Well, now we can make some guesses as to why he was wearing a suit last weekend.

From the January 22 Dirda on Books column in the Washington Post:

This past weekend I was up in New York for the Baker Street Irregulars conference, which is usually held earlier in the month, closer to the January 6 that is presumed to be Sherlock Holmes’s birthday. As a result of the late date, I had to miss an important birthday party, and I fear that the honoree–her 50th birthday–is mad enough at me not to acknowledge my gift. Sigh.
Anyway, it was a very literary and clubby time. I stayed with the writer John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), had drinks with Louis Begley (About Schmidt, Shipwreck), and took Neil Gaiman (The Sandman graphic novels, American Gods) as a guest to the actual banquet, where I keynoted on the 150th anniversary of SH’s birth. Well lah-dee-dah, Dirda, aren’t you something special? .

There’s more, but I’ll leave it as an exercise to reader to follow the link. Besides, Michael Dirda writes a very entertaining column.

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Just as a heads up, there are a number of interesting rumours set about in Rich Johnson’s Lying in the Gutters columns for Jan. 20th and Jan. 13th on future comics projects. I’d imagine taking each with a large helping of sodium would be appropriate, but it’s interesting stuff to ponder, and as with everything it’s probably best to watch Neil’s journal to see when/if any of it has a basis in the real world.