Sometimes, you just fall on the couch. A little weary with first dulling symptoms of a head cold, a little worn from the work week. And if you’re lucky . . . if you’re really, really lucky, you land on the couch with something well worth reading in your hands. Nothing too weighty, nothing that you’ll have to keep working at over the next few months.  Just something to take you elsewhere for a time.

This week, I was lucky enough to find myself on the couch with the March issue of Baker Street West 1. And that was just the right thing. The boys at Baker Street West 1 have been doing their thing for thirteen years now, quarterly in the early days and bi-annually now, but holding the content steady every step of the way.

The current issue clocks in at a full 52 pages of double columned fun, and it was that rare sort of treat one can sit down and read end-to-end. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, even though it delivers a chronology piece by Bill Cochran and another excellent expedition into the artifacts of Baker Street by that foremost expert in the field, Chuck Kovacic.

A fantastical radio play by R.C. Thompson took me back to the days when Sherlockians were a little more far-flung and fearless in their writings than we see most of the time these days. Sure, it starred Edward Malone and George Challenger instead of Watson and Holmes, but the level of cleverness gave one little reason to care that they stepped out for a few pages. And they were back soon enough, in a “three-minute” pastiche by Ian Gordon II.

But those are just the meatier features of Baker Street West 1. Regular columns by editor Kegley and Jeffory Hart never fail to please, and the bits of the “Agony Column” finish it off with some nice news bits. There’s even a reproduction of an antique campaign flyer for Conan Doyle on the last two pages.

But I’ve plugged enough for this week. Try it for yourself: Two issues a year can be had for $11, checks payable to  Baker Street West 1, from Jerry Kegley, 9338 Sophia Ave., North Hills, CA, 91343.

Your humble correspondent,

Brad Keefauver