my sympathies!
Mrs Amalie Warren
* * * *
Dear Mrs Hudson,
I am a diligent devoteé of Dr Watson’s stories, but in none of them is there any mention of the man whose surname you bear. I presume that he is deceased, in which case I do tender my condolences. I do hope it is no intrusion to inquire about him: his name, occupation, and whatever personal details may be fit to be revealed?
Curious in Cheshire
* * * *
Dear Curious in Cheshire,
Though Mrs Hudson is, at present, out of town and therefore cannot reply to your understandable interest in this little mystery, I am an old friend of hers (now filling in for her at Baker Street) and can afford some of the particulars for which you ask.
Archibald G. Hudson—better known as “just plain Archie”—was himself a private sleuth of no little reputation, though he could not compare with Mr Holmes, but then, of course, who could? His one ungentlemanly act was to leave his bride Martha here in London while he followed an investigation to New York City. There all record of him vanishes, though I have heard rumours that he took up residency somewhere on West 35th Street in Manhattan.
Mrs Amalie Warren
* * * *
I have done a bit of browsing in my friend Martha’s preceding columns in this magazine, and note that on several occasions, she has set down the ingredients and procedural steps toward making food-stuffs that both Mr Holmes and Dr Watson praised her for. In this wise, I shall do the same and present two of my own dietary concoctions.
* * * *
LAMB CURRY
Do note, first, that this is not a dish from India, but rather, because of the presence of so much ginger, derives instead from Mongolia; second, this is indeed a spicy dish that demands an ample supply of beer or ale to wash it down—though if beef is substituted for the lamb, it will be a wee bit less fiery.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb lean lamb
1 tblsp set butter
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
3 tomatoes
1 large green, red or yellow bell pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
¼ oz ginger
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 cups hot water—though beer or ale is a better choice
PROCEDURE
1. Slice, wash, defat meat
2. Fry minced onion, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, pepper in butter
3. Add turmeric, curry powder, salt and chili
4. Sizzle up to 3 minutes
5. Add meat and mix for a few minutes
6. Cover with lid and cook 35 minutes
7. Add sliced tomatoes
8. Fry for 2 or 3 minutes
9. Add liquid and bring to boil
10. Low flame for approximately 35 minutes, or till tender
11. Serve over flavoured rice (use wine, not water to make the rice)
* * * *
Deviled Lima Beans
(One may also use butter beans)
INGREDIENTS
A small quantity of lima beans
1 teaspoon of very spicy mustard
6 ozs beer or ale
Seasoned pepper mixture (combine black, red, and white ground pepper)
PROCEDURE
1. Place ingredients in a saucepan
2. Add mustard and beer
3. Stir till mustard is well blended (but do not break beans)
4. Simmer slowly till liquid is reduced by approximately ½
5. Season with pepper mixture to taste
6. Serve in soup bowls with spoons
Very Truly Yours,
Mrs Amalie Warren
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOOSIER, by Dan Andriacco
How Rex Stout Had Fun
with Sherlock Holmes
The announcement last year that the actress Lucy Liu would be playing the part of Dr. Watson in the new CBS program “Elementary” attracted a great deal of interest—and also shock, skepticism, cynicism, derision, and scorn. In other words, the gimmick worked.
But a well known Sherlockian of the last century would not even have lifted one eyebrow at the news that “Watson was a woman.” For Rex Stout knew that decades ago. On the evening of January 31, 1941, at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York, Stout declined to toast “the Second Mrs. Watson.” In the talk that followed, he set forth for the assembled Baker Street Irregulars a scandalous theory that “the Watson person” who wrote the Canon was actually Mrs. Sherlock Holmes. Frederic Dannay, writing as Ellery Queen in the book In the Queen’s Parlor, called Stout’s speech an H-Bomb—H for Holmes, of course.
Stout cited many passages from the Sacred Writings that sounded to him as if they were written by a woman, and especially a wife, such as “I believe that I am one of the most long-suffering of mortals” and “I must have fainted” and “the relations between us in those days were peculiar.” The coup de grace, however, was an acrostic spelling out IRENE WATSON from the first letters of canonical tales. Stout insisted at the end of his speech that the wedding related in “A Scandal in Bohemia” was actually Holmes’s own, and speculated that the fruit of the union might have been Lord Peter Wimsey.
“As Rex reached his last sentence,” John McAleer reported in Rex Stout: A Biography, “pandemonium ensued.” He added: “In certain quarters 1941 would be remembered as the year that began with the Stout hypothesis and ended with Pearl Harbor—two nightmarish happenings.”
Although Stout spoke from notes, a written version quickly found its way into print. So did an official BSI rebuttal from Dr. Julian Wolff called “That Was No Lady.”
Upon
