The Trail Went Cold - Episode 244 - Richard Lancelyn Green

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

March 27, 2004. London, England. 50-year old Richard Lancelyn Green, considered to be the world’s foremost scholar on Sherlock Holmes, is discovered dead on top of his bed inside his flat. His cause of death is determined to be asphyxiation, as he was garrotted with a shoelace which was tightened around his neck with a wooden spoon. Prior to his death, Lancelyn Green told people his life was in danger over a dispute involving a collection of rare documents from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but since there is no definitive evidence pointing towards homicide or suicide, the coroner returns an open verdict on his death. Was Richard Lancelyn Green the victim of foul play or did he intentionally stage a very unusual and elaborate suicide? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unexplained death of a Sherlock Holmes expert which resembles a scene from a fictional murder mystery. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lancelyn_Green https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/13/mysterious-circumstances https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/23/books.booksnews https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478814/Case-of-the-Sherlock-Holmes-fanatic-who-killed-himself-but-made-it-look-like-murder.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3653645.stm https://www.smh.com.au/world/hint-of-murder-in-suicide-of-expert-on-conan-doyle-20041213-gdkays.html https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60Perfect+mystery%27+of+writer%27s+death+plot%3B+Claim+on+Sherlock+Holmes…-a0126061909 Be sure to check out our promo for the serialized true crime podcast, “Tapes from the Darkside”. Each season, they take one case and investigate in-depth using primary audio from 911 calls, police interrogations and interviews, court proceedings, and any other relevant source they can find. “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	March 27th, 2004.
0:03.0	London, England.
0:05.0	50 year old Richard Lancellen Green, considered to be the world's leading expert on Sherlock Holmes,
0:11.0	is discovered dead on top of his bed inside his flat.
0:14.8	His cause of death is determined to be asphyxiation after he was garroaded with a shoelace
0:19.1	which was tightened around his neck with a wooden spoon. Prior to his death, Lanceling Green told people his life was in danger over a dispute involving a collection of rare documents from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
0:31.0	Since there is no definitive evidence pointing towards homicide or suicide, the coroner returns
0:36.6	an open verdict, so the exact circumstances of how Lanceling Green died are never determined. After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, right, uh, and uh, uh, and uh, uh, yeah.
1:03.0	Oh, uh, uh,
1:04.0	uh,
1:05.0	and uh, and uh, uh, uh,
1:08.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Conan Doyle remains one of those writers so intensely stitched into our culture that it's easy not to notice him.
1:27.0	The immense talent, passion and literary brilliance that he brought to his work gives him a unique place in English letters.
1:36.0	His home stories introduced the wider reading public to more than just the principles of observation
1:42.2	and deduction, close reasoning and cunning detective
1:45.1	work for which they're celebrated.
1:48.2	It was through their glazingly well-written pages that the wider reading public became aware of such things as Mormonism, the Ku Klux
1:58.1	clan, corrupt unions, the mafia, cocaine and opium use, and much else besides from the bloody and macabre
2:08.4	underside of Victorian grandeur and empire. He's unique in simultaneously bringing down the curtain on
2:15.8	one era and raising one on another, ushering in a genre of writing that while
2:20.9	imitated and expanded has never been surpassed.
2:25.0	His own life as footballer, cricketer, eye surgeon, champion of injustice,
	...

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