In 2002, at the end of a festive January evening, I was made a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, a literary society devoted to Sherlock Holmes. As part of what is called an investiture, a new Irregular is assigned an alias — a name or phrase drawn from the 60 canonical adventures recounted, somewhat sensationally, by Dr. John H. Watson. Quite frequently, these names are keyed to one’s profession, as is mine: Langdale Pike. Some readers may recall that Pike is a newspaper gossip columnist who appears in arguably the worst Sherlock Holmes story, “The Three Gables.”
In the 15 years since that glorious night.