Ever since I jumped into the Sherlock Holmes scene with both feet a few years ago, I’ve been conscious of the issues of gender and feminism that underlie the current surging interest in the detective. One of the first things I learned, one that amazed me, was that the Baker Street Irregulars, respected international Holmes organization, did not admit women until the year 1991. I also learned that in past years, women who wanted to be active in the world of Sherlock Holmes fandom (for it is a fandom, make no mistake), did not always have the easiest time of it. Even today, the issues of sex and gender are a complicated and sometimes unpleasant aspect of being in the Holmesian world.

And yet, this post is not meant to be in the least bleak, because, well, you can’t keep, as they say, good women down. In the late 1960s…