Tag: SherlockHolmes

Margerumalia – The Bound of the Basketballs

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 10, 2026

Does that title sound like a pastiche of Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles? I hope it does, because that’s the intent. Here’s how it came about.

During the dress rehearsal of the short play festival in June I was sitting in the audience with my friend Steve Martin (not the Steve Martin you’re thinking of) who, like me, wrote and directed his own short play.

“Did you notice,” asked Steve, that almost every play is broadly comical and very silly except ours?” 

His play was a very affective story about someone who lost a loved one but gets a glimpse of her in a mystical way before losing her again. Mine was the dystopian future of an America without rights or the freedom to speak of such rights.

“Yeah,” I said, wondering where his train of thought was going, “I did notice.”

“Let’s make a pact,” said Steve, “Both of us will write witty inane comedies for next year and submit them to the festival.” 

“Agreed!” I said, knowing he posts puns almost daily on Facebook. We shook on it and the wheels began to turn.

Last week I recommended a Librivox recording of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles. This week I’ll introduce you to my notes for Eric Margerum’s Shirley Combs mystery “The Bound of the Basketballs.”

When I showed Steve my Notes page for this idea he waved it away, grinning “I got it just by reading the title!” And so the process begins.

Since all of Doyle’s novel is narrated by Dr. Watson, my short play will begin with a narration by Dr. Weston. Probably ending the opening speech with a remorseful sentence wishing that the renowned detective were there to help solve the mystery.

“But I am here,” says the voice of Shirley Combs before she steps into the light, “I’ve been here all along.” She enters with a self-satisfied grin in the guise of cleaning woman that is identical to the character that Carol Burnett used to play on her TV variety show.

Substituting for the English Moors will be the Basketball Floors, with an oft repeated adjective like “vast,” “desolate,” or “sinister” to evoke imagery similar to that found in the novel.

And the pernicious murder mystery to solve will be the death of Tracee Park, the young Hoosier upstart fresh out of college who took the WNBA by storm. Her detractors referred to her as “Trailer Park” before her unfortunate demise. “No more free throws for that trailer trash.”

The rest of the cast will rely on one actor quickly changing costumes to present characters like Coach Fanny Bright, Inspector LeStreet, and Concessionaire Morrie Arty.

I’ve given myself one more challenge, to come up with a satisfying resolution to the mystery that makes the audience admire the plotting skills of the writer. If that’s doesn’t happen, I’ll just make it a silly ending that employs a cringe-worthy pun.

Challenge Accepted!

TTFN

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles

Margerumalia – The Hound of the Baskervilles

Eric Margerum

Newsletter – August 7, 2026

I recently enjoyed a LibriVox recording of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. I think I’ve now read or listened to every Sherlock Holmes story by Doyle, but I plan to get out my checklist to make sure I haven’t missed any.

LibriVox has done an exceptional job of recording books in the public domain and making them easily available through every audio recording app, from Apple to Xtunes. My only caution about their recordings is that they’re all voiced by volunteers who can be very, very good or somewhat amateur. I listened to Les Miserables many years ago and some chapters sounded like they were recorded by people who wanted to practice their English language skills…inexpertly. Other chapters were excellent.

The LibriVox recording of The Hound of the Baskervilles is what they call “a full cast recording,” meaning that people only speak their character’s words and a narrator reads the rest. In this case, Doyle is writing as Dr. Watson so the voice actor speaks both the narration and the dialogue of Watson. She was exceptional and I fully enjoyed her work. 

Yes, several of the characters were voiced by actors of a different gender, and some were American and others were British, but good storytelling quickly pulls you past those differences and you’ve soon forgotten them because you’re fully involved in the story. 

And what a story it is, too! I felt like I had visited the Moors of Northern England just from the poetic and in-depth descriptions of the countryside, sometimes beautiful, sometimes sinister, sometimes charming, and sometimes threatening. I’m so used to the Sherlock Holmes cases leaning heavily on facts and evidence, that I wasn’t expecting that kind of portrait of characters, dwellings, and the countryside.

Well done Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

I’m sure there are many alternate recordings to choose from, but take it from an acting teacher and theatre director, the LibriVox recording is worth the listen.

TTFN

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I thought I’d share my latest entry in the caption of a New Yorker cartoon. Hope it gives you a chuckle.

I think it’s time that Babar learns how to use the door.

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My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles