Vicki Risko Alvarez
Professor Emerita, Vanderbilt University

Ed. D in Reading Education and Learning Disabilities- West Virginia University

2012 - "VR" (BRUC)

Favorite Stories
The Red-Headed League
A Scandal in Bohemia
Least favorite – The Speckled Band

How did you become interested in Sherlock Holmes?

Through my research on interdisciplinary teaching using the Young Sherlock Holmes movie as an anchor to study the Victorian era with fifth grade students. We accessed this film to study history, social and cultural influences, economics, math, medicine, travel and machinery, and literature of this period in history.

Victoria J. Risko was on the faculty of Vanderbilt University for 35 years, a member of the language, literacy, and culture area of the Department of Teaching and Learning. She was the 2011-2012 President of the International Reading Association and a member of IRA’s Board of Directors, 2002–2005. Vicki, a former classroom teacher and reading specialist, received her B.S. in English and Elementary Education from the University of Pittsburgh, and her M.A. and Ed. D. in Reading Education and Learning Disabilities from West Virginia University.

Shannon Carlisle - ASH, BSI

2018 BSI - Beacons of the Future!
2017 ASH - The Seventeenth Step
2013 N Scholars- 221 B Baker Street

Spouse: Matt Carlisle

Director, Junior Sherlockian Society
Listen to Shannon’s IHOSE interview
regarding the Junior Sherlockian Society.

Favorite Stories
A Scandal in Bohemia
The Red-Headed League
The Six Napoleons

How did you become interested in Sherlock Holmes?

As a child I was a reluctant reader. I didn’t become a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast until 2011. That fall, I was given a new charge . . . to become the accelerated learning teacher at my school.

Shannon shares her thoughts about her Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes investiture: The Seventeen Steps.

And here is part of her 2013 investiture for the Nashville Scholars:
Today, the Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem bestow the canonical name of “221B Baker Street” on an outstanding teacher, Shannon Carlisle. Named the Beacon Society Award winner as the most outstanding Sherlockian Teacher in the world, she has distinguished herself as an educator as she teaches our children through the world of Holmes and Watson. Our scion society is honored by her presence and her dedication to keeping green the memory of the Master, and today we welcome her into our midst. (Billy Fields, Convener)

My classrooms have had themes, and my room was currently “the garden.” I was the “kid gardener” charged with nurturing “the seeds,” my students. However, with my new position, I needed a new classroom theme . . . one that would inspire and embrace my new students. It was then that I decided my classroom would be 221b. I felt that my learners could relate to many of Sherlock Holmes’s character traits. Additionally, after analyzing his observational skills and deductive reasoning, it was my hope that my students would call upon those same powerful skills during their own studies daily.

Shannon raising a toast to “Mrs. Hudson”, a long-held tradition at BSI dinners in New York City. This was in 2020, two years after her BSI investiture as Beacons of the Future!.

Theresa Ann Dyer

2023, Nashville Scholar, “Under the Oak, Over the Elm”
Musgrave Ritual

Nashville Scholars is the first Sherlockian society you’ve joined. Yes

How did you hear about us and become interested? Andrew Solberg, and I'm grateful for his recommendation

You are an artist. Do you like to write as well? I was a commercial architect previously, but my writing has been confined to personal poems and short stories.

Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story? Two equally . . . . The Musgrave Ritual and The Adventure of the Devil's Foot

We welcome you to the Nashville Scholars with your investiture nom as:
Under the Oak, Over the Elm

Tom and Anita Feller

Tom Feller
1998 - Hilton Cubitt (DANC)

Anita Feller
1998 - Elsie Cubitt (DANC)

Hilton, a “tall, ruddy, clean shaven gentleman, whose clear eyes and florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of Baker Street”, was a loving husband who held to his affection for Elsie even though she told him of her previous “disagreeable association.”

Elsie, a native of Chicago, feverously attempted to push aside her love for Hilton in order to protect him. Despite her early warnings of potential problems arising from her life in America, their marriage was a remarkably happy one.

Happily, in Nashville, we have a couple who share the same kind of love and affection as the Cubitts shared. They are seemingly inseparable and share a great love for Holmes as well as a love for a strange genre of literature . . . science fiction.

Billy Fields

1987 - Horace Harker (SIXN)

Spouse: Donna Fields

Official Convener for Nashville Scholars

Billy Fields found Sherlock Holmes like so many others: in the person of Basil Rathbone and the movies. Also like others, he read “The Speckled Band,” and he was hooked. In 1987, he found an interesting article in the old Nashville Banner highlighting the Nashville Scholars of the Three Pipe Problem, and he has been there ever since. While serving as the Scholars' Chief Investigator, his role is to keep order and calm during meetings.

Aside from his Sherlockian World, he has served the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County in many capacities (including being on the staff of six different mayors) while dabbling in politics as the Chair of the Davidson County (Tennessee) Democratic Party. Billy and his wife, Donna, now live atop Winkler Mountain on the Cumberland Plateau. He still teaches Sunday School and leads weekend mission trips around the south. He also is a member of the Fresh Rashers of Nashville and a few other Sherlockian Societies.

David Fields

2018 - Inspector Tobias Gregson (STUD)

Inspector Gregson, a Scotland Yard inspector, was first introduced in A Study in Scarlet (1887), and he subsequently appears in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter" (1893), "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" (1908) and "The Adventure of the Red Circle" (1911).

It has been written that “of all the Yarders,” Gregson comes the closest to meeting Sherlock Holmes on intellectual grounds, while acknowledging Holmes's abilities. He even admits to Holmes that he always feels more confident when he has Holmes's aid in a case.

Caryn Harris

2019 - The Blue Carbuncle (BLUE)

Caryn Harris (The Blue Carbuncle) moved to Nashville in 2010. She was born in Pennsylvania and spent her childhood in Idaho. After graduating from high school, she lived in several other places, including Maine, London, and Northern Virginia, before arriving at the Volunteer State.

She began reading mysteries, including the stories about Sherlock Holmes, in her youth. She belongs to several book clubs, although the Nashville Scholars is the first (and only) one devoted to Doyle’s works. Her favorite stories are “The Red-Headed League,” “The Blue Carbuncle,” and The Hound of the Baskervilles.

In her most recent job, she served as advocacy director of a non-profit organization. Currently, she studies business at the University of Notre Dame.

She enjoys learning from the presentations of The Nashville Scholars, especially as they highlight historical information about British society during Doyle’s lifetime.

Jim Hawkins, BSI

2022 BSI - The Hans Sloane of My Age (3GAR)
1988 N Scholars - Little Jimmy Griggs (VEIL)

Spouse: Susan Hawkins - 1995 - Hattie Doran (NOBL)

Favorite Stories
The Final Problem
The Empty House

How I Discovered Sherlock Holmes
On my 40th birthday (1984) my wife gave me The Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Barring-Gould. I read it cover to cover and discovered how much fun being a Sherlockian could be. In “The Annotated” I came across a man named John Bennett Shaw, who had more fun “playing the game” than anyone. And he changed my life forever, as you will learn.

Hawkins arrived in Nashville in 1985, two years before the Centennial Anniversary of the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print—the Beaton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. He spent those two years preparing for the celebration by joining the Nashville Scholars, attending meetings, and making new friends in the somewhat strange world of Sherlockian societies.

Prior to leaving Norman, OK, for his new job with The Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Baptist Resources) here in Nashville, he founded the Norman Neruda scion society in Norman.

After a 16-year hiatus of involvement with Sherlockian events due to time limitations with his employment and travel with Southwest Airlines (2001-2017), he came back strong, creating a website for his Sherlockian mentor, John Bennett Shaw. (See the website here.) You are viewing his latest website creation, Nashville Scholars (dot) com.

Each person that becomes a Nashville Scholar is given the name of a character (or a place, or an object, or an event) from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Called a nom, short for nom de plume or pen name, each member gets to select their own. The BSI is a bit different in assigning the nom, in that the head of the organization, the person designated as “Wiggins”, makes the choice.

I thought I had lost my Nashville Scholars investiture until I came across it online today (January 22 - 01/22/2022). It was in the attic for years, and has obviously suffered some silverfish damage since 1988. In 2001 I changed my nom to Little Jimmy Griggs (VEIL) because I liked Watson’s description of him as, “poor devil, he had little to be happy about but he did what he could to hold things together.”

For all the years I was a Nashville Scholar (1987-present), I was completely happy to do all my Sherlock-ing here in Nashville, attending the meetings at the local Sherlock Holmes pub, or the various places we met through the years. Of course I knew about the Baker Street Irregulars dinners in New York City, but that seemed like another world. Billy Fields and I attended an occasional Gaslight Gala, the alternative dinner held at the same time for those Sherlockians not invited to the BSI Dinner. And we had a blast and met lots of wonderful people whom we stayed in touch with, many of them already members of our WelcomeHolmes online discussion group.

But after my 16-year hiatus from most Sherlockian events, I decided to get back to my Holmes beginnings by honoring John Bennett Shaw with his own website in 2018. I had a dream of further exploring his world by attending at least one of the BSI dinners, but no invitation was forthcoming during the time of Mike Whelan, the BSI “Wiggins.”

My work on the JBS website put me in touch with “golden era” Sherlockians I had never met in person, and I found them utterly kind and fascinating. It was through these contacts, these newly made friends, after Michael Kean became the new “Wiggins,” that I received the invitation, and decided to attend the January 14, 2022 BSI dinner.

I sat with fellow Nashville Scholar, Dr. Marino Alvarez (BSI “Hilton Soames”, 2015), and with five other Sherlockians from around the country. I had finally achieved my dream of being in the midst of the “brightest and best” Sherlock Holmes devotees, where John Shaw spent so many wonderful nights. He attended many of the dinners from 1965 to the time of his death in 1994.

Attending the dinner was, I thought, surely the fulfillment of my dream, but there was more. Michael Kean read my name out as being a new member of the BSI and then announced that I was to be “The Hans Sloane of My Age,” the investiture given to John Shaw in 1965. I’m not sure I will ever live through a more exciting and fulfilling event as that!

Friend and fellow BSI member, Rob Nunn, posted this interview with me in his Interesting Though Elementary blog in April of 2022.

In January 2023, Dan Andriacco became the editor of the Baker Street Journal, the official publication of the Baker Street Irregulars. Dan invited me to speak at the Holmes, Doyle, & Friends symposium in March 2023 and posted brief biographies of the speakers on his BakerStreetBlog. Look for The Energetic Spirit of Shaw Comes to Dayton.

David Hayes

2001 - Inspector Baynes (WIST)
Spouse: Judi Hayes

I had enjoyed the Basil Rathbone movies for some time when I learned that there were not only a whole lot of movies but stories on which they were based. Dean Richardson introduced me to the canon and to the Scholars.

My favorite story is “The Musgrave Ritual.”

I like Mycroft Holmes, particularly in “The Bruce-Partington Plans.”

One of the things I like best about The Nashville Scholars is the sense of fellowship, particularly when there is a sharing of insight into that meeting’s story.

I was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland and found my way to Nashville courtesy of the US Air Force. I am a graduate of West Nottingham Academy, Colora, MD, and the University of Tennessee-Nashville (BA, MBA). I am a Certified Financial Planner and an Enrolled Agent.

Sam House

2018 - Sir Henry Baskerville (HOUN)
Spouse: Polly House

How did you become interested in Sherlock Holmes?
The series of Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone frequently appeared on television back in the 1950s and ‘60s. Even as a small child I was fascinated that anyone could glean so much information and insight by being observant.

What is your favorite story?
The Hound of the Baskervilles, because it teeters along on the edge of a supernatural explanation before offering a plausible physical explanation for the crimes.

Who are your favorite characters other than Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson?
Mrs. Hudson. She is a constant, either ignores or is unaware of new dangers, and accepts Holmes exactly as he is—though not without complaint.

What do you enjoy about our monthly meetings?
I am fascinated by the variety of personalities and interests found in the group.

Biographical information written by Sam

“I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in the St. Louis metro area. My maternal grandparents were both natural story tellers. I was always ready to hear their stories, and they were always accommodating. At the end of my undergraduate studies at Missouri State, I was planning a career in law or politics when I experienced a calling to ministry. After attending seminary in New Orleans, my earlier experiences in journalism, writing, non-profits and political science would all help me in my eventual career at LifeWay, a publishing house for Christian materials. Moving to Nashville in 1982, my wife Polly, and I both worked in journalism and publishing for Southern Baptist entities until our retirements in the past few years. Our two sons, their wives, and our three grandchildren all live in the area. I share stories with them and have enjoyed researching some of the family legends through genealogical research. I also love to garden and teach English as a second language.”

From his Investiture document

This new Scholar has built a career upon words and has worked much of his life to educate and support learning for others. His career at Lifeway as well as his efforts to educate new Nashvillians through teaching English as a second language is admirable and brings great pride to our midst. Supported by his wife, Polly, and their two sons and three grandchildren, we recognize he will be supported and flourish as a Scholar. So today (1/18/2018), we happily invite Sam House to enter our society as Sir Henry Baskerville, knowing he will always focus his attention on Keeping Green the memory of the master.

Cory Howell

NOM (to be added)

Howell became a member in December 2020. He authors a blog titled “Baker Street Babble—A Home for Holmes Online” and describes himself thusly: I'm a stay-at-home dad, and Director of Music Ministries at a United Methodist Church in Mt. Juliet, TN, and a longtime fan of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

I started reading the Holmes stories a good thirty-odd years ago, at the age of 10 or 11 (I don't remember exactly when). My great aunt bought me a paperback anthology of Holmes stories, which I devoured. (I remember "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" being my favorite one.) My grandfather was also a big Holmes fan, and he and I used to talk about the detective quite often. When I got a little older, I saved up enough money to purchase the Doubleday edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes (probably about age 12 or 13) and proceeded to read all the short stories and novels. I've been a fan ever since.

Duncan Kimbro Conor Kimbro

John Clayton (HOUN) The Red-Headed League (REDH)

Father and son. Connor was the youngest member of Nashville Scholars when he was made “Red-Headed League” in 2015, and his father was made John Clayton, the hansom cab driver, a couple of years later.

(From Duncan’s investiture)
John Clayton appears but once in the canon, but his role as the cab driver for a disguised Stapleton in The Hound of the Baskervilles cements his place in Sherlockian lore. His cab, number 2704, was out of Shipley’s yard near the Waterloo Station.

For Nashville, our John Clayton serves an equally important and distinguished role. As the personal chauffeur and valet for our “Red Headed League,” we depend upon him for not only bringing our youngest member to our gatherings, but for bringing to us his own scholarly approach to the canon and our discussion.

Today, we ask Duncan Kimbro to enter our society as John Clayton.

Conor, the youngest member in the history of the Nashville Scholars, was in the 5th grade when he became a member. His teacher is Shannon Carlisle. Here he receives his investiture from Billy Fields in 2015.

Ron Kritter

Thorneycroft Huxtable (PRIO)
Non-Resident Member
Lives in Milwaukee, WI

Nashville Scholars Stahl, Hawkins, and Fields met Ron and his wife Chris in Chicago in 1990 on the occasion of a STUD meeting hosted by Allen Devitt and Susan Diamond. Ron and Chris quickly became special friends. Later Ron was the Discussion Leader for our discussion group, WelcomeHolmes (now hosted at welcomeholmes@groups.io )

No one has ever stirred up the Sherlockian discussions like Ron Kritter. He was a magic act as Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable and people flocked to his witty challenges and questions.

Ron Lies

Non-Resident Member
(Denver, CO)

Ron Lies is also a member of Dr. Watson’s Neglected Patients in Denver. He and Hawkins became friends on WelcomeHolmes and then discovered they both had visited John Bennett Shaw’s library in Santa Fe in the 1980s but had never met. Hawkins had overnights with Southwest Airlines, and Lies and Hawkins had dinners. These became planning sessions for a website to honor their Sherlockian friend and mentor John Bennett Shaw. Read Ron’s personal experience on a visit to Shaw’s Brothers Three of Moriarty party.

The two of us decided we would call ourselves Brothers In Shaw.

Sadly, we report the passing of Ron Lies on January 16, 2023, at 1:00 AM in Denver, CO.
Sherlockians from all over the United States and from foreign countries have sent their
condolences. I will miss my Brother-In-Shaw, a pact we made to remember and honor
John Bennett Shaw, our Sherlockian mentor, and friend. Rest in peace, Ron. Together
we have honored Mr. Shaw: www.johnbennettshaw.com

A recent image of Mr. Lies in his Sherlockian deerstalker.

Jei Liu

2020 - The Solitary Cyclist (SOLI)

My very first story was “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and I read it in Chinese when I was in elementary school. That was also the first story I read when I re-read the canon in English.

My favorite story in the canon is The Hound of the Baskervilles.

I have read all the original stories in the canon, except for The Valley of Fear.

Interestingly, I have not seen any of the modern Sherlock Holmes movies yet. Some things are better to leave to imagination I guess. [Editor’s note: I love that sentence.] I do plan to catch up on the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch in 2022.

David Marcum

2018 - Engineer’s Thumb (ENGR)

We were delighted when David Marcum decided to make the four-hour drive from Maryville in East Tennessee to join us in Nashville and become a Nashville Scholar. He is a civil engineer but has an enviable reputation as a writer and publisher of Sherlock Holmes materials. To really get to know David Marcum, you must visit his blog, A Seventeen Step Program. Begin with his blog on Young Sherlock Holmes posted in 2017.

“David has collected literally thousands of traditional Holmes pastiches in the form of novels, short stories, radio and television episodes, movies and scripts, comics, fan-fiction, and unpublished manuscripts. He is the author of The Papers of Sherlock Holmes, vols. I and II (2011, 2013), Sherlock Holmes and a Quantity of Debt (2013), and Sherlock Holmes – Tangled Skeins (2015). Additionally, he is the editor of the three-volume set "Sherlock Holmes in Montague Street" (2014, recasting Arthur Morrison’s Martin Hewitt stories as early Holmes adventures,) and most recently the ongoing anthology series, "The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories" (2015- ).“

He is a member of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, The John H. Watson Society (“Marker”), The Praed Street Irregulars (“The Obrisset Snuff Box”), The Solar Pons Society of London, The Occupants of the Full House (A Baker Street Irregulars Scion,) and The Diogenes Club West (East Tennessee Annex), a curious and unofficial scion of one.

Today, we welcome him to our side, and he will be known as The Engineers’ Thumb with the charge of continuing to use his skills, his talents, and his contacts to spread the word to the masses about Holmes. (From Marcum’s investiture document.)

During the Baker Street Irregulars Weekend, January 4-8, 2023, David was honored by the Arthur Conan Doyle Society for the best story of 2022. The award was given by publisher Derrick Belanger during a ceremony at The Mysterious Book Shop, a favorite bookstore in New York for all Sherlockians.

Marcum’s story, The Unintended Offenses, is included in Steel True, Blade Straight (2022 Annual), published by Belanger Books.

Bill Markie

2010 - Webley in several stories

My initial encounter with Sherlock Holmes was in the Reader's Digest Condensed Books & Stories around 1969: The Speckled Band.

Then I received a copy of the canon for Christmas in 1972.
Favorite Story: “The Empty House.”
”I reside in Lebanon, Tennessee, with wife and cat! Infrequent meeting attendance due to crippling disability.” (Bill’s account of himself)

Bill may have a crippling disability, but he is always a joy to be around. I’ve never heard him complain. He has keen insight into the stories and the people in our scion society.
(Jim Hawkins)