The Adventure of the Speckled Band
“Holmes,” I cried, “I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime.”
“Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals."
Serpents, sinister step-fathers, and sisters dying in the dead of night. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is usually considered one of the best Holmes stories—and one of Doyle’s favorites. Sarah & Marisa discuss Gothic heroines, racist red herrings, fears in the British empire, and geographically confused baboons.
Episode transcript. Find a list of the books we discuss & used as background research for this episode here!
Listen to our narration:
About our narrator: Kira Apple is the voice of Jack St. James on Superstition and the Narrator on The Way We Haunt Now. When she's not voice acting, Kira is writing her PhD dissertation on belonging in speculative audio fiction and working part-time at an independent feminist bookstore and an animal hospital. She loves playing video games, crocheting, and wrangling her four cats: Magrathea, Hazelnut, Ichabod Crane, and Mr. Tumnus.
Website: kiraapple.com
Twitter: @KiraAppleVA
Further reading:
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Way Of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Clue (1985) dir. Jonathan Lynn
Other cases mentioned in this episode: HOUN, STUD