An old story, a new story, and a pod full of stories!

Great day to be a Sherlockian today.

First, and most unremarkable to a stalwart fan of Holmes, the local Sherlock Holmes Story Society is doing "The Man with the Twisted Lip" on Thursday night at Peoria's North Branch. Even though I've read that story many a time, it's a fun one, and a tale that comes much earlier in the Canon than I expect ever time. Opium dens, Holmes and Watson doing a sleepover at a client's house while Watson is married, Holmes swiping stuff from a lady's bathroom, the boys actually going to jail to see a supposed murderer . . . all kinds of wacky atypical fun. And the discussion starts at 6:30 this Thursday with a special guest from afar.

Second, and another great time ahead, is that the Amazon pre-order I threw in on Sunday arrived already: The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss. Henry Jekyll's daughter Mary is calling upon Mr. Sherlock Holmes for help by the second chapter, and having made it that far, I can already say the book looks to be a lively, inventive read. Charles Prepolec had mentioned it online and the description seemed just too perfect. More on that one to come, I'm sure.

And third, and a great time just finished, is "Episode 65: Sherlocked USA Con Roundup," a special (and very different) episode by Three Patch Podcast.  Team Three Patch are some great podcasters, usually providing a three-hour-ish show every month featuring many different segments one can make last a while, taking in a bit here, a bit there. But this episode is one 105 minute romp entirely dedicated to Fox Estacado and Chelsea giving you EVERYTHING you want to know about Los Angeles's Sherlocked USA Con.

Like any proper adventurers returned from exploring an exotic land, Fox and Chelsea have stories to tell, and they really do it so very, very well. Stories of meeting the members of the Sherlock cast who were headlining the con are to be expected, but an unexpected treat from this episode was Fox's behind-the-scenes look are her life in the dealer's room. Having seen her at work a booth at 221B Con, it made her stories all the more vivid for me, but Chelsea held her own with descriptions of her cosplay outfit and encounters it helped make.

Unlike the way I usually ration out a month's worth of Three Patch, I found myself rolling through this one without a pause and happy to skip other new podcasts to hear more. This month was a great episode to sample the sort of enthusiasm common to Three Patch's work and get a full report on a Sherlockian event of a sort we may not see too many of . . . I was both more than a little envious and just happy for the reporting they did when it was done.

But as I said before, this week holds Sherlockian treats ahead, so I can't dwell too long on any regrets of not going to Sherlocked USA.  Some days, it's just great to be a Sherlockian.