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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Watson does love a tall skinny dark haired diva

She was a beautiful woman, tall, dark, and slender, some twenty years younger than her husband;

Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Had to stop what I was doing and look up whatever the fuck a smoking concert was, and it was just a concert only men could attend? Victorian men seem insufferable, I’m glad they’re all dead now.

subscribing handsomely to all local objects, and attending their smoking concerts and other functions, where, having a remarkably rich tenor voice, he was always ready to oblige with an excellent song.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Watson, baby, no, come back! You’re the star of this show! Don’t leave us with just the architecture descriptions and police report

Chapter 3: The Tragedy of Birlstone
Now for a moment I will
ask leave to remove my own insignificant personality and to describe events which occurred before we arrived upon the scene

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Actually, Moran was right to try to kill Holmes. I’ve switched sides on this issue.

His chief of staff is Colonel Sebastian Moran, as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to the law as himself. What do you think he pays him?" "I'd like to hear." "Six thousand a year. That's paying for brains, you see—

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Not the point but 15% commission for planning the whole crime is honestly a great rate. Extremely reasonable imo

Everything comes in circles—even Professor Moriarty. Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals, to whom he sold his brains and his organization on a fifteen per cent. commission. The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all been done before, and will be again.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Sherlock Holmes is really the neurodivergent king

"Then he's no use to me. I'm a practical man." "Mr. Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime. Everything comes in circles—even Professor Moriarty.

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Reposted by Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes

Irene ♠️🍽️ Little Man @neopessimist.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

You do not promise me life, and I do not perform miracles / yet, if you ask of me, my dearest, to die for you / a second time, like the old soldier / I'd die, my love, even better than the first #sherlockholmes #johnlock #art

digital doodle of Holmes passionately kissing Watson

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Do you think Holmes and Watson ever broke into Moriarty’s office to… no I shan’t say

I thought you told me once, Mr. Holmes, that you had never met Professor Moriarty." "No, I never have." "Then how do you know about his rooms?" "Ah, that's another matter. I have been three times in his rooms, twice waiting for him under different pretexts and leaving before he came. Once—well, I can hardly tell about the once to an official detective.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Holmes: [smiles] Watson: He smiled geniusly, in a special and talented way. Non-geniuses wouldn’t really get it.

"Ay, that's remarkable," said the inspector thoughtfully. "Talk away, Mr. Holmes. I'm just loving it. It's fine!" Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration—the characteristic of the real artist.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Not enough adaptations do anything with Moriarty having Daddy Energy

He'd have made a grand meenister with his thin face and gray hair and solemn-like way of talking. When he put his hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father's blessing before you go out into the cold, cruel world."

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Moriarty lore: I had a chat with him on eclipses. How the talk got that way I canna think; but he had out a reflector lantern and a globe, and made it all clear in a minute.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I love when the police try to share a look with Watson to include him in making fun of Holmes, and Watson just adds this moment to the burn book. He will publish your rudeness without mercy.

"This professor that I've heard you mention?" "Exactly!" Inspector MacDonald smiled, and his eyelid quivered as he glanced towards me.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Holmes might be nosey but he is an honorable man and will stay out of things if he says he will

"Did you ever trouble to see who called for them?" "No." The inspector looked surprised and a little shocked. "Why not?" "Because I always keep faith. I had promised when he first wrote that I would not try to trace him."

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Three eyebrow descriptions and I only just started chapter 2 of VALL

He had spoken in jesting vein, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrows

which twinkled out from behind his bushy eyebrows.

MacDonald sat with his chin on his hands and his great sandy eyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

He stops masking when he’s overstimulated but people will call you woke if you suggest he’s autistic

It would be an overstatement to say that he was shocked or even excited by the amazing announcement. Without having a tinge of cruelty in his singular composition, he was undoubtedly callous from long overstimulation.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Don’t say I’m “a messy bitch who loves drama,” say:

It was one of those dramatic moments for which my friend existed.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Watson: “Holmes tolerates other people but obviously I’m his only friend” Holmes: [series of adorable nicknames and jokes]

Holmes was not prone to friendship, but he was tolerant of the big Scotchman, and smiled at the sight of him. "You are an early bird, Mr. Mac," said he. "I wish you luck with your worm. I fear this means that there is some mischief afoot."

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Great line and very telling about Watson’s own virtues

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius,

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Watson describing a detective that is NOT Holmes but is clearly Watson’s exact type

His tall, bony figure gave promise of exceptional physical strength, while his great cranium and deep-set, lustrous eyes spoke no less clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled out from behind his bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Oh damn, hard same :( Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work, even as he mourned darkly when it fell below the high level to which he aspired.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Like the misunderstanding here where Holmes is explaining why the writing sucks instead of seeing that Watson, a writer, would have prioritized style over a life or death code (I’m on watson’s side, style counts)

I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as he deciphered it, upon a sheet of foolscap on my knee. "What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!" said I. "On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said Holmes. "When you search a single column for words with which to express your meaning, you can hardly expect to get everything you want. You are bound to leave something to the intelligence of your correspondent.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Sherlock Holmes is a little cutie when he’s solving things

'There,' which is much more promising. Number one hundred and twenty-seven is 'is'—'There is' "—Holmes's eyes were gleaming with excitement, and his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted the words—"'danger.' Ha! Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There is danger—may—come—very soon—one.'

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

On one hand this is about looking in the wrong almanac, on the other hand this is a story that takes when Watson should be married to a woman but is instead living with Holmes and it wasn’t published until over 2 decades later when they’ve long since retired. So do what you will with this

"We are before our time, and suffer the usual penalties.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Actually more naive of Holmes to think only good people are Christian

"The Bible!" I cried triumphantly. "Good, Watson, good! But not, if I may say so, quite good enough! Even if I accepted the compliment for myself I could hardly name any volume which would be less likely to lie at the elbow of one of Moriarty's associates.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

LMAO Watson knows how to play this man like a fiddle. “Oh it’s too bad no one is smart enough to solve this riddle. It would be so cool and sexy if someone solved it instead of moping the rest of the morning 🥺”

"It's pretty maddening to think that an important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, and that it is beyond human power to penetrate it." Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit the unsavoury pipe which was the companion of his deepest meditations. "I wonder!" said he, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "Perhaps there are points which have escaped your Machiavellian intellect. Let us consider the problem in the light of pure reason.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Holmes/Doyle talking about Moriarty like he’s the devil himself

"The other being, I presume, Professor Moriarty." "No less! When any of that party talk about 'He' you know whom they mean. There is one predominant 'He' for all of them." "But what can he do?" "Hum! That's a large question. When you have one of the first brains of Europe up against you, and all the powers of darkness at his back,

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Hey it’s breakfast time and Moriarty interrupted this guy mid letter writing… does Moriarty live in a secret hideout with all his goons? I love that for him

"I will go no further in this matter. It is too dangerous—he suspects me. I can see that he suspects me. He came to me quite unexpectedly after I had actually addressed this envelope with the intention of sending

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Circling back: this is the worst fucking cypher of all time because the only important information (who, where) isn’t disguised. We learn later Douglas is famous and the richest guy in Birlstone

534 C2 13 127 36 31 4 17 21 41 DOUGLAS 109 293 5 37 BIRLSTONE 26 BIRLSTONE 9 47 171

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Well writing out Dear Mr Holmes in your secret correspondence with a famous detective probably isn’t groping

trust that the man Porlock will come to no harm. "DEAR MR. HOLMES [he says]: "I will go no further in this matter. It is too dangerous—he suspects me.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Everyone say hi to the character Doyle invented for stage adaptations that he’s now desperately trying to get to take off in the main canon even though the timeline makes no fucking sense. Hi, Billy! 👋

Holmes's calculation was fulfilled within a very few minutes by the appearance of Billy, the page, with the very letter which we were expecting.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Fun historical detail: multiple mail drop offs a day! As our electronic messaging got way better our physical mail system got much much worse

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Impossible to tell if Holmes is a huge bitch or terrible at compliments

"Then why has he not indicated the book?" "Your native shrewdness, my dear Watson, that innate cunning which is the delight of your friends, would surely prevent you from inclosing cipher and message in the same envelope.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Me about sudoku or clues by Sam: "Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha of the agony column: such crude devices amuse the intelligence without fatiguing it.

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Yes, yes everything you say is brilliant and I will cheer you on always, babe! Can we please get back on topic?

That's genius, Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come." "May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking of this man Porlock."

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Holmes has escalated this imagined offense from “You will be arrested” to “I will kill Moriarty for this”

That's genius, Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely come."

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Holmes is joking here but I think Watson should get to use his full soldier’s vocabulary on Moriarty in more adaptations/pastiche

Is this a man to traduce? Foul-mouthed doctor and slandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That's genius,

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Sara Reads Sherlock Holmes @sarareadsholmes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I’m convinced the reason Moriarty tried to beat Holmes to death with his bare hands instead of doing something clever is that he found out Holmes doesn’t know the earth orbits the sun and that was the final straw

Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it?

My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it. "You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."

"But the Solar System!" I protested. "What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."

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