Sherlock Holmes – Audibly Speaking: A Site of History and Memory: Recent Episodes
Rick Reiman
No one, going back to the interpretation of William Gillette in the early years of the silent screen cinema, interpreted the Sherlock Holmes character with the authenticity that Jeremy Brett brought to the role in the ITV Granada series on British television (1984-1994). That series went back to the canonical short stories and lovingly adapted them to the screen, clearing away the distortions that past (and future) representations have rained down and continue to rain on the reputation of the detective. This new recording is my latest attempt to interpret the Sherlockian short stories in a twenty-first century podcast adaptation, with respect to the great interpreters of the past, going back to Doyle, the originator himself, and moving forward to Brett. With apologies to Jeremy Brett, here is my acting effort to portray the style of Jeremy Brett in a Holmesian short story that Brett was not to portray in the TV Series (that series failing to film ALL of the short stories). One of the best of the stories that it left out was “The Reigate Squires,” from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. And so, here is an attempted corrective to that omission, in the form of a pastiche of Jeremy Brett portraying the famous detective in the real Conan Doyle short story, “The Reigate Squires.”
I have never recorded an abridged version of a Sherlock Holmes mystery short story, not wishing to truncate the words of the great Conan Doyle. However, it occurred to me that the time of three half-hour sitcoms may be too much for listeners to bear to listen to a Holmes short story. In order to guard against this pity, I have recorded this abridged version of a humorous yet exciting Holmes short story, abridging it to under two half hour sitcoms in length. I started out the recording thinking I could do so in twenty minutes. It can’t be done while still doing justice to the story, to the writing and to the detective or the author. And so here in 47 minutes flat, is the abridged version, hopefully with all its essential glory retained. –Your narrator, Rick Reiman.
For Christmas this year, I roll out an encore presentation of my narration of Arthur Conan Doyle’s greatest short story, “The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans.” The English government is paralyzed by fear as its most closely guarded secret is stolen or bought by an international spy. Its “most exalted person” (obviously Queen Victoria herself) is closely following the one man who can “save the state,” Sherlock Holmes. Noth even Sherlock’s older and smarter brother, Mycroft, the other man vital to the state, can unlock the secret and save the plans. Can Sherlock? Hold your breath as Queen Victoria does in this story, and listen and find out.
If you enjoy these recordings, send an email to rreiman33@gmail.com and let me know. They may be labors of love, but they take a lot of time and energy and I would like to know if people are listening and enjoying them. Thank you! –Your narrator, Rick Reiman
In keeping with the other two encore recordings of major entries in the Sherlock Holmes canon of short stories, the “Abbey Grange” and the “Second Stain.” I narrate once again, in what I hope will be a new and improved cover of “The Adventure of Black Peter.” I hope you enjoy this entry in Sherlockean entertainment, on the eve of this holiday season. Sincerely yours, your narrator, Rick Reiman.
Close on the heels of the brilliant “Adventure of the Abbey Grange” was one of Conan Doyle’s masterworks, his short story, “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” Any writer who wishes to toss into the ring a Sherlock Holmes pastiche of his own, will likely think twice before doing so upon reading this story, which bids fair to be close to the pinnacle of Doyle’s work. While I recorded it some years ago during the early days of my acquaintance with the art of podcasting, I have refined that art to a degree. Be however much that may be, this second version pushes the limits of that art, at least to farthest horizon of which I am today capable. I hope that it will be found by everyone to be enjoyable. –Rick Reiman, September 26, 2025.
I have had the pleasure of recording nearly all of the Sherlock Holmes short stories for this podcast, but one stands out among all the others, both as a recording effort and as a story by the great Conan Doyle. That is THIS story, a BRAND NEW RE-READING of “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.” I first recorded this in the summer of 2022, in the early stages of my recovery from my first bout with COVID-19. You can still listen to that version, if you go back through my episodes to that one recorded in mid-2022. My raspy voice is unmistakable, but I soldiered on and did what I always do when I record these short stories: act the parts with all the fervor and ability that I can possibly muster. And why not make the effort even as I gasped for breath? Conan Doyle was the master mystery structuralist, and a writer without peer in melding mystery with wit. Never has the Holmes character seemed so keen or brilliantly drawn by the author. The clues are parceled out just well enough that the reader feels he is on the path to a solution right alongside Holmes, although of course it is all a conceit that Doyle’s character Holmes (if he was just a character) shows is impossibly pretentious.
In this NEW READING AND RECORDING, I have tried to create as sonically and theatrically perfect a rendering of the story as possible, befitting its pride of place as first in the Sherlock Homes canon. It represents my learning as an audio narrator of the past six years. If you listen to no other of my recordings, LISTEN to this one. And, if you do, I dare you to stop listening then. Congratulations for chancing upon this rare opportunity to listen to the nearly-perfect recording of a nearly-perfect tale.
“The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone,” by Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, was one of two stories in the canon which was told not in the voice of Dr. John Watson but in third-person. Intended as the basis of a play, a one-act drama, it consists mainly of dialogue between two individuals at a time. Most of the time Holmes is one of the two persons, but not always. The device was necessary to make the surprise of the story possible. The story was published in the UK and in the US in 1921. It is one of Doyle’s later compositions, but it is a crackerjack story all the same. Narrated by Dr. Rick Reiman.
Well, it has been quite an odyssey. Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic episodes have been narrated by readers like Stephen Fry, for a cost; and by readers like your host, for free, in the spirit of the 18th century Enlightenment. This series has been other-directed–directed to others–without charge or fee. The hope is to spread cheer and enjoyment of the mysteries of an extraordinary writer and his remarkable detective. Please let me know, at rreiman33@gmail.com, if you have enjoyed this series. And may I suggest that you listen to some of the best of these recordings, which I will identify soon, but which have long been available here at Audibly Speaking, my podcast.
–Your host, Rick Reiman, wishing you happy listening.
In 1922, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle capped his marvelous series of Sherlock Holmes story with an entry in the series to rival any of his best: “The Problem of Thor Bridge.” How fitting that Doyle’s last great Holmes story may be the final Holmes story narrated by yours truly, Rick Reiman, for I am moving on to other academic contributions that may better suit my talents and more greatly increase the sum of my contributions to academic learning in these, the two thousands and twenties.
Some readers, who are avid fans of the atmosphere of the story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes tale, “The Adventure of Shoscomb Old Place,” may be disappointed with the hastily wrapped conclusion that Doyle sought fit to conclude the story. As a pastiche, a different ending concludes this audio narration of the tale. Will Sir Robert Norburton get his just deserts after all. Listen and learn to find out.
A hoped-for interview ahead with Gabra Zackman of audio narration fame is the news in today’s show on the channel. We also look back on the perils of narrating Sherlock Holmes while “falling out” with Covid, as well as the advances in the art of audio narration thanks to the progress of time. Something different: Sherlock Holmes, sick with Covid, this time on AudiblySpeaking!
What a whimsical tale Dr. Watson has to tell of Jabez Wilson and “The Red-Headed League!” Between the laughter and the mirth that Holmes teases out of the tale, there emerges a dastardly crime so cunning that only Holmes himself could solve it. John Clay, the “fourth smartest man in London,” according to Holmes, and probably a man working for Moriarty, the second smartest man, is plotting to bankrupt a vital English bank. But the narrator should not reveal the plot. He simply takes the part of the players, in this narration by your audio interpreter of all things Holmesian, Rick Reiman. He hopes, and knows that, thanks to the brilliant writing of Arthur Conan Doyle, that you will enjoy it.
Hello, everybody! Rick Reiman here, audio narrator for Audibly Speaking. On rare occasions, I re-record a short story in the Sherlock Holmes series written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not that I think I did a bad job in my reading the first time around. But I am quite certain that I am doing better in my reinterpretation of these stories as I go along, both sonically and artistically. Therefore, I look back on those Sherlock Holmes stories that I think are Doyle’s very best and try to do them (and my audience) greater justice than I did the first time around. I think that these stories, albeit on a digital platform, help us live out our digital lives more productively and in ways less likely to lead to digital addiction. They are my contribution to the digital minimalism movement, for more information about which I heartily recommend the YouTube channel of Laura Malvoyante. In what Holmes would call “my own small way,” this is a contribution of mine to that movement.
Move over Charles Dickens! Stand aside, Scrooge! For a nineteenth century English Christmas tale without parallel, you cannot do better than Sherlock Holmes’s conveying of the Christmas message in his discover and commutation of a felony, all to save a soul in the season of forgiveness of this time of year. My narration of this tale is my Christmas present to all of my listeners. And now, happy listening ion the frosty air of crackling fires, ice crystals, and Sherlock Holmes himself.
Late in his authorial career, in the 1920s to be precise, Arthur Conan Doyle, who was then deeply immersed in beliefs of mysticism and seances, had occasion to pair his rational detective, Sherlock Holmes, with a case about vampires. Did Doyle change the hyper-rational Holmes to suit the author’s new beliefs? Listen and find out!
In this epic short story, Arthur Conan Doyle exceeds himself. “The Naval Treaty” is the longest of all of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short stories. It contains allusions to his other stories and many humorous asides as well as quite larger-than-life characters, some almost Dickensian in their strangeness. Holmes has to sift his clues and there are almost too many for him to select the relevant from the superfluous. “Almost,” but not too many–not for Sherlock Holmes.
You may have seen and heard the classic story of “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” here on History Revisited and Audibly Speaking before, but this is a new version, now with annotations included from the observations in Leslie S. Klinger’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume II (New York: Norton’s, 2005). Listen to the story and the annotated digressions to journey through the dual labyrinths of the plot-line and the mind of Arthur Conan Doyle, in this, one of my all-time-favorites in the Sherlock Holmes canon!
In the run up to Halloween, there no more terrifying, thrilling and horrifying story in the Sherlock Holmes canon than this, “The Cardboard Box.” Publishers were frightened to publish it and its author, John Watson, was persuaded to do so only on his deathbed. Listeners are strongly encouraged to listen only at noon, in the bright sunshine, when demons are at a distance and vampires asleep in their coffins. If you must listen to this of an evening, have someone with you to hold onto. Listen…if you dare.
A Russian Count and his mysterious son make an appointment with a doctor to examine the Count for catalepsy. Catalepsy being the doctor’s speciality, it makes sense. But the resident patient who lives at the doctor’s office may have a lively, or is it deadly, interest in the Russian visitors, unbeknownst to the doctor. What … Continue reading New! Audio Narration of the Sherlock Holmes Short Story, “The Resident Patient,” by Arthur Conan Doyle →
Your audio narrator, Rick Reiman, takes you from London to the English Midlands, as we journey with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and “the stockbroker’s clerk,” in quest of the solution to a mystery and a hideous crime. Sherlock Holmes solves it only at the very end, and only with the aid of one of the … Continue reading NEW! An Audio Narration of Conan Doyle’s “The Stockbroker’s Clerk,” a Sherlock Holmes Short Story →
The odyssey is almost complete: Virtually the entire canon on Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle have now been recorded, available free to the public, by the work and from the voice of audio narrator Rick Reiman. You can also catch the classic Hound of the Baskervilles, either here on AudiblySpeaking (available at the podcast by that name on Apple Podcasts) or at Librivox.org. This is an other-directed public service worthy of the spirit of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Here is “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax,” for your enjoyment.
You listened to the sneak preview of this Arthur Conan Doyle classic a few days ago. Now here is the complete recording to enjoy.
Other than horse-racing, this is is the only Sherlock Holmes story featuring sports. In this case it is a missing football player, not a race horse, that confounds Holmes. Listen to this preview now. The complete audio narration will be released on June 1. Get the jump with this swift and breezy preview, now.
My Sherlock Holmes short story audio narrations are reaching completion! Here is a compendium of all my audio recordings in this treasure chest of Arthur Conan Doyle stories, all free for the listening!
The Adventure of the Six NapoleonsThe Adventure of Black PeterThe Adventure of the Copper BeechesThe Adventure of the Red-Headed LeagueThe Adventure of the Golden Pence-NezThe Adventure of the Dancing MenThe Adventure of the Dying DetectiveThe Adventure of the Reigate SquiresThe Adventure of the Abbey GrangeThe Scandal of BohemiaSilver BlazeThe Adventure of the Engineer’s ThumbThe Boscomb Valley MysteryThe Adventure of the Second StainThe Adventure of the Yellow FaceThe Adventure of the Blue CarbuncleThe Man with the Twisted LipThe Adventure of Charles Augustus MilvertonThe Adventure of the Noble BachelorThe Adventure of the Devil’s FootThe Greek InterpreterThe Musgrave RitualThe Adventure of the Three StudentsThe Five Orange PipsThe Final ProblemThe Adventure of the Empty HouseThe Bruce-Partington PlansThe Adventure of the Gloria ScottThe Adventure of the Norwood BuilderThe Adventure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of the Beryl CoronetThe Adventure of the Crooked Man
Inspector Lastrade of Scotland Yard informs Holmes that someone is robbing people’s houses of their busts of Napoleon and smashing them to bits in situ or a little distance away. What can be the meaning of this? Lastrade only really becomes interested when the affair is entangled in murder–the burglar knifed an Italian on his way out of a burgled house, and the dead man had a photo of the likely murdered in his pocket. Holmes continues to center his attention on the busts, not the dead man, a fact that Lastrade considers mad. As usual, Holmes is proven right in the denouement, a fact which can only be made clear by Holmes’s dazzlingly ingenious methods, as is revealed at the conclusion of the story.
The Adventure
of the Six Napoleons
Peter Carey, an English Sea Captain, with the reputation of being tyrannical and hard-hearted, is given the name “Black Peter” before he is killed by an unknown visitor to his home. Sherlock Holmes must help the novice detective, Stanley Hopkins, unravel the mystery of Peter Carey’s strange ending. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sprinkles clues to enable the reader the understand that Hopkins is too quick to close a case that only Sherlock Holmes can solve.
“The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” was the last short story published in Conan Doyle’s first book-length collection of short stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). It does not follow the usual pattern of opening with a brief Sherlock Holmes deduction that shows his brilliance, but focuses on Holmes’s tendency toward morose depression. Holmes complains to Watson that his clients are so dull that he is left to advice people on how to find lost lead pencils and ladies on how to secure such positions as governess. He shows Watson that he has really reached “Zero” with the case of Violet Hunter, who seeks advice on whether to become governess to Jephro Rucastle. The case turns out to be more diabolical and potentially deadly than even Holmes can imagine. Violet also turns out to be cut from the Sherlockian cloth as her own deductions and limitless curiosity plunges her into pathbreaking pages of discovery and drama. Watson even suspects that Holmes may fall in love with her. But the autistic detective remains a bachelor, and turns away from her in disinterest once she is no longer “at the center” of one of his cases. As for Holmes and Watson, they open the story criticizing each other like a tired married couple, and only grow united in purpose once Violet Hunter delivers them a mystery that brings the dynamic duo once together once more in pursuit of a game once again “afoot.”
Your host, Rick Reiman, narrates “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb,” by Arthur Conan Doyle. This is rather one of the more graphic of the Sherlock Holmes tales, not for the faint of heart. But it contains several of Holmes’s most ingenious deductions along the way. My narrations of the Holmes stories must be nearing an end, since there are few of them that I have not yet read and released on Audibly Speaking thus far. I hope that you enjoy it.
Your host on this podcast, “Audibly Speaking,” Rick Reiman, narrates this classic by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That master of all detectives in literature, Sherlock Holmes, has once again to deal with the imbecility of the Scotland Yard detective, Lastrade, and the amateur cluelessness of the otherwise-devoted John Watson. Holmes once again defends an accused suspect whose guilt everyone else assumes is obvious. Not so, as it turns out. The unraveling of this tangled web is accomplished by tea time, by the man who shows how “elementary” it all actually is.
Here is my audio narration of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.” This is Doyle’s Dickensian Christmas time story, one of many in which Holmes at first believes no crime has occurred, and later introduces a note of Christian charity in his resolution of the case. It involves a Christmas goose and a mystery unlocked in the frosty air of snowy London, circa the 1880s. Musical enhancements add to the holiday effect of this favorite in the Sherlock Holmes canon.
This new version of a recording only published last week features audio enhancements and sound effects that put you in the time and place of the story, more dramatically than ever.
One of the most popular, and certainly most socially-conscious, of the Sherlock Holmes stories is “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” by Arthur Conan Doyle. A man disappears, a beggar enters the picture, and Holmes and Watson are caught between the devil and the deep, brown opium den called “The Bar of Gold.” Of course Holmes solves the mystery, but first he has to determine what the mystery is in the first place. Come along with Holmes and Watson on this dangerous journey–if you dare.
Conan Doyle’s choice for second favorite short story in his collection of 56 Sherlock Holmes tale was “The Red-Headed League.” In this brief introduction and commentary on this story, I point out its distinction as one of the most light-hearted and merry entries into the Holmes canon, a perfect “gift” for the present holiday season. Elsewhere on this podcast site, you may listen to my reading of this delightful story, whether you are red-headed or not!
About the Vacancy in the “Red-Headed League”In this, one of the funniest of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes must unravel a preposterous tale of a charity for red-headed men, in order to foil a bank robbery of enormous proportions. Truly, this is one of the favorites in the Sherlock Holmes canon.
In this, the final chapter, Holmes explains to Dr. Watson how he cracked the case of the Hound of the Baskervilles, and how all the proverbial loose ends may be tied up–once and forever.
In this, the penultimate chapter of the novel, Holmes and Watson together solve the crime and save Sir Henry Baskerville.
Holmes and Watson prepare a trap for the evil one who hails from Merripit House, in this pivotal chapter of the book, now nearing its fateful conclusion.
Sherlock Holmes makes his return in the novel, and not a moment too soon. After a frightful scare, the chapter moves closer to the story’s exciting denouement.
Watson pursues both leads, the identity of “L.L.” and that of the man on the Tor, and he unravels both mysteries in this important chapter.
We are rapidly nearing the end of our mystery. But Watson continues to collect new questions along with new clues. One is the mysterious identity of “L.L.,” a woman who somehow lured Sir Charles to the moor gate where he died his horrible death. The other is the identity of the mysterious man on the … Continue reading New Reading of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, Chapter 10: “Extract from the Diary of Dr. Watson” →
The gloom of the moor and the Great Grimpin Mire deepen as Watson explores the light upon the moor. Two terrible apparitions rise up before him. Listen–if you dare.
Read for you by Rick Reiman. Subscribe and automatically receive the next episode in the series, Chapter 7, coming soon.
Read for you by Rick Reiman. This is another classic from “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Arthur Conan Doyle intended this story to be his final official entry in the Holmes canon. He later added “The Adventure of the Second Stain” (also in this narrated collection) to serve that distinctive role. Holmes and Watson spar over the latter’s dramatic depiction of Holmes’s detective methods and Holmes uncharacteristically gets on Watson’s nerves. … Continue reading “The Game is Afoot!” A NEW Narration of “The Adventure of the Abbey-Grange,” a Sherlock Holmes Short Story →
Every Doyle story contains slips and errors, whether of outrageous fortune or simply haste. In this four-minute introduction to the complete story, which I narrate next in this series on AudiblySpeaking, I bring the listener’s attention not only to some of these mistakes but also to some foregrounding of the backstory surrounding its writing and … Continue reading An Introduction to “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot,” notes written and read by the narrator, Rick Reiman →
Read for you by Rick Reiman. This excellent addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon contains many of the aspects that delight his readers. It is set in a macabre and romantic setting, the moors of Cornwall; it has Holmes pitting himself against the common feeling that there must be something supernatural afoot. These traces of … Continue reading NEW! “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot,” a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle →
One of Doyle’s favorite Holmes stories is this one, about an interpreter who gets caught up in a strange “country house” mystery, replete with plaster of paris victims and giggling villains. We also are introduced to Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft, and the hilarious Diogenes Club, the favorite of unsociable, “unclubbable,” men– such as Mycroft and Sherlock … Continue reading NEW! “The Greek Interpreter,” a Sherlock Holmes Story by Arthur Conan Doyle →
In this early entry in the Sherlock Holmes canon, Doyle has Sherlock Holmes doing most of the talking. That’s unusual in the canon, because it is typically John Watson who tells the story, not Holmes. This was on Doyle’s short list of favorite stories, and it is easy to see why. It has elements of … Continue reading NEW! “The Musgrave Ritual,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, a Sherlock Holmes Story →
In this rather offbeat addition to the Sherlock Holmes Canon, Holmes somehow finds himself on a college campus battling the timeless forces of student cheating. Three students are each suspected of taking an advance and fraudulent peek at test questions for an exam qualifying them for an important scholarship. Only one can be guilty. When … Continue reading NEW! “The Adventure of the Three Students,” a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle →
Read by Rick Reiman, this was Doyle’s anticipated ending to the Sherlock Holmes story, the story that would “finish” Holmes off in the early 1890s, and leave Doyle free to write about other characters whom he was not so tired of. But it was not to be. Doyle’s readers, including Queen Victoria, insisted that Doyle … Continue reading NEW! “The Final Problem,” A Sherlock Holmes Story by Arthur Conan Doyle →
Read for you by Rick Reiman Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’s Older Brother, who “is” the British Government in the case of the Bruce-Partington Plans
“I think that we are both agreed, Inspector that the fragment of paper in the dead man’s hand, bearing, as it does, the very hour of his death written upon it, is of extreme importance.” -Sherlock Holmes