“The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan” [REDH]    The wonder and magic of the Sherlock Holmes stories is that they were set, for their contemporary audience, in a city and its surroundings that were very familiar and very real. Alistair Duncan set out to capture that in his book Close to Holmes, taking us on many journeys by foot and other conveyances, with wonderful photographs supported by vivid descriptions. Even though we weren't alive when the stories were written, we can feel as if we were there. We discuss the impetus for this book, as well as Alistair's four other Sherlockian books — the first of which was the impetus for MX Publishing to focus on Sherlock Holmes. We have news from the Sherlockian world and another easy-peasy Canonical Couplet. Did you win last time? Will you win this time? The winner will receive a copy of one of Alistair's books.  Send your answer to comment @ ihearofsherlock .com by October 14, 2023 at 11:59 a.m. EST. All listeners are eligible to play.   If you become a , not only will you help to ensure we can keep doing what we do, covering file hosting costs, production, and transcription services, but we have thank-you gifts at certain tiers and ad-free versions of the episodes for all patrons.   Sponsors  is the premier publisher of books about Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle.  brings the best in new Sherlock Holmes novels, biographies, graphic novels and short story collections every month. With over 400 books it's the largest catalogue of new Sherlock Holmes books in the world.   Would you care to advertise with us? You can find . Let's chat!   Links This episode:  News items (The Beacon Society) (Edinburgh Reporter) (The Telegraph and Argus) (Lucy Worsley) (Yahoo! News) Other episodes mentioned:   Many more links, articles, and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at   as well as through our accounts on , , , and .     And would you consider leaving us a rating and review? It would help other Sherlockians to find us.   Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at 5-1895-221B-5. That's (518) 952-2125.