A Tangled Skein:
A Companion Volume to The Baker Street Irregulars’
Expedition to The Country of the Saints.
Edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
In 2008, The Baker Street Irregulars mounted a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to Salt Lake City to consider the history of the Old West, the Mormons, the mid-nineteenth century, and the American half of A Study in Scarlet. Important not only for its portrayal of Utah and the American West, A Study in Scarlet is also, after all, the Book of Genesis of the Sherlockian Canon.
Despite the widespread intercourse between America and England in the late Victorian era, misconceptions and myths about America persisted in English minds and made their way into the Sherlockian Canon. In particular, A Study in Scarlet depicts evil Mormons forcing Lucy Ferrier into polygamy. As you will read in this fascinating volume, the truth is somewhat different. From the history of Mormon settlement in Utah to Beeton’s Christmas Annual’s publication history, A Tangled Skein touches upon the full spectrum of topics related to A Study in Scarlet.
160 pages, trade paperback, September 2008
A Tangled Skein
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Table of Contents for A Tangled Skein
Introduction
by Leslie S. Klinger
Conan Doyle Was Right: Danites, Avenging Angels, and Holy Murder in the Mormon West
by Will Bagley
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Righter of Wrongs. Or, Exposing the Crimes of the Mormons
by Mikel Vause
A Message of “Cheer and Uplift”: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Ramble in Salt Lake City
by Michael W. Homer
The City of the Saints: Richard F. Burton in Salt Lake City
by Donald Pollock
Playing with Dynamite: The Literary Fuse that Led to the Explosion of A Study in Scarlet
by Marshall S. Berdan
Go West, Young Englishman: Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet and the Birth of the Western
by Steve Hockensmith
Advent Sherlock: The Story of Beeton’s Christmas Annual 1887
by Steven T. Doyle
“The Country of the Saints”: Fact or Fiction?
by Ben Vizoskie
A Study in Scarlet: Where the Police Failed, Sherlock Holmes Succeeded
by Hartley R. Nathan
“Angels of Darkness” Revisited
by Peter E. Blau
“Angels of Darkness” and A Study in Scarlet: Can They Both Be True?
by Greg Darak
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Dorando Affair: How Rumours Become Facts
by Clifford Goldfarb
Contributors
Event Details
A Study in Scarlet Expedition
August 29 – September 1, 2008
Peery Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah
Conference Dinner at The Alta Club
Learn More
Other BSI Event and Expedition books
BSI Press / Books overview page
About the Series
The Baker Street Irregulars, the literary society focused on Sherlock Holmes, publishes volumes for special Sherlockian events.
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