Meeting number 18 was conducted on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, and began at 7pm as usual. Attending was Henry, Ben, Beth, Bill, Barb, Rick, Barry, Michelle, Pat, and myself (Tom). Notes from the October meeting:The quote was taken directly from the story entitled "The Dancing Men", and was guessed correctly by 7 of our members (Beth, Bill, Rick, Barb, Barry, Michelle, and Pat. Credit must also go to Ben Steelman, who also picked the correct story for this quote, and showed great enthusiasm as he loudly announced the name! Following the quote, Tom read two character descriptions, and even told the club the names of the characters... but he did ask members to guess the name of the story. Unfortunately, no one could recall that the two characters in question came from "Case of Identity". The mystery this month was entitled House Trap, and was quite a puzzler! Turned out that Beth was on the right track by guessing that Harold in the story was the Bank Robber. Pat and Michelle were able to add that the reason the police were present was that it was a setup to catch Harold in the act of trying to collect missing money that actually did not exist! Instead of a story this month, club member Ben Steelman and gave a fascinating presentation on Basil Rathbone. Everyone enjoyed learning about Rathbone's life, and that he was not only the most popular Sherlock Holmes in history, but also very popular in Hollywood because of the great parties he gave! Thank you Ben, for a great presentation! Plans for the November meeting:Before we concluded the October meeting, we decided the next meeting would be on November 13th (only about 3 weeks away). The story to discuss will be "The Beryl Coronet", and will be presented by Pat. The quote to be identified is shown below: "One day -- it was in March, 1883 -- a letter with a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can this be?' He opened it quickly and we both looked inside. I began to laugh at the contents, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The mystery to solve at the November meeting is shown below. If you can't get it, don't blame me... you said you wanted one that was considered "Difficult"!
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Meeting number 17 was conducted on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, and began at 7pm as usual. Attending was Barry, Candace, Pat, Michelle, Beth, Beth, Bill, Rick, Barb, Henry and myself (Tom). Notes from the September Meeting:After assembling in our usual place, we swapped travel stories and plans for the future. Then, we got down to business. After reading the assigned quote, and dropping some hints, pretty much everyone was able to name "The Blue Carbuncle" as the story from which the quote was taken. The character identification was guessed by only a couple of folks - the character (who's name currently escapes me) was from "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (I will take better notes next time). The meeting concluded with a discussion of "The Sign of Four" led by Henry Tonn. Well done, Henry! Plans for the October Meeting:Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 23rd, at the usual time and place. I received an email to day from Henry Tonn, who was able to confirm that Ben Steelman will be in attendance at this meeting, and will lead us in a discussion of Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Basil Rathbone. It promises to be an interesting meeting, so please plan to attend! To give Ben plenty of time for Ben's discussion, there will be no story discussion (yes, that right - no homework for a change!)
The quote for the October meeting is as follows: "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate ciphers; but I confess that this is entirely new to me. The object of those who invented the system has apparently been to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give the idea that they are the mere random sketches of children." I forgot to write down who has agreed to bring a character description, so if you are the one, please be ready. Otherwise, I will prepare one just in case! The mystery to solve is shown below. Study it, and be ready to ask questions so that you may solve the mystery! |
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