In the mail: The Bootmakers of Toronto, Summer 2023

Very few Sherlockian scions publish a journal or magazine. One that does is the Toronto (Canada) scion 'The Bootmakers of Toronto'. Their magazine is called 'Canadian Holmes'. It was first published in 1973 and you can read more about it here: www.torontobootmakers.com/canadian-holmes . It's easy to subscribe to the magazine through membership with the Toronto Bootmakers at the site linked above.

The latest issue of 'Canadian Holmes' arrived in the mail recently (Vol 46, Number 3, Summer 2023), so let's see what's inside. Well, actually let's look at the cover first - a beautiful illustration by Amanda Downs of MN.

This issue has a delightful set of articles that cover the full Sherlockian space (with the exception perhaps of a pastiche, which is just fine by me).

'The view from the bow window' by Barbara Rusch describes the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria in 1897, providing some wonderful insight into the change that Victoria brought during her reign. VR indeed.

Donny Zaldin provides an overview of the fifty year history of the Bootmakers of Toronto from 1972-2022. In case you were wondering: "The Bootmakers of Toronto takes its name from the sole (pun intended) reference in the Canon, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, to “an old, black boot with the name of its maker, ‘Meyers, Toronto,’ printed on the leather inside."

Ron Levitsky provides a thoughtful essay on Boccaccio’s Decameron, found in the pocket of the dead Enoch Drebber in 'A Study in Scarlet'. The essay provides context for the evolving understanding of the Decameron in Victorian England, and Arthur Conan Doyle's motivations as a writer in placing the book in the dead Mormon's pocket.

Paul Chapman (one half of the 'Doings of Doyle' podcast team) contributes a fascinating article on the influence of Wilkie Collins' novel 'The Moonstone' on three of ACD's stories : “Uncle Jeremy’s Household” (1887), The Mystery of Cloomber (1888) and The Sign of the Four (1890). Chapman also examines the stones and the 'mysticism' of the far east appropriated in these stories.

Jim Ballinger provides a wonderful analysis of his discovery that Captain Croker in the Abbey Grange was published as Crocker in the US Collier's. He examines where the divergence in spelling took place, and speculates on why the change was made.

Mark Alberstat provides a brief article describing ACD's purchase of a piece of property on his visit to Canada in 1914.

Rob Nunn takes an iconoclastic approach, and suggests that Irene Adler is nothing more than a character in one Holmes story - nothing more and nothing less. Worth a read! 

Mark Jones, the other half of 'Doings of Doyle – The Arthur Conan Doyle Podcast' contributes a short piece arguing that 'The Man With The Watches' and 'The Lost Special' should be divorced from the apocrypha as they stand alone in their quality. Jones argues that they pre-sage the railway-based mysteries of Agatha Christie.

The magazine ends with an interview of Richard Krisciunas, a review of the Audible podcast series 'Moriarty', and a review of 'The Duration Debate: A Sherlock Holmes Chronology, by Bruce Harris'.

The articles are engaging and high quality, and I commend a membership/subscription to all Sherlockians!! Again you can join at www.torontobootmakers.com