#reig

A comic I did about the adventure of the Reigate squire!

"He deliberately knocked the whole thing over." The Adventure of the Reigate Squire. Published in The Strand Magazine. Sidney Paget, 1893

Katie Forsythe, 'An April's Journey'. Focuses on Holmes going cold turkey after overdoing it during the Maupertuis case. Unrated as not on AO3 - in my opinion, is probably Mature http://liquidfic.org/apriljourney.html

Taz, 'The City of Crows'. Ritchie-verse. Starts out as a 'way too much cocaine' story, ends up as a 'queer revelation for Watson' story. Also Mature. https://archiveofourown.org/works/320191

celestialteapot, 'A mari usque ad mare'. Much shorter, and no sex or cocaine! Focuses on Holmes's depression at the end of the Maupertuis case and Watson caring for him. https://archiveofourown.org/works/403704

One thing that I like about reading Sherlock Holmes' stories in English through Letters from Watson is the use of the word "queer", because in Spanish is translated to "extraño, raro" if the meaning is "strange" and as "queer" if we talk about someone or something non cis-het. Let's see some examples in past letters from my dear friend Watson:

“Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas—an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.”

-Stamford about Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet

In this case the text is bold is translated as "Es un hombre de ideas raras". In another letter we have this:

The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. "I don't quite know, sir. Between ourselves, I think Mr Holmes had not quite got over his illness yet. He's been behaving very queerly, and he is very much excited."

-Inspector Forrester about Sherlock in The Reigate Squires

Due to context is translated as "strange" in "Ha estado comportándose de una manera muy extraña".

What happens with this quote?

"The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men."

-Sherlock about his brother Mycroft in The Greek Interpreter

It's translated as "El «Club Diógenes» es el club más raro de Londres, y Mycroft uno de sus miembros más raros." Again the translator choose "weird" as meaning.

The first time I read this in English was as a quote in Graham Robb's book Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. There's a footnote about this word in chapter 10 "Heroes of Modern Life":

Well, the ✨magic✨ is lost in Spanish. Sadly I lost the double meaning of Mycroft's description the first time I read this story in my native language, and now as a queer person myself (disaster bisexual) I can't hide my smile when I read it just like some queer victorian people when The Greek Interpreter was published in 1893.

"No clue?" asked Holmes, cocking his eye at the Colonel.

Everytime I think Watson is going to be mild about his own regard for Holmes he hits me with stuff like "I rushed MADLY towards him"

"Nevermind that you literally just saw them trying to murder me."

Here's a fun image. I agree with the discussion on discord that normally Holmes would have been able to take these two down, but it speaks as to his physical state how quickly they overpowered him, but it's nice to see him a bit knocked about.

Don't do it in front of Watson, though.

It's always crazy to me how quickly this one gets solved. They were having breakfast and it isn't even lunch time before Holmes catches the killers? And in the meantime he has inspected the garden, pretended to faint, knocked a bowl of oranges, gotten throttled and talked with both the murderers and one of the victim.

Aww it makes me feel some type of way Holmes comparing himself to a bird of bad omens. It's sweet that Hayter reassures him that he was only too delighted to see him work.

"I make a point of never having prejudices" oh, really, Holmes? i feel like we're gonna see about that in the very next story.

Also, no screenshot but I want to point out that even though the bit about telling someone's age from their handwritting is bullshit and has been disproved, it's easy to cast aside considering Holmes would still have been able to solve this case from the other plausible deductions.

Overall I love this story because it's a really great balance between character insight, H&W relationship shenanigans and Holmes' astuteness. The villains are not very formidable but I guess they wouldn't be, to commit a crime the very day Sherlock Holmes is in town.

And hey guess what! I have a fic set just after this story! Tags: Getting together, First Kiss, First Time ;)