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sherlock60Hi all! The Speckled Band is one of my personal favorites of the canon stories, even with all its problematic bits surrounding 'the murder weapon,' so I'm doubly thrilled to be here hosting the conversation. As announced, I'm pinch-hitting for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spacemutineer this week, but she's hardly left me anything to do. :-) She's come up with all sorts of lovely thoughts and questions to help us kickstart the conversation. Take it away, mod-in-absentia!
- This is a great story with a rich, spooky atmosphere. Stoke Moran is a scary place, with
cheetahs, baboons, snakes, and a creature more dangerous and sinister than even those,
Grimesby Roylott. Roylott is some piece of work, isn't he? He's a murderer multiple times over
and beyond that, there seems to be something quite disturbing going on with his relationship to
his stepdaughters. Is grabbing her wrist tightly enough to leave distinct fingerprints all he did to
poor Helen? I suspect there were other... acts of violence in that household.
- The creepy atmosphere does its magic on Holmes as well as the reader. Very rarely does
he seem honestly terrified, but waiting in the dark for Roylott's deadly adder does the trick. At
least Watson is there with some moral support (and ballistic backup). Speaking of Watson's
gun, I love that all Holmes says they need for the night are Watson's revolver and a toothbrush.
Adorable.
- Holmes' sitting room standoff with a raging Grimesby Roylott is one for the ages. Facing a
violent psychopath wielding a hunting crop, Sherlock Holmes is a smirking, dismissive smartass.
That is perfection. Did anyone else try to bend a fireplace poker with their bare hands after
reading this section like I did?
- For all its intrinsic awesomeness, SPEC poses some problems in the logic department.
Snakes cannot climb up and down a rope, they can't really be trained, and snake bites are
very obvious wounds with gradual effects. Julia Stoner would have had visible fang marks on
her body, swollen and red at the very least. Regardless of the type of snake, neither she nor
Roylott could have died so quickly from a bite as well. Roylott dies within ten seconds! That's
some ludicrously fast acting poison. Is this an exaggeration on Watson's part or something
else?
...and adding on my own observation here, Roylott couldn't have summoned the snake with a whistle, as I understand that they can't hear such sounds. ;-) Alas, Doyle had no Internet for research purposes! It's fun to speculate what the real 'murder weapon' could have been though.
So: what are your thoughts? Please share! And don't forget: we've got STUD coming up in two weeks, so consider getting a head start on reading if you can!
spacemutineer this week, but she's hardly left me anything to do. :-) She's come up with all sorts of lovely thoughts and questions to help us kickstart the conversation. Take it away, mod-in-absentia!- This is a great story with a rich, spooky atmosphere. Stoke Moran is a scary place, with
cheetahs, baboons, snakes, and a creature more dangerous and sinister than even those,
Grimesby Roylott. Roylott is some piece of work, isn't he? He's a murderer multiple times over
and beyond that, there seems to be something quite disturbing going on with his relationship to
his stepdaughters. Is grabbing her wrist tightly enough to leave distinct fingerprints all he did to
poor Helen? I suspect there were other... acts of violence in that household.
- The creepy atmosphere does its magic on Holmes as well as the reader. Very rarely does
he seem honestly terrified, but waiting in the dark for Roylott's deadly adder does the trick. At
least Watson is there with some moral support (and ballistic backup). Speaking of Watson's
gun, I love that all Holmes says they need for the night are Watson's revolver and a toothbrush.
Adorable.
- Holmes' sitting room standoff with a raging Grimesby Roylott is one for the ages. Facing a
violent psychopath wielding a hunting crop, Sherlock Holmes is a smirking, dismissive smartass.
That is perfection. Did anyone else try to bend a fireplace poker with their bare hands after
reading this section like I did?
- For all its intrinsic awesomeness, SPEC poses some problems in the logic department.
Snakes cannot climb up and down a rope, they can't really be trained, and snake bites are
very obvious wounds with gradual effects. Julia Stoner would have had visible fang marks on
her body, swollen and red at the very least. Regardless of the type of snake, neither she nor
Roylott could have died so quickly from a bite as well. Roylott dies within ten seconds! That's
some ludicrously fast acting poison. Is this an exaggeration on Watson's part or something
else?
...and adding on my own observation here, Roylott couldn't have summoned the snake with a whistle, as I understand that they can't hear such sounds. ;-) Alas, Doyle had no Internet for research purposes! It's fun to speculate what the real 'murder weapon' could have been though.
So: what are your thoughts? Please share! And don't forget: we've got STUD coming up in two weeks, so consider getting a head start on reading if you can!
