Meeting Number 21!

​​Our 21st meeting was conducted on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, and began at 7pm at 5905 Carolina Beach Road, Unit 7, in Monkey Junction. Attending was (from left to right) Barry, Candace, Michelle, Pat, Beth, Bill, Linda, Rick, Henry, and myself (Tom). Once again, we missed Barb (Rick's better half), but someone had to stay home with the puppies (don't ask me to explain).

Notes from this meeting:

INTRODUCTION:  Tom began the meeting with his usual "witty" remarks, which caused others to join in the conversation.  Officially, the meeting began a few minutes after 7pm.
QUOTE:  The assigned quote for this meeting came from "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", and was guessed correctly by Barry, Candace, Michelle, Rick, Bill, and Pat. 
CHARACTER:  Linda brought us a character description from the story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", which described Lestrade of Scotland Yard.  Credit goes to Barry, Pat, and Michelle for guessing the name of the character, but no one was able to guess the name of the story!
SHOW AND TELL:  This month, Tom brought in his statue of Sherlock Holmes created by Tom Clark (yes, the same guy who designed the collectible gnomes).  Here is a description and photo of this piece:

"This 'sleuth' as patterned after Sherlock Holmes, as portrayed by Basil Rathbone. He wears the Scottish stalking cap and an Inverness coat. On the base are books, presumably detective stories. The titles are a little mystery themselves. Since the statue was completed on Tom's birthday, several editions have clues as to what time of the year it is and how old he was that day. Other editions have references to tobacco, since the idea for this statue originated with Tinderbox stores. "Elementary, my dear Watson!" 

MYSTERY:  The mystery to solve this month was entitled "Rip Van Winkle RIP", and proved to be a challenge for everyone! But after the questions were asked and answered, Rick was able to guess the solution to the crime.  Candace deserves credit as well for asking the most number of questions. In case you could not make the meeting, the solution is as follows:  "The man was a spy and had never been in a coma.  He was fooled into believing that the cold war was over and so he could discuss his secrets freely.  Not being able to live with the guilt he committed suicide by jumping out of the window."
STORY:  Once again, Bill did a masterful job at describing the assigned story for this month, "Silver Blaze".  He really went above and beyond the call of duty by bringing a small stuffed horse, dog, and lamb to help him with his description (if you are not sure how those animals play a part in the story, then you better read it again!"

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Plans for the February Meeting:

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, and be held at Beach PC, 5905 Carolina Beach Road, Unit 7. The starting time is 7pm, and the meetings usually last until 8:30pm. All are welcome to attend, but, it would be a nice gesture to let Tom know in advance if you plan to come. ​

Mystery Quote:

“He had been in the same college as myself, and I had some slight acquaintance with him.  He was not generally popular among the undergraduates,  though it always seemed to me  that  what  was  set  down  as  pride  was  really an attempt to cover extreme natural diffidence. In appearance  he  was  a  man  of  exceedingly  aristocratic type, thin, high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly manners.  He was indeed a  scion  of  one  of  the  very  oldest  families  in  the kingdom, though his branch was a cadet one which had separated from the northern branch some time in the sixteenth century, and had established itself in western Sussex, where the Manor House of Hurlstone is perhaps the oldest inhabited building  in  the  county.   Something  of  his  birth  place seemed to cling to the man, and I never looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without associating him with gray archways and mullioned windows and all the venerable wreckage of a feudal keep."

Character Description:

Candace has agreed to bring a character description.

Story to Discuss:

Rick coordinate a discussion of the story entitled "The Final Problem". 

Mystery to solve: