Vincent Starrett conference, Oct. 2026.

Vincent Starrett, ca. 1926.

The Torists International will be hosting the conference "And It Is Always 1895" in honor of the 140th birthday of writer, journalist, critic, collector, and noted Sherlockian Vincent Starrett (1886–1974) on Oct. 23–25, 2026, in Bensenville, IL (near O'Hare Airport). Guest speakers will include Ray Betzner, editor of Starrett's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (orig. publ. 1933), and author-critic Michael Dirda. A trip to Starrett's gravesite in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery also is planned (the organization is interested in establishing an endowment that would assist in maintaining the gravesite). As the registration fee is scheduled to increase in August, it is probably a good idea to register early. 

The title of the conference refers to a line in Starrett's famous poem "221B." 

Starrett spoofs Christie.

Vincent Starrett

On the Studies in Starrett blog, Ray Betzner discusses "The Other Woman," Vincent Starrett's 1927 parody of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. In it, Alexandre Dulau attempts to help Mrs. Hopewell Grange, whose husband is behaving oddly.  Says Dulau, "It is possible I have done Mr. Hopewell Grange a great disservice. On the other hand, it is possible that I have acted with my usual intelligence."

A mystery parody by Harry Stephen Keeler?

Harry Stephen Keeler, from
his 1916 passport application

In the latest issue of Keeler News, the newsletter of the Harry Stephen Keeler Society, Morgan Wallace posits plausibly that mystery/sci-fi writer Keeler wrote a 1920 PI parody, "The Keenwit Case," for the Chicago Ledger under the pseudonym Lon Riggs to make a point about the types of material that could come over the transom at a periodical. "The Keenwit Case" is reproduced in the newsletter and features such immortal statements as "[t]hen he lighted a cigar, and smoked viciously. This indicated that his brain was very active, and that without a doubt the clever criminal would be in irons before the close of another day."

Of related interest:
• Link to cartoonist Al Hirschfeld's caricatures of Keeler
• "The Life and Death of Harry Stephen Keeler" by Vincent Starrett

New blog on Vincent Starrett.

Cover of Vincent Starrett's
Bookman's Holiday. NYPL

Ray Betzner has started a new blog on author-collector Vincent Starrett, a key figure in the Baker Street Irregulars and Sherlockian scholarship. I'm very fond of collections of Starrett's columns and essays: Bookman's Holiday (1942) and Books Alive (1940).

A new use for the SH canon.

Christopher Morley. Library
of Congress, Prints and
Photographs Div.

Harvard's Houghton Library features an amusing 1944 letter from Baker Street Irregulars cofounder Christopher Morley, who sought guidance from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (part of the "Sacred Writings") as a prospective father of the bride. He also mentions colleague Vincent Starrett in a handwritten note.

Of related interest: a TLS round-up of recent SH-related works such as Michael Dirda's On Conan Doyle and Anthony Horowitz's House of Silk.

Sign in, please.

Vincent Starrett, NYPL

The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door exhibition at UT-Austin's Harry Ransom Center shows the signatures of notable visitors to Frank Shay's Bookshop in New York; they signed the door to the bookshop from 1920 to 1925. Among those of interest to mystery fans: Theodore Dreiser, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, Christopher Morley, and Vincent Starrett.

Great moments in literature, 1.

"That Longfellow is said to have declined an invitation to the Adirondacks because he was told that Emerson was to carry a gun is really far more delightful, and I may add, valuable, information than to know the exact date of the birth of either."

-- Vincent Starrett [quoting Edwin Watts Chubb], Books Alive 9

About the photo: The cautious Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.