I was supposed to have lunch with a Swedish MEP today, but she’s just emailed to say that her little twins have a tummy bug so she is staying in Stockholm. Quite right too.
And it gives me a better chance of catching some of the eclipse (from 1145 to 1330 here).
This is the only one of the novels where half of it isn’t the back story – there is some, but not to the same degree as the other three – which I suspect is Doyle’s technique for adding words without having to have Holmes on view too much; genius is hard to portray so he goes for dramatised infodump. Of course, Holmes is kept off stage in other ways in this novel.
I recently bought a pile of the Oxford Holmes, with notes, so look forward to reading those. (Missing a couple, have a couple already in paperback, hoping no overlap).
The back story of the novel is as interesting – leaving aside the arguments about dating the events (1889, when Watson didn’t live in Baker St – if I recall the newspaper headlines were more 1901 era), and how we square the narratives set after “The Final Problem” but before the publication of, er, “The Empty Room” where Holmes is dead as far as The Strand is concerned but he’s still working as a consulting detective in London. But the chap to whom the book is dedicated is linked to a mummy’s curse – although I forget the details. (Bertram Fletcher Robinson – owner of The Unlucky Mummy, speedy research informs me.)