches Holmes to investigate the murder of his wife Maria in order to clear his children's governess, Grace Dunbar, of the crime. It soon emerges that Mr. Gibson's marriage had been unhappy and he treated his wife very badly. He had fallen in love with her when he met her in Brazil, but soon realized they had nothing in common. He became attracted to Miss Dunbar; since he could not marry her, he had attempted to please her in other ways, such as trying to help people less fortunate than himself.

Maria Gibson was found lying in a pool of blood on Thor Bridge with a bullet through the head and note from the governess, agreeing to a meeting at that location, in her hand. A recently discharged revolver with one shot fired is found in Miss Dunbar's wardrobe. Holmes agrees to look at the situation in spite of the damning evidence.

Savannah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower, live on stream from the Seanchai Fireside Room.
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SUNDAY, April 7th at 1:30pm: TEA TIME~ Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Hits Continue

Today we present the third of the top four Sherlock Holmes' Adventures from our recent poll: THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1892).

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rise unusually early one morning to meet a young woman named Helen Stoner who fears that her life is being threatened by her step-father, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, a doctor who practiced in Calcutta, India and was married to Helen's late mother who was a widow living there. Dr. Roylott is the impoverished last survivor of what was a wealthy but violent, ill-tempered and amoral Anglo-Saxon aristocratic family of Surrey, and has already served a jail sentence in the past for killing his Indian butler in a rage. Helen's twin sister had died almost two years earlier, shortly before she was to be married. Helen had heard her sister's dying words, "The speckled band!" but was unable to decode their meaning. Helen herself, troubled by the perplexing death of her sister, is now engaged, and she has begun to hear strange noises and observe strange activities around Stoke Moran, the impoverished and heavily mortgaged estate where she and her stepfather live.

Da5id Abbot, Corwyn Allen, Savanah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower, live on stream in the Library's Fireside Room. 

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SUNDAY, March 31st at 1:30pm slt: TEA TIME ~ Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Hits Continues

Today we present the second of the top four Sherlock Holmes' Adventures from our recent poll: THE ADVENTURE OF THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL from "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (1894).

In the story, Holmes recounts to Watson the events arising after a visit from a university acquaintance, Reginald Musgrave. Musgrave visits Holmes after the disappearance of two of his domestic staff, Rachel Howells, a maid, and Richard Brunton, the longtime butler. The pair vanished after Musgrave had dismissed Brunton for secretly reading a family document, the Musgrave Ritual. 

Our presentation today will have a little twist - all in support of gender equity.  Come have a listen as Cale and Savi read Holmes and Watson!

Da5id Abbot, Corwyn Allen, Savanah Blindside, and Caledonia Skytower, live on stream in the Library's Fireside Room. 

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TEA TIME: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Hits!

The votes are in, and today we present the first of the top four Sherlock Holmes' Adventures from our recent poll: THE ADVENTURE OF THE DYING DETECTIVE from "His Last Bow" (1917).

Dr. Watson is called to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare tropical disease, Tapanuli fever, contracted while he was on a case. Watson is shocked, not having heard about his friend’s illness. Mrs. Hudson says that Holmes has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days. Although Watson wishes to examine Holmes himself or send for a specialist, Holmes demands that Watson wait several hours before seeking help. So, Watson is forced to wait, in extreme worry as Holmes mutters nonsense.

Da5id Abbot, Corwyn Allen, Savanah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, live on stream in the Library's Fireside Room. 

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SUNDAY, March 3rd at 1:30pm: TEA TIME with Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes

The Marriage of Mary Russell, concludes.

So it's fixes: Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes are to wed in a church-conducted ceremony, in the family chapel. There’s just the small issue of ownership: the house (and chapel) is not exactly his, and he is most definitely not welcome there. Of course, such obstacles have never deterred Sherlock Holmes before, and they certainly won’t keep him from concocting an elaborate scheme to evade angry dogs and armed butlers—all in the name of wedded bliss.

TODAY: Part Two.  This week with Da5id Abbot, Savannah Blindside, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower, live on stream in the Library's Fireside Room (Downstairs).

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