Discussion Post: The Disappearance of the Lady Frances Carfax

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone! What did you think of The Disappearance of the Lady Frances Carfax?

Your humble mod here needs to beg your apologies. I'm laid low with whatever pestilence it is that has been going around lately. Thought I'd successfully fought it off... Yeah, not so much. As such, I'm not going to have the discussion post questions ready tonight. Sorry, guys. My brain is absolute mush. I'll try again tomorrow, hopefully some neurons will be firing then.

In the meantime, please discuss away!

Edit: Thanks to the incredible kindness of methylviolet10b, going above and beyond the call of duty (as she so often does), we have questions for the week! Thank you again, methylviolet10b! You are just the best! And thanks to everyone for the kind wishes -- it's very sweet of you all, and much appreciated. :) On to the questions!

---

Okay, to kick off some questions for my fellow LADY-readers:

- Holmes' reasons for sending Watson on his own to track down Lady Carfax seem awfully flimsy to me. How about you? What other reasons might he have had?

- And speaking of reasons...Holmes stated that he couldn't possibly leave London with Abrahams so in fear of his life, and yet he turns up in the nick of time (and unannounced, AND disguised!) to save Watson from being throttled. What gives? What do you think was going on?

- This is one of the canon stories where the bad guy (and gal!) get away. What do you think became of Holy Peters and his confidante in crime?

- Last but not least, what did you think of this story overall?

Comments

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

get well soon!

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I think I'm over the worst at this point, so I've got my fingers crossed. :) Thanks for understanding!

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Hope you are feeing better soon, and at least mended before next weekend.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think I should be. Rough weekend, but feeling a bit better today, even if I still sound like I've been drinking bleach. :) Thanks again!

[methylviolet10b]

Get well soon, spacemutineer!

Okay, to kick off some questions for my fellow LADY-readers:

- Holmes' reasons for sending Watson on his own to track down Lady Carfax seem awfully flimsy to me. How about you? What other reasons might he have had?

- And speaking of reasons...Holmes stated that he couldn't possibly leave London with Abrahams so in fear of his life, and yet he turns up in the nick of time (and unannounced, AND disguised!) to save Watson from being throttled. What gives? What do you think was going on?

- This is one of the canon stories where the bad guy (and gal!) get away. What do you think became of Holy Peters and his confidante in crime?

- Last but not least, what did you think of this story overall?

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Once again, you blow me away. Seriously, you didn't need to do this, but it was an enormous help to me! I know you were tired Saturday night, you didn't have anything ready, but you went ahead and posted it anyway. Just incredible. Thank you, Violet, thank you for everything. You've made this little adventure so much fun, and I would never be in it if it weren't for you. Thank you again!

And thanks for the well wishes too! Feeling a bit better today, hoping I'm over the worst of it. Still sound like I've been gargling with steel wool, but I can live with that. :)

[methylviolet10b]

Hey, it was the least I could do to help you and the comm - no thanks necessary! I'm just glad you're feeling better :-)

[wytchcroft.livejournal.com]

i just wanted to say a much belated thank you - my response to this discussion is so long and convoluted that it really can't be posted but might well serve as a useful article somewhere some-when.

in short (and much as i love the Granada version);
the story has grave flaws even whilst pointing an early finger towards the work to come from writers such as Christie and du Maurier.

Watson is spectacularly ill-served.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Get well soon.

And thank you so much for running this comm - I, for one, am thoroughly enjoying the challenge.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you so much! It's a fun game we have going with such a clever group and I have really enjoyed it. It tickles me that you're having a good time too! Very glad to hear it! And I'm feeling a bit better already, so I'm going to credit your kind well wishes for that. :)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

It all seems slightly strange. Watson is nearly throttled by the good guy, who it would appear had caused Lady Frances to leave Lausanne - she clearly didn't want to know him.

Maybe Holmes sent Watson to stir things up before he decided to become involved. Certainly his reasons for not leaving London don't hold water, he's left England often enough before.

[methylviolet10b]

Watson nearly meeting his end at the hands of the good guy - who seems to be Holmes' secondary client by the end of the fic - was just one of the really odd elements to this story, I agree. It is definitely one of the canon tales that makes me wonder what the 'real' version was, and what Watson left out of publication!