Nice one

​Sherlock telling Norbury "Just back to your little flat on Wigmore Street. They've taken up the pavement outside the post office there. The local clay on your shoes is very distinctive."

is a nod to the Sign of Four when Sherlock tells John

"For example, observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Street Post-Office this morning" and then explains "Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Seymour Street Office they have taken up the pavement  and thrown up some earth which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering. The earth is of this peculiar reddish tint which is found, as far as I know, nowhere else in the neighborhood."

Oh

​When I heard it, I immediately thought of that dialogue between Sherlock and John but for some reason I was sure it was in the Blue Carbuncle and was unlucky while trying to find the extract. I only realised today that it actually was in the Sign of Four and was then able to find the proper quote

Last edited by Punch me in the face (January 3, 2017 10:21 pm)

Very good observations, kudos to you both! 

Was the thumb the wrong one because it wasn't The engineers thumb. 

Interesting.

nakahara wrote:

Mark´s inspiration for a Samarra story:

http://skulls-and-tea.tumblr.com/post/155288308936/a-man-is-sitting-in-a-tavern-in-damascus-he

It's such a well-known story that I'd be really surprised if he hadn't heard of it anyway.  But of course he has also written Agatha Christie adaptations.  I love that he's a fan!  I also read a lot of Christie in my youth. 
 

Meretricious wrote:

Two of the code names Mycroft mentions at the start – Langdale and Porlock – are canon references. Langdale Pike was mentioned in The Adventure of the Three Gables, and Fred Porlock was an informant in The Valley of Fear.

There is also an interesting reference to a shark in The Valley of Fear:

"Who then is Porlock?" I asked.

"Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere identification mark; but behind it lies a shifty and evasive personality. In a former letter he frankly informed me that the name was not his own, and defied me ever to trace him among the teeming millions of this great city. Porlock is important, not for himself, but for the great man with whom he is in touch. Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion —anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but sinister—in the highest degree sinister. That is where he comes within my purview. You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?"

Thank you, I did not realise we had these names in the Canon.
 

When John speaks with Mary in Morrocco, he says to her (transcript from our marvellous Ariane de Vere):

JOHN: Mary, I may not be a very good man, but I think I´m a bit better than you give me credit for, most of the time.

This is actually the quote from "The Yellow Face", the short story where the term "Norbury" originated too. Sherlock´s client, Munro, apologises to his wife at the end of the story:

"I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being."

Still, the meaning of the scene was tweaked a bit. In the original, Munro apologises for suspecting his wife due to misunderstanding. Here, John apologises to his wife too - but her lies were real....

Last edited by nakahara (January 7, 2017 7:28 pm)

Wow, I'm loving all the bright minds here and your attention to all the Canon references. I'm learning a lot .And it's fun.