Keep Watching (Reading?) the Skies

Summer is a great time for star-gazing, which got me to wondering about ties between crime fiction and astronomy. After a search, I've come to the conclusion those ties aren't very strong, for the most part. Fortunately, Conan Doyle led the way early on. In an article by Bradley E. Schaefer, Schaefer points out that Dr. Watson often points out some fact, such as the phase of the moon or the time of sunrise, which would allow the range of possible dates to be narrowed down (as in the Adventure