Holmes in the Heartland 2026: Sherlock Haunts!

 This weekend, I left my laptop at home.

Being on the committee for a weekend conference requires a little more attention than my usual "time to tippy-tap on the laptop" reporting as it goes, and this one definitely did. St. Louis's "Holmes in the Heartland 2026: Sherlock Haunts!" definitely deserved all of one's attention this past weekend.

I was weary when I arrived, having entertained a handful of out of town guests in Peoria the night before, which coincided with our monthly Thursday night library discussion group. That meant missing the screening of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes in a theater near the conference, as well as the Friday morning maneuvers of the 221st Southumberland Waffleers, but sometimes Sherlockiana demands sacrifice.

The Cheshire hotel in St. Louis is a charming place, one that seems like it's been there a long time, but that works well with the "ye olde British" ambiance. Each room is dedicated to some literary figure, and upon check-in you get a bookmark with the name of your room, in addition to the usual number card folder. Mine was "William Makepeace Thackeray," 

One lucky raffle winner, Elaine Litzenich, won a special VIP attendee package, which included staying in the hotel's Sherlock Holmes suite, a custom name badge and lanyard, a choice door prize, private vendor shopping, and extra attention from the conference staff . . . though she was very sweet about that last part and did not demand too much of our service.

At 4:00 P.M. on Friday, early registration started, quickly followed by a lavish cocktail hour with such hearty and well-done hors d'oeurves that few needed to go to dinner after. The conference mascot, Boolock Holmes apparated for the first time at the Haunted Happy Hour, silently handing our spooky trivia for the crowd to test their table-mates with. (Boolock not pictured . . . yet.)

There was a little "Fox and Hound" pub in the main hotel, where many retired after cocktail hour for more chatting, and a good many of us overflowed across the hall onto the outdoor patio, as St. Louis was having a perfectly climated evening for our Friday night. A bag of kettle corn was discovered and passed around, and, well, it was just nice. Sherlockians are pleasant folk to spend time with, which is the real draw for these events.

The next day, folks were eager and ready to storm the upstairs conference room and vendors tables when 8:30 AM rolled around. The program didn't start until 9:30, but that hour was put to good use, especially by those who needed a little more sleep after the night before. Rob Nunn finally took the podium welcoming one and all and introducing the first speaker, noted book columnist Michael Dirda, who spoke on his Sherlockian path through life. Minnesota's own Julie McKuras came next, investigating what it was that must've haunted Sherlock Holmes himself throughout his life. After that firm foundation of a program start there was a 30 minute break to encourage more shopping with the vendors. (Holmes in the Heartland is nothing if not kind to its vendors!) After some door prizes were raffled off to bring everyone back to attention, comics sage Johanna Draper Carlson presented "Zombies, Vampires, and Monsters in Sherlock Holmes Comics," which was a wonderful update and array of the many appearances of Holmes in such comics. And after Johanna . . . a tough act to follow . . . came . . .

If, for any reason, you find yourself on the program at the very last minute, a mere eleven days before a conference, let us all hope you also find yourself merely being straight man to one of your most talented friends whom you've talked into filling a gap in the programming. Sherlockian and puppeteer Mary O'Reilly had done videos of her all-animal Sherlockian society for our annual Montague Street Incorrigibles meetings (one of which I appear in, with all the acting talent of a "Half in the Bag" host), but had never made her animal friends work a live audience before. Since Mary had already volunteered to play Boolock Holmes at the Haunted Happy Hour, it seemed perfect that Boolock could appear again with the animals.

Baskerville the hound, Buncle the goose, the Lion's Mane jellyfish, and Lucinda the swamp adder all appeared, so I could try to get them to talk about Sherlock Holmes, even if they had definite other ideas and tried to sell me fake carbuncles or get human members for their club. It was commented on, more than once, that I kept holding the microphone in front of the puppets when they spoke, but what I was actually doing was holding it in front of the "silent" Boolock, since ventriloquism is something anyone can do with a sheet over their head, and we needed that little assist for the act. But even when the microphone wasn't close, most of the animal voices pierced the ether of the conference room and kept the audience happy (and distracted, since we were the last bit before lunch and people were getting hungry).

Lunch was as excellent as the appetizers the night before, and I wish I had discovered dipping the grilled turky-and-gruyere sandwich in the tomato bisque sooner, as, WOW, was that good. I also piled my plate with arugula lettuce salad, defying the parasite gods that have been spreading fear amongst the fresh veg community this summer. 

Perhaps the most risky part of the program came next, as the sultry tones of podcast king Scott Monty could have easily relaxed the audience into a nice nap, but his survey of Sherlock Holmes in popular culture held the audience (and maybe even tweaked some a bit with his mentions of AI), and I noticed no snoozers. St. Louis Sherlockian Randy Getz followed Scott with an audio tour through the music and composers that appear in the Sherlock Holmes Canon and re-introduced us to many familiar tunes we might have forgotten. (Chopin's "Death March" especially sticks out in my memory, haven't possibly never known that trope of a dirge was Chopin's.) 

One last break for shopping the vendors' tables and we came to our final two acts, Ira Matetsky showing off the poetic side of Conan Doyle (his reading of "The Old Huntsman" was especially memorable), and Bob Sharfman showing off the Sherlockianity of Bob Sharfman. (I dunno, somehow it's just that and it just works.)  

Rob Nunn concluded the day's program and dismissed us for an hour to dress for the cocktail hour and banquet. Some of us are common sluggards who just wear what we were wearing all day, which is something one has to consider as an option in St. Louis in July, but banquet time is always an opportunity for those who like to raise their game for the evening. The Cheshire treated us right once again in the food department, and Scott Monty again took the microphone following a meal. But this time, Scott was stirring up interest in several auction items to raise money for the Beacon Society, and did a fine job of doing just that.

The after-dinner entertainment proper was "A Dinner Conversation with Conan Doyle," but spiritualist Maximillian P. Magee was overcome with the spirit of Sherlock Holmes who pushed Doyle aside to play host to several other spirits appearing out of the ether. Mary Sutherland, Agatha the maid, the King of Bohemia, and others, most of whom looked somewhat like Ashley Polasek or Curtis Armstrong but sounded quite different. It was quite the experience and I was overcome for a short time when it was over, retiring to my hotel room until the vapors passed, then returned to the Chesire's lobby area just outside the Fox and Hounds pub, where many a Sherlockian hung out to chat for the rest of the night.

It makes me tired just to think of how tired I was by that point, but morning came eventually, with elevatoring down to the parking basement to load the car up, a bit more lobby socializing, and then a trip to the Missouri History Museum for a look at the 1904 World's Fair, with its almost-ties to the world of Sherlock Holmes.  Sundays at Sherlockian weekends are usually the day when you see people slip away, bit by bit, from the early morning Sunday until sometime Monday. The line at the "Taste of Amighetti's" museum cafe seemed like my time to exit, as it seemed a bit understaffed to deal with an influx of Sherlockians, so I was well out of St. Louis and up the road by the time I would have eaten. And that was a very good thing, because an hour or so after alighting back home in Peoria, I was out for a much needed nap.

Being a part of the group putting on a conference (the Parallel Case of St. Louis, which I'm kind of "the neighbor who drops in now and then" membership-wise), one tends to hear all of the little squeaks in the machinery of the event and see all of the dings in the paint-job, but when all is said and done, we can mark "Holmes in the Heartland 2026: Sherlock Haunts!" as one in the "wins" column for this year. Getting together with Sherlockian friends is the important part, and one to be enjoyed whenever we're lucky enough to find ourselves immersed in a weekend like this one.