Snoozecast Presents: Sherlock Holmes

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The first half aired last week. In the first half, Holmes was hired by the débutante Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmailer named Milverton. The accused was known as "the king of blackmailers" where he would demand great sums in exchange for avoiding the release of letters that would cause great scandals. Holmes, intrigued by the challenge and the injustice of Milverton's actions, agrees to take on the case. He sees it as an opportunity to thwart a master blackmailer and bring him to justice. As Holmes delves into the matter, he learns more about Milverton's methods and reputation. Milverton is known for his ruthlessness and lack of scruples; he preys on the secrets and vulnerabilities of others for his own profit. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The second half will air next week. In this story, Holmes is hired by the débutante Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmailer named Milverton. The accused was known as "the king of blackmailers" where he would demand great sums in exchange for avoid the release of letters that would cause great scandals. The character of Charles Augustus Milverton was based on a real-life blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell. He was an art dealer who swindled an unknown number of people. Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for those that preyed on the innocent and unsuspecting. The character of Charles Augustus Milverton was based on a real-life blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell. He was an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, and died in 1890 from circumstances as bizarre as those found in the author’s imagination. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Adventure of the Priory School” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The first half aired last week. In last week’s episode, Holmes is approached by Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, the headmaster of the prestigious Priory School. Huxtable seeks Holmes's help in locating the missing Lord Saltire, the young heir to the Duke of Holdernesse. Lord Saltire disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the school. The Duke tells Holmes that he does not think that his estranged wife has anything to do with his son's disappearance, nor has there been a ransom demand. Holmes and Dr. Watson go hunting on the moor for clues. They find a bicycle track, but it is not the German school master Heidegger's. Almost everything observable has been obliterated by cow tracks (of which there are many tracks). We will pick up as they continue their search. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of the Priory School” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The second half will air next week. Doyle ranked this story tenth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. In this story, Holmes is approached by Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, the headmaster of the prestigious Priory School. Huxtable seeks Holmes's help in locating the missing Lord Saltire, the young heir to the Duke of Holdernesse. Lord Saltire disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the school. If you can stay awake, you will find a plot that is filled with twists and turns, showcasing Holmes's keen observational skills and his ability to connect seemingly unrelated clues. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The first half aired last week. In the first episode,Holmes is contacted by a beautiful young music teacher named Violet Smith. She's worried about a stranger who follows her when she bicycles to and from the train station each weekend. Violet Smith and her mother were living in poverty until few months ago, when two supposed friends of her uncle from South Africa, came to announce that he asked them to take care of his closest relatives. One the two men, Carruthers, is affable. He offers Violet an excellent wage to live in his house and teach music to his daughter, and he seems to grow fond of the young woman. The other one, Woodley, is rough and overly forward. Watson, asked by Holmes to visit and collect information, figures out that the mystery cyclist disappears by hiding in a hedge along the property of Mr. Williamson, a defrocked clergyman. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The second half will air next week. In this adventure, Holmes and Watson are visited by a young lady named Violet Smith. She explains that her father's recent passing left her financially destitute and that her only other relative, an uncle named Ralph Smith, lives in Africa. One day, she meets two men visiting from South Africa, who claim to be friends of her now-deceased uncle. They claim that Ralph also passed on in poverty like his brother, but asked them to take care of his relatives. This was not one of Doyle’s favorites- he criticized himself for mentioning in this story that Violet Smith's visit to Holmes occurred on Saturday, April 23, 1895. In actuality, the 23rd of April that year fell on a Tuesday. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The second half will air next week. This was one of Doyle’s favorites- he ranked it third in his “top 12” list of Holmes stories, out of 56 total stories. In this story, Holmes has to decipher the code hidden in what appears to be a child’s drawing. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Adventure of the Empty House” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of 1903’s “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. The first half aired last week. Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Empty House" sixth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories out of 56 total stories. In the first half, the year is 1894, and it is three years after the apparent death of Sherlock Holmes. An apparently unsolvable locked-room murder takes place in London: Ronald Adair was in his sitting room at the time. The motive does not appear to be robbery as nothing has been stolen, and it seems that Adair had not an enemy in the world. It seems odd that Adair's door was locked from the inside. Dr. Watson, having retained an interest in crime post- Holmes, visits the scene. He runs into an elderly book collector, knocking several of his books to the ground. The encounter ends with the man snarling in anger and going away. However, that is not the last that Watson sees of him, for a short time later, the man comes to Watson's study to apologize. Once in, he transforms himself into Sherlock Holmes, astonishing Watson so much that he faints to the ground. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to “The Adventure of the Empty House” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as part of “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”. It was first published in 1903. The second half will air next week. Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his apparently miraculous survival after his struggle with Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem". This is the first Holmes story set after his supposed demise in Switzerland, as recounted in "The Final Problem". Read by -N- Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to “The Final Problem”, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first half aired last week. As with all of our Sherlock series, this story contains some darker elements and themes that may not be appropriate for all listeners. In the first episode, Holmes is considering retiring from his private detective work, but learns about a criminal genius named Professor Moriarty, who orchestrates a huge amount of crime that happens in London and in Europe. Holmes set about gathering evidence to bring down the whole gang. The work of Holmes though, had not gone unnoticed by Moriarty, who threatens him to back off. Soon Holmes evades three attempts at his life before meeting up with Watson. Watson agrees to hide surreptiously in Europe with him while they wait for Holmes’ plans for the police to catch the whole enterprise comes to fruition in a few days time. We will start back in the story on the train where Holmes is in disguise as an elderly Italian man and has narrowly avoided being caught by Moriarty. Holmes is now discussing the plan with Watson. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Final Problem”, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The second half will air next week. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. As with all of our Sherlock series, this story contains some darker elements and themes that may not be appropriate for all listeners. The story, set in 1891, introduces the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty. It was intended to be the final Holmes story. Conan Doyle felt the stories were distracting him from more serious literary efforts and that this was the only way of getting his career back on track. "I must save my mind for better things," he wrote to his mother, "even if it means I must bury my pocketbook with him." Conan Doyle later ranked "The Final Problem" fourth on his personal list of the twelve best Holmes stories. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first half aired last week. In the opening to this story, we learn that Holmes has an older brother named Mycroft. This brother sometimes has even more uncanny deductive skills, and yet does not pursue detective work because he doesn’t have the energetic ambition of Sherlock. Sometimes, Sherlock will turn to Mycroft for help solving a case. In this instance, Mycroft asks Sherlock to look into a situation that occurred to Mycroft’s neighbor, a Greek interpreter named Melas. Melas was not allowed to see where he was taken, and was threatened by a thug named Latimer if he should talk. We will pick up the story as Melas describes to Holmes the interior of the home he has been taken to. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the first half to "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. Out of all 56 Sherlock stories, Doyle ranked "The Greek Interpreter" seventeenth in a list of his nineteen favorites. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the second half to "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”. In the first episode, which aired last week, we learn about Colonel Barclay, a man who had risen up the ranks to become the leader of a squadron. He and his wife enjoyed the power and popularity stemming from such a position. Their standing in the community made the case all the more shocking when Barclay was found dead and Mrs. Barclay was the only one present. She was suspected of murdering him because they had been arguing when he died. We will pick up with Holmes discussing with Watson how he would like to prove Mrs. Barclay’s innocence because he thinks there is more to the story. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Out of 56 total stories, Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Crooked Man" 15th in a list of his 19 favorite Sherlock Holmes stories. Although "Elementary, my dear Watson" is known popularly as a catch-phrase of Sherlock Holmes, the character never says this in any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. In The Adventure of the Crooked Man, though, he comes his closest to it in the following dialog: "I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said he. "Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary," said he. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Stockbroker’s Clerk,” a story found in “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1892. This story's plot is reminiscent of that in "The Red-Headed League" which Snoozecast featured in September of 2019. It, too, involves an elaborate hoax designed to remove an inconvenient person from the scene for a while so that a crime can be committed. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the conclusion to “The Adventure of Silver Blaze,” a story found in “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1892. If you haven’t listened to the first half of this story yet, it was the episode that aired right before this one. One of the most popular Sherlock Holmes short stories, "Silver Blaze" focuses on the disappearance of the winning race horse on the eve of an important race and on the apparent murder of its trainer. In the first episode, Sherlock and Watson travel to Dartmoor to investigate the disappearance of the great race horse Silver Blaze and the murder of the horse's trainer, John Straker. Bookmaker Fitzroy Simpson had come to Dartmoor to gather information about Silver Blaze and his stablemate Bayard. He had approached both Straker's maid and a stable boy the night of the horse's disappearance and has been arrested for the murder. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Adventure of Silver Blaze,” a story found in “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in 1892. The conclusion episode will air next. One of the most popular Sherlock Holmes short stories, "Silver Blaze" focuses on the disappearance of the winning race horse on the eve of an important race and on the apparent murder of its trainer. The tale is distinguished by its atmospheric setting and Victorian sporting milieu. — read by N — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read the conclusion to “The Adventure of The Speckled Band” from “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” published in 1891 and written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The first part of this story originally aired on November 4th, 2020, and we rebroadcast it yesterday for easy access. In the first part, Watson tells a strange story that starts when a young woman, Helen Stoner, pays them a visit one morning, in desperate need of their help. Helen’s mother had left an inheritance to Helen’s stepfather Dr. Roylott when she died, with a stipulation that should either of her daughters get married, they would receive an annual income from this fund. Helen’s sister died shortly before her wedding and Helen suspects that their stepfather, Roylott, is the culprit. Helen now worries for her own safety, and Holmes agrees to take the case. — read by 'N' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, we’ll read a Snoozecast-adapted excerpt titled “The Manor at Birlstone” taken from “The Valley of Fear” written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The novel was the fourth and final in a series we have read from during the second half of this year. It started with “A Study in Scarlet” which aired on June 9th, 2021. You can listen to all episodes from our Sherlock sleep story series at snoozecast.com/series. In this story, Holmes deciphers an encrypted message that warns of a nefarious plot against a country gentleman named Douglas who lived at Birlstone House, an ancient moated manor. — read by 'N' —" Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices