1. Silver Blaze opens on a tone of urgency as Holmes and Watson must hasten to catch a train at Paddington Station, then as now less

than a mile west of Baker Street.  From London to Exeter would have been nearly 200 miles by train, so likely more than four hours

depending on stops and other conditions. For Holmes there is always some need for quickness - a murderer may strike again or escape.

As in several other adventures, here Holmes is convinced the police have focused on the wrong suspect. What evidence does Holmes

have for this? Bear in mind that there is an external event (the fictional Wessex Cup) which also imposes time limits on Holmes.

2. Holmes and Doyle are able to do a Diophantine analysis of the telegraph posts at leisure - Holmes had had an hour since London

and Doyle as long as he liked (and deadlines permitted). Given the dramatic need for a rapid response what would have been a

computationally simpler pair of posts and seconds - you need not preserve the 53.5 miles per hour speed but something close to it

would be best.

3. What does 'isonomy' mean? As nearly as I can determine, he was a real horse (born 1875, sired by Sterling out of Isola Bella) who

sired two English Triple Crown winners. Of what relevance is the name to the outcome of the story?

4. The narrator describes local geography as "It was evening before we reached the little town of Tavistock, which lies, like the boss of

a shield, in the middle of the huge circle of Dartmoor." In fact, Tavistock is just on the western boundary of Dartmoor. Why the slip?

5. For the curious, the contents of Straker's pockets included vestas (a waxed strike anywhere match), real tobacco and pipe, money

and a 'singular' cataract knife made by a real company John Weiss & Son of London. Could Straker have afforded to travel to London

and buy the (unpriced) knife? What use does Holmes make of this information? Should Doyle have had Watson disclose the rail fare?

6. The odds on Silver Blaze change dramatically - would that be Holmes or Silas Brown of the nearby Mapleton Stables betting? Could

Holmes have re-used the train speed calculation technique to predict Silver Blaze's finishing time?

Prior