Meeting Notes - Devil's Foot 2026
Max Magee
Meeting Minutes
Notorious Canary-Trainers
Announcements
Lots of coming attractions & Show and Tell - Johanna
Attendees:
John
Max
Johanna
Diane
Kevin & Mary Hendryx
Kent
Dave
Jim & Vicki
Story Discussion:
John - No trouble putting it in the top few—amazing story. No Baker Street, but fun story.
Max - Not in my top-12, but I enjoyed it. On the list of the stories I’d recommend reading once you get into the deeper Canon. Not really a mystery, but a good yarn.
Johanna - Doyle gave up on writing mysteries. It was a thriller, rather than an adventure story—a lot of detective work that wasn’t done. Why wasn’t it called the Cornish Horror!?
Diane - Last time I read it, it really got on my nerves because of Sterndale. I go back and forth, this time I liked it a lot better. Not one of my favorites, but it’s pretty good.
Kevin - I enjoyed it quite a bit, but some similar elements from previous stories. Holmes gets to be judge and jury again at the end, a frustrated love affair. Not a lot for Watson to do, but yes, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Quotation: “That is what you may expect to see when I follow you”
Mary - I liked that it took them to Cornwall, out of London. Get to see Holmes and Watson on vacation. If you can go on vacation together, that’s a strong friendship. I liked it a lot!
Kent - This was the first story I read when I first joined the group. I didn’t know what it was by the title this time around, but I found it out later, and really enjoyed it. Lots of references to devilish, devil-ridden, Satan himself, etc. It was refreshing that it wasn’t in London. Hilarious Holmes jumping around, throwing himself on the ground. Question: Why were they always going in and out the window, didn’t they have doors?
Dave - I liked it more than I remembered, I guess, but I didn’t like it a lot. In About 60, they say that Holmes completely messed this one up, and had a lot of alternative theories (and what Holmes should’ve done). This was one of Doyle’s favorites (his 9th favorite). Quotation: “I fear," said Holmes, "that if the matter is beyond humanity it is certainly beyond me. Yet we must exhaust all natural explanations before we fall back upon such a theory as this.”
Vicki - I guess I liked the story overall, but it was longer than it needed to be (maybe I was just tired). I enjoyed all the geographic location stuff in Cornwall, having been to a couple of those places. We brought a book of Victorian maps—it’s open to Cornwall and you can find some of the places on it.
Jim - I liked the story fine. I think it might be assailable in that the climax came in the middle of the story, one might say. Somehow it should’ve been structured differently, perhaps. I liked the fact that he used the term nauseous correctly: “They were not long in coming. I had hardly settled in my chair before I was conscious of a thick, musky odour, subtle and nauseous. At the very first whiff of it my brain and my imagination were beyond all control.”
General Discussion
Johanna - Holmes is a chemist, and his first instinct is not “let’s borrow a microscope” it was “let’s smoke it!” Ghost Bees:
https://ghostbees.tumblr.com/post/808442854483673088/the-devils-foot-x-our-little-adventures-4360
John - I had similar thoughts the last time I read this, but upon further reflection this time, you often did test it on yourself. LSD guy, Isaac Newton put a stick behind his eyeball. [Max’s note, it was actually a bodkin—a dull needle…which is worse!]
Jim - That part is reminiscent of Study in Scarlet, experimentation on the dog.
Johanna - Klinger pointed out the line about poisoning the roommate.
Dave - The name Brenda is the same thing as Tiffany problem.
Johanna - Was reading about the other detective stories at this time, and there were often these dramatic/sensationalistic stories, like Devil’s Foot
John - This was one of the stories where it didn’t really need to be Holmes. It could’ve been anybody, but because it was Holmes, we still read it.
Max - Similarities struck me about this story for the first time: Scarecrow from Batman; the “fear toxin” which twisted faces, the horror and horrific hallucinations, Batman almost killed by getting poisoned (at least in the film).
Johanna - Also similar to Joker trying to poison Gotham’s water (Smilex, Batman ‘89). Thought it was funny that Holmes “doesn’t like the publicity” but then sends him a telegram saying “tell ‘em about The Cornish Horror.”
Kent - I thought the criticism was unfair in About 60, about Holmes’ investigative procedures.
John - Similar to Dancing Men (let his client get murdered)
John - The ending: there’s no reason for us to pursue this further, let the police figure it out. He says there’s no way that the police will figure it out.
Jim - Holmes knows it has something to do with the atmosphere—there’s something in the air, the housekeeper fainted. I agree with whoever (John) said the brothers weren’t capable of being interviewed.
John - When he heard Sterndale was coming back, he did understand
Max - Talc Shield; soot shield
Jim - Sterndale’s tale is reminiscent of the difficulties of divorce laws & also of Doyle
Johanna - But did we know his wife was okay with him going out and falling in love with Brenda? Was he in love with Brenda and then his wife left him?
Diane - From the Oxford, Doyle had just become the President of the Divorce Law Reform Union in 1909
John - Doyle’s interests in archaeology, languages, etc. all make an appearance here.
Debate about the facial expressions at death (if they are in terror, they’ll have a horrific face)
Mushrooms, LSD, psychoactive substances and Devil’s Foot
Max - Lion’s mane mushroom is in everything now.
Johanna - The Adventure of the Three Ghosts has a reference to Devil’s Foot
Next month’s story: The Valley of Fear - Part 1 (1914)
Next month's discussion leader: Who knows!?
Yeoman Purser of the Barque of the Lone Star & Cap'n Basil's Mignonettes