sketchbook: shoscombe old place + charles augustus milverton pt 1
happy May! I hope spring is bringing you good things. Here’s a continuation of Watson’s sketchbook, starting with SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE:
Next is the first part of one of my favorite Holmes stories, THE ADVENTURE OF CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON, about an insidious blackmailer and Holmes and Watson committing crimes together for the first time. In the book, a client (who never appears in the text) employs Holmes to get back some compromising letters from this blackmailer. But there are some weird inconsistencies within the story that gave me the feeling there was something more personal going on with Holmes's hatred for Milverton than simply a principled stand against blackmail. A lot of this is directly pulled from the books, but of course I took it in my own direction!
Please please please let these stories make their way into print somehow... they just keep getting better and better. I, too, would be very interested in an irish tweed fish slogan hat.
Milverton is a perfect name to growl out in disgust, and seems to make one's face involuntarily go into a sneer. And he even looks like a really annoying guy who complains about morals outside my public library (there's a Planned Parenthood 2 blocks away, he makes a circuit), kudos to that depiction.
This has easily become my favorite way to enjoy Holmes and Watson!