New Reading of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, Chapter 10: “Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson”

Sherlock Holmes

We are rapidly nearing the end of our mystery. But Watson continues to collect new questions along with new clues. One is the mysterious identity of “L.L.,” a woman who somehow lured Sir Charles to the moor gate where he died his horrible death. The other is the identity of the mysterious man on the Tor. It turns out that Selden and Barrymore know about him, too. But who is he? Watson ponders…and speculates…

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“Cassandras of the Constitution: Politics and the Decisions of the Supreme Court”

Supreme Court

Cassandra was a Trojan priestess whose warnings to the Trojans of looming disaster were both true and ignored,  Ever since a Cassandra is one who warns of a coming catastrophe that inevitably happens even as it is dismissed at the time.  In this podcast episode for Constitution Day 2022, Dr. Richard Reiman tells the story of three Cassandras of the Supreme Court who warned their fellow Justices that their actions would cost the course credibility and respect as an institution supposedly “above politics.”

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“The Game is Afoot!” A NEW Narration of “The Adventure of the Abbey-Grange,” a Sherlock Holmes Short Story

Sherlock Holmes, Uncategorized

Arthur Conan Doyle intended this story to be his final official entry in the Holmes canon. He later added “The Adventure of the Second Stain” (also in this narrated collection) to serve that distinctive role. Holmes and Watson spar over the latter’s dramatic depiction of Holmes’s detective methods and Holmes uncharacteristically gets on Watson’s nerves. Holmes’s brilliance is nevertheless on full display in this entry. Watson should have remembered that Sherlock Holmes is a package deal; if you want the genius, you must accept the eccentricity. As the final entry in my series of narrations of the Holmes stories (for awhile) this one naturally is the most skillfully done. Since one learns to improve with each effort, how could it not be? On a personal note, as I now know, the first half of the recording was made on the eve of my first positive test for Covid-19. The second half of the recording was made while emerging from the ordeal. I could not allow Covid to stop me; after all, “the game was afoot,” in the words of Sherlock Holmes!

From The Adventure of the Abbey-Grange

From “The Adventure
of the Abbey-Grange”

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NEW! “The Adventure of the Second Stain,” a diplomatic Sherlock Holmes mystery story by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Read by Rick Reiman. In this story, one of Doyle’s favorites, Sherlock Holmes must avert a European war by solving a mystery absolutely befuddling to all but this greatest “consulting detective” of all time. At once full of high tension and broad comedy, the autistic Holmes must navigate through the tangling murky politics of sexual relations, diplomacy and, yes, international politics itself.

Holmes follows the second stain.

Holmes uncovers the mystery

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An Introduction to “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot,” notes written and read by the narrator, Rick Reiman

Sherlock Holmes

Every Doyle story contains slips and errors, whether of outrageous fortune or simply haste. In this four-minute introduction to the complete story, which I narrate next in this series on AudiblySpeaking, I bring the listener’s attention not only to some of these mistakes but also to some foregrounding of the backstory surrounding its writing and composition.

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NEW! “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot,” a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes, Uncategorized

Read for you by Rick Reiman. This excellent addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon contains many of the aspects that delight his readers. It is set in a macabre and romantic setting, the moors of Cornwall; it has Holmes pitting himself against the common feeling that there must be something supernatural afoot. These traces of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” are not all that recommend it. People go from normal to mad in a matter of minutes. The villain of the story wastes Holmes’s time with an attempted diversion that the detective must dispose of through his amazing talent for ratiocination. The story is slyly autobiographical as well, because Doyle has Holmes attempt a possibly-fatal experiment that Doyle himself had practiced at the risk of his own life. In this story, Holmes and Watson come as close as they ever do to calling each other by their first names. This was a conceit that the Granada TV series (1984-1994) employed when it had Holmes cry out to Watson, “John!”

A character from "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot"

From “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” (1910)

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