#the reigate squires

[sssrha]

Watson: Holmes, you're ill and need to take rest so we're going to the countryside and you're going to relax. Holmes: fine :( Random Countryside Constable: IS THAT SHERLOCK HOLMES Random Countryside Constable: PLEASE HELP US SOLVE A MURDER Watson: He can't, he's ill and he needs to take rest- Watson: Aaand he's already run out the door. Watson: Watson: I don't know what I expected, honestly.

#this is in fact canon #acd holmes #acd watson #sherlock holmes #john watson #acd canon #the reigate squires

[dathen]

Watson: My dear friend has had a full breakdown of his health; I’ll take him to visit my friend so he can have some peace and quiet

Inspector: It’s a good thing you’re here, Holmes! We just had a murder burglary!!

Watson: Goddammit

*later*

Watson: My dear friend is on the verge of another breakdown; I will take him to a quiet little place by the sea so he can recover.

Vicar: It’s a good thing you’re here, Holmes—

Watson: GODFUCKINGDAMMIT

#letters from watson #the reigate squires #the devil’s foot

[i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end]

Can we please talk about the fact that Watson receives a telegram that Holmes has fallen ill and immediately rushes down to Lyon in just 24 hours?? The urgency and the devotion of it is just breaking my heart :,)

And Watson and the story in general are taking mental illness seriously and treat it as phenomenon mixed with but not reduced to Holmes' physical exhaustion. Holmes is sick, he needs to rest, but at the same time he's intrigued by the new case and Watson is just trying to make sure he doesn't overdo it again. I especially like the domesticity between them at the beginning. :)

And then the local inspector gets Holmes to work the case, and comes back some time later a bit confused like Uhm, are you sure Mr Holmes has recovered, he's acting really weird, and Watson, despite likely having mixed feelings abuot Holmes getting back to work already just says Nah, he's always like that <3

And Holmes is just in such a good mood, Watson, your country-trip has been a distinct success, I have had a charming morning, and all of this just shows how close they are, I can't get over it. :) Seriously, where's all the fanfic about this? :)

#sherlock holmes #john watson #acd canon #letters from watson #the reigate squires #I'm just rambling don't mind me

[jabbage]

We've had two stories now where Sherlock Holmes has made a direct attack against an orange, and I can't wait to see if this ever happens again.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #the reigate squires #the five orange pips

[ani-tolaat-bli-toelet]

"Babe you're so good at faking health conditions 🥰" Watson don't encourage him!!!

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #the reigate squires

[fruitviking]

SO I've been working on a series of fics featuring Holmes and Watson, in which Holmes is occasionally nonverbal and uses sign language to communicate. Enjoy!

A Quiet Night

https://archiveofourown.org/works/44642857

Taking Care

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45023896

(This one was a Reigate Squires-set sickfic as a gift for @dathen!!)

The Silent Detective

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45053240

A Narrow Escape

#sherlock holmes #dr watson #sherlock holmes fic #holmes is non-verbal #the reigate squires

[teaspoonnebula]

"Still at it, then?" said he to Holmes. "I thought you Londoners were never at fault. You don't seem to be so very quick, after all."

"Ah, you must give us a little time," said Holmes good-humouredly.

I like that Holmes doesn't default to being annoyed when his skills and craft are called into question. He's happily investigating, nobody is going to dull his sparkle!

#letters from watson #the reigate squire #the reigate squires

[eirinstiva]

The word "Queer" and the Holmes brothers

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.

[Robb's book is available in Spanish as Extraños. Amores Homosexuales en el siglo XIX by editorial Fondo de Cultura Económica.]

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #mycroft holmes #acd canon #queer #the greek interpreter #GREE #a study in scarlet #STUD #the reigate squires #the reigate squire #the reigate puzzle #REIG #lost in translation #queer studies #queer story #graham robb #infinity love to letters from watson #holmes brothers #acd holmes #letters in the underground

[johnlockifconvenient]

Inspector: I think he’s still sick, because Holmes is acting super weird.

Watson: Oh no, don’t worry! He’s always like that 😌

#Sherlock Holmes #letters from watson #the reigate squires #johnlock #acd holmes

[mariana-oconnor]

"You may not be aware that the deduction of a man's age from his writing is one which has brought to considerable accuracy by experts."

I love how much utter bullshit there is in these stories when you read them in the 21st century.

"They belong to men who are blood-relatives."

Okay, yes, this is also bullshit, but at the same time, people often tell me my handwriting looks exactly like my mother's, even though I was taught to write in school by multiple different teachers all with different handwriting and my handwriting in school looked a lot clearer and was very different. My current handwriting has evolved over decades into something that looks... very like my mother's, seemingly by accident.

Then again, my brother's handwriting looks nothing like that of anyone else in the family and my father's is entirely different again.

"I was sorry to cause you the sympathetic pain which I know that you felt."

Watson feels Holmes' pain. So sweet.

And it looks like the next on the list is Scandal in Bohemia, which has me grinning like a maniac.

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Reigate Squires

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Feb. 14

The Reigate Squires, Part 2 of 3

And to you as well, Watson. I hope you and Holmes are spending it fruitfully.

I don't remember this story from when I first read it, but my first thought upon seeing Holmes' nervous attack was that he was faking it, since we know he's done it before and has experience faking illnesses from The Resident Patient.

But I'm going to take this at face value and say that Holmes shouldn't have to apologize for his illness, and that it shouldn't be seen as a sign of weakness. There's nothing shameful about it.

You know, even if Holmes was simply pretending to do all these little mistakes for some purpose in solving the mystery, at least we know that Watson's reactions are genuine and come from a place of deep caring for his friend.

Holmes literally is just a cat, isn't he? Someone should make a list of all the cat things Holmes always does: scurrying about on the floor, knocking stuff over, pretending to ignore people while actually paying close attention, etc.

He even blames it on somebody else! I'm surprised there isn't an adaptation of these stories where everything is the same but Holmes is just Watson's pet cat, helping him solve mysteries.

Add this to the list as well.

A lot more investigating and a few more clues, but I still have as much idea regarding the burglary as Watson does. Hopefully it will all become clearer in the next letter.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Clues

#letters from watson #the reigate squires #sherlock holmes #john h watson #inspector forrester #alec cunningham #mr cunningham #arthur conan doyle #liveblogging sherlock holmes

[dathen]

Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over.

#FUCKING CAT BEHAVIOR HAS HIT CRITICAL MASS #I AM SCREECHING #WHY IS HE LIKE THIS #letters from watson #the reigate squires #sherlock holmes #acd holmes

[i-dont-talk-for-days-on-end]

Okay, there's A LOT going on in part 2 of the Reigate Squires:

Alec Cunningham making his debut as an utter arse by making a "witty" remark about Holmes being slow, implying that he's not living up to his reputation

Holmes not responding to the provocation, and then simply fainting from one second to the next

Watson absolutely freaking out inwardly because he brought Holmes here to rest and recover and he knew Holmes shouldn't take another case just yet but he seemed so energised by it and ...! Anyway, it doesn't say anything about Watson's reaction (which is a classic Watson move) but he mentions that "they" were "[h]orrified at the suddenness and severity of the attack" which, I think, is saying enough.

Holmes being completely exhausted and embarrassed, but still intrigued/obsessed with the case, not wanting to leave (and likely Watson thinking that Holmes will be the death of them both)

Holmes making a professional mistake, being mortified, and Watson feeling fiercely protective and sympathetic

Alec Cunningham being an absolute arse again, laughing about Holmes' mistake, and Watson likely plotting a murder of his own

Holmes making his way through the house at a snail pace, "taking keen note of the architecture of the house" - yes, I get it, he doesn't want to miss any detail of the crime scene but also the man just had some kind of seizure so please have some patience Mr Cunningham!

Alec Cunningham being an utter arse ... again

Watson taking the blame for something really awkward and rude Holmes just did on purpose - let's be honest, even if Holmes had knocked water and oranges over by mistake, I'm convinced Watson would have pretended that it was him so no one would get another opportunity to ridicule Holmes

Holmes simply disappearing

I don't know what you think, but I find all of that quite intense - for both of them.

#letters from watson #the reigate squires #sherlock holmes #john watson #acd canon

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters from Watson: The Reigate Squires

Case and Themes

I'll be honest: as much as Reigate is a direct gift to the fanfiction writer, I don't have much context to add to it. There's no particular historical notes, and the themes surrounding the crime (Holmes not allowing someone's class to exclude them as a suspect, the idea that attempting to blackmail a criminal will get you murdered,) have already been covered. We do start to see a theme emerge, though: after multiple mentions of Holmes faking injury or illness, we finally see it in action. And we see him pull it off well enough to fool Watson, who we have to remember is a medical man, albeit one with far fewer tools than we posses. Of course, it helps that it's hard to get objective data even now on what Holmes is feigning: his little fainting fit could have several causes, and his "lapse" in attention is similarly hard for Watson to treat. However, this is not the last case that will be connected to Holmes' health, or lack thereof: in the future we will have instances of both real and feigned illness and injury. Some of this is directly attributable to, as I have already stressed, an era before antibiotics, where any given illness could turn serious quite quickly, but drug use and the dangers inherent in Holmes' confrontation with criminals certainly don't help. Neither does his tendency to run himself ragged. Fields like psychology were in their infancy in the late 1800's (Willhelm Wundt's experimental lab was established in 1874) so one of the primary prescriptions for stress, overwork, trauma, and depression was rest, usually someplace in the countryside or on the coast. For those who could afford it anyway - not a huge problem for Holmes and Watson, who have comfortably well off friends to stay with, and certainly have the means to travel on short notice. And the idea of rest probably did help often enough. Not that Holmes is resting, or finds anything specifically soothing about the countryside. Later, we'll get Holmes' comments on the isolation of country houses leading to cruelty and crime: between The Speckled band and these Reigate Squires, it's beginning to look a lot like country gentry are particularly murderous.

#Letters from Watson #the reigate squires #case and themes

[intj-greenwords]

Holmes: something something something something something showing that the handwriting belonged to a younger and an older person in the same family …

Me: That’s cool.

Holmes: There were twenty-three other deductions that I don’t need to bother you with.

Me: I want them all!

#the reigate squires #letters from watson #lx reads sherlock holmes

[paradises-library]

"Good heavens!" cried the Colonel, laughing, "do you mean to say all our sympathy was wasted and your fit an imposture?"

"Speaking professionally, it was admirably done," cried I, looking in amazement at this man who was forever confounding me with some new phase of his astuteness.

The Reigate Squires, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

#the reigate squires #sir arthur conan doyle #letters from watson #quotes