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Sherlock Indianapolis . . .

All roads may lead to Peoria . . . eventually . . . but Peoria’s main exit artery, I-74, leads two places: Somewhere in Iowa that I’m not sure I’m ready to visit yet, and Indianapolis, Indiana. And if you don’t think Indianapolis is a city with connections to Sherlock Holmes, you haven’t been paying attention.

This weekend, the hundredth anniversary of the events recorded in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" was celebrated by the Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis, and it was the perfect occasion for a Peoria Sherlockian or two to visit that historic metropolis.

I’ve long considered Indiana the "Canada" to Illinois’s "U.S.A." and considering what great Sherlockians Canada has, is it any wonder that Indiana has some terrific ones as well? (Don’t try to make too much sense out of that – it’s Brad-logic.) If you’ve ever met any Illustrious Clients in the travels to Sherlockian events, you know they’re a fun bunch, and gathered en masse, they just glow all the brighter.

The Clients decided to celebrate their story’s hundredth at the very historic Athenaeum Rathskeller Restaurant in downtown Indy. Need a literary connection? Kurt Vonnegut’s dad designed the place back in the 1890’s. The Rathskeller is a terrific old entertainment complex, with a Biergarten, a theater, a bar, and a whole lot of restaurant tables and banquet rooms . . . which turned out to be a good thing. Turnout for the Clients event was very impressive, and Sherlockians wandered in from as far away as New York and Minneapolis.

But I won’t bore you with moment-by-moment details from our alley-encounter with Indianapolis’s finest Sherlockians to our exit through the wild rock-and-roll of the Biergarten, here are some highlights, just to show you what the Clients are made of:

HIGHLIGHT ONE: Hot Sherlockian chicks (Got your attention? Good.). At first, I thought the Clients were bringing in ringers for a late-in-the-program stage production of Gruner’s lust diary. There was a 1992 class reunion going on across the Biergarten during the initial meet-and-greet, and I can’t tell you how many times I thought, "Oh, she had to be a cheerleader back in ’92," only to realize, "No, wait, that’s Nancy Pilot!"

HIGHLIGHT TWO: Well-dressed Sherlockian men-about-town. I’m more and more impressed by the stylish dressers among our ranks, especially as I keep forgetting pieces of my suit (or the whole thing) until I get out of town.

HIGHLIGHT THREE: Meredith Granger’s correspondence skills. Meredith’s obtaining greetings from everyone from the lord mayor of London to the Queen of England herself (or at least their correspondence secretaries) was a feat that brought a sense of grandeur and glory to the proceedings, if the edifice in which we were meeting didn’t already do that.

HIGHLIGHT FOUR: Two quizzes. Two! Unlike many a Sherlockian social society that lets its members coast, especially on special occasions, the Clients presented members and guests with two tests of mental acuity, and one of them was pretty darned tough. Have to say, though, with Julie McKuras and Susan Diamond at our table, we seemed to hold our own, as tables go. The males at the table, Dayton quiz-guru Bob Cairo, wonder-man Gordon Speck, Stud-master Allen Devitt, and myself were less enthusiastic about our answers, remaining humbly satisfied, I’m sure.

HIGHLIGHT FIVE: Client presentations. Don Curtis, Pat Ward, Steve Doyle, and others offered a nice variety of materials, from scholarship to poetry to choraltry(?) They seem to do it all with such easy grace, you’d think they did this stuff at dinner every night.

HIGHLIGHT SIX: Julie McKuras and Dick Sveum. They’re not just great Sherlockians, they’re a travelling roadshow for the Sherlock Holmes collections of the University of Minneapolis. The presentation they did, showing Clients-related artifacts from the collection, was incredible and a terrific surprise to one and all. Did you know that Conan Doyle actually wrote something while in Indianapolis? We found that out (and saw proof!), along with a whole list of amazing facts and evidence, presented with all the charm Julie and Dick are becoming known for.

HIGHLIGHT SEVEN: Mass quantities of food. When you’ve got fifty people ordering off the menu, glitches do occur, but let me tell you . . . if you’re ever in Indianapolis, try the Rathskeller. I’ll be heading there again. (And on the way back, we stopped at the Beef House, I-74’s "must-eat" place between Indy and Peoria, so it was a banner eating weekend.)

But like all good things, even a weekend in Indy must come to an end, as does this week’s column. I’m hoping to lure some Clients up to Peoria for the celebration of the Hansom’s 25 th anniversary in November, so don’t think you’d heard the last of that bunch in this column.

Your humble correspondent,
Brad Keefauver