I've read A Life in Letters too - it's a great read ^__^ Yes, I would agree 'Grant Munro' is probably a compound surname. It's just the fact that ACD never makes it unambiguously clear that's so frustrating ^__^ It’s curious that in the text of the story Effie is never referred to as Mrs—only “the lady” and “she”. Interesting point - I've never noticed that Effie is never referred to as 'Mrs. Munro' or 'Mrs. Grant Munro'.
Regarding Effie’s signing off all her property to her husband: mb it was a gesture to show the degree of trust she had in him. I would agree with you it's to show trust in him. But it's still an odd thing to do if you're trying to keep a child hidden from the person you're giving control of your money to, and the child is probably entirely financially dependent on you.
Looking at it again now, I suppose Effie at the beginning of her marriage was planning on completely cutting off contact with her daughter. And handing over all her money to her husband meant she couldn't give in to the temptation of visiting her or bringing her over to England. But eventually she missed her too much and changed her mind.
It’s also a plot device, of course. Otherwise Grant Munro would have more difficulties in getting an inkling about her secret. Yes, most of the discussion points for the stories do come down to either ACD not being bothered about getting things wrong or shoehorning a plot point in. But it's fun as well to play The Game and try and come up with in-universe explanations ^__^
Holmes jumping to conclusions: mb that’s why he doesn’t like voicing his theories before he gets evidence supporting them. In this story Holmes became overconfident, mb that’s why he went against his own methods and learned his lesson as a result. I suppose in YELL, Holmes is still a young(ish) man. It makes sense that he might occasionally get over-confident and forget his own rules.
And yes, casual racism, period-typical At least it's not as bad as 3GAB ^^" We have to accept ACD was a man of his time, I suppose.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-02-22 11:05 pm (UTC)Regarding Effie’s signing off all her property to her husband: mb it was a gesture to show the degree of trust she had in him. I would agree with you it's to show trust in him. But it's still an odd thing to do if you're trying to keep a child hidden from the person you're giving control of your money to, and the child is probably entirely financially dependent on you.
Looking at it again now, I suppose Effie at the beginning of her marriage was planning on completely cutting off contact with her daughter. And handing over all her money to her husband meant she couldn't give in to the temptation of visiting her or bringing her over to England. But eventually she missed her too much and changed her mind.
It’s also a plot device, of course. Otherwise Grant Munro would have more difficulties in getting an inkling about her secret. Yes, most of the discussion points for the stories do come down to either ACD not being bothered about getting things wrong or shoehorning a plot point in. But it's fun as well to play The Game and try and come up with in-universe explanations ^__^
Holmes jumping to conclusions: mb that’s why he doesn’t like voicing his theories before he gets evidence supporting them. In this story Holmes became overconfident, mb that’s why he went against his own methods and learned his lesson as a result. I suppose in YELL, Holmes is still a young(ish) man. It makes sense that he might occasionally get over-confident and forget his own rules.
And yes, casual racism, period-typical At least it's not as bad as 3GAB ^^" We have to accept ACD was a man of his time, I suppose.