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The Bruce-Partington Diptych
(The Redacted Stage Plays)
“A dramatised version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Bruce-Partington Plans is followed by that story’s chilling sequel, The Sleeper’s Cache. Missing blueprints papers and then a missing spy. Who better than Sherlock Holmes to investigate?”
The Holloway Ghosts
When Inspector Lestrade calls on Sherlock Holmes with a tale of a mysterious conflict in a house in Holloway, Holmes is sceptical, scoffing at the existence of ghosts. However, as he investigates the case – in which a key witness seems to have vanished from the face of the earth – he discovers a murdered corpse inside an otherwise empty house and the plot thickens. Holmes and Watson know that even though departed spirits may not be at work, there are certainly earth-bound mysteries to solve here. This thrilling adventure is written by critically acclaimed author Hugh Ashton, one of the world’s leading proponents of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. An excellent choice for any fan of the great detective, nothing is quite what it seems – other than the ever-reliable Holmes and Watson, brought masterfully to life again by narrator Steve White.
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Enfield Rope
A radio play version of the Sherlock Holmes adventure in which the Enfield Rope, a famous string of pearls, is substituted for counterfeits in an attempt to discredit the British Royal Family. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must find the criminals responsible, and stop the scandal by recovering the genuine pearls.
Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells Volume 1
The World’s Greatest Detective in the Realms of the Master of Science Fiction! Imagine Holmes trying to solve the case of an invisible man attacking London – matching wits with a traveler from out of time – tracking down a human/feline hybrid – using his deductive skills to help fight Martian and lunar invaders! These are just some of the stories included in Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of H.G. Wells.
Sherlock Holmes and The Molly Boy Murders
London, 1889. In a city still reeling from the depredations of Jack the Ripper another killer arises. Stalking the West End and Marylebone and striking at a seemingly unconnected group of victims, the murderer leaves fear and confusion in his wake. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson, and Inspector Lestrade face a case like no other they have yet faced. A case that will leave each of them changed and bring personal danger as they race against a mounting death toll to bring down the Molly-Boy Murderer.
Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Legacy
“Following the success of the earlier volume, The Baker Street Case-Files, we have another collection of previously unknown Holmes and Watson tales that will excite the interests of readers across the globe – The Baker Street Legacy. A decade before his death, Dr Watson let it be known that with his passing he wished his nephew, Christopher Henry Watson MD, to be the executor of his will and guardian of all his personal and pecuniary affairs. One of the tasks he sanctioned was that his nephew should use his discretion in selecting for publication some of the three dozen or so cases involving Holmes and Watson which had not already seen the light of day.
THE SOLAR PONS SERIES
VOL. 1 –
Once again in old London, “the game is afoot.” In these pastiches of the Sacred Writings, written when he was nineteen and twenty, August Derleth has recreated the London of Sherlock Holmes. It does not matter that the familiar name has become Solar Pons, or that the familiar Baker Street has become Praed Street — something of the nostalgic charm and fascination, of the remembered quickening of the pulse and the familiar settings of the original London of Sherlock Holmes, has been recaptured in these pages. And what intriguing titles there arc to these twelve pastiches, chosen from among a greater number! Here are “The Adventure of the Frightened Baronet” — about a spectral image of Siva seen at a country estate beyond London; “The Adventure of the Purloined Periapt” — which is the purest of pastiches and perhaps the closest of all the tales in this book to the original spirit; “The Adventure of the Norcross Riddle” —containing some of the neatest deduction in the book; “The Adventure of the Man with the Broken Face” — a tale of “dark waters”; and eight others….
VOL. 2 –
This long-awaited second collection of pastiches of the immortal Sherlock Holmes offers 11 adventures of Solar Pons, who has been called by Vincent Starrett “a clever impersonator, with a twinkle in his eye, which tells us that he knows he is not Sherlock Holmes, and knows that we know it, but that he hopes we will like him anyway for what he symbolizes.” Here are such fascinating stories as “The Adventure of the Paralytic Mendicant”, an account of as unique a vengeance as was ever perpetrated between boards; “The Adventure of the Circular Room”, a tale of a diabolic plot which will rouse many a memory of the old Master; the complex puzzle which will be of particular interest to bibliophiles told in the Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Contest prize-winning “The Adventure of the Six Silver Spiders”; the curious affair which is “The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf’; and others which will bring back old, long-vanished Baker Street days. Once again in the London of years ago “the game is afoot.” Certainly no living writer has brought the Holmesian pastiche to a higher development than this….
VOL 3 –
It will be good news to many devotees of the deductive story – particularly the pastiche of Sherlock Holmes – that Solar Pons is back in a third major collection after a lapse of seven years. In his introduction to this collection, Mr. Smith echoes the sentiments of many readers and listeners when he says, “These pastiches come the closest of any that have been written, consistently, to capturing the true flavor of the Holmesian saga and to making its people and its places and its happenings entirely credible.” There are 13 tales in this collection, ranging from the complex problem set forth in “The Adventure of the Lost Dutchman” to the sanguine events chronicled in “The Adventure of the Swedenborg Signatures”. Here are such provocative exploits as “The Adventure of the Penny Magenta”, “The Adventure of the Trained Cormorant”, “The Adventure of the Little Hangman”, “The Adventure of the Remarkable Worm”, “The Adventure of the Camberwell Beauty”. Here is a puzzle with supernatural overtones – “The Adventure of the Devil’s Footprints”, and here, too, another one which touches upon the early exploration of atomic secrets – “The Adventure of the Rydberg Numbers”. And one of these entertaining accounts is a double pastiche – not only of the Master of Baker Street but also of the sinister Oriental of Limehouse! These tales will bring back long-missed Baker Street days, for, Number 7, Praed Street bears a striking resemblance to 221B Baker Street, and Solar Pons and Dr. Parker seem often interchangeable with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. No living writer has equaled August Derleth’s achievement in these pastiches, offered to listeners with no intention to deceive, but only to entertain. Here, once again, is London of decades ago, and here, once again, “the game is afoot”.
VOL 4 –
Once more the most successful of pastiche-detectives, Solar Pons, walks on stage with a new sequence of adventures. In this fourth major collection, Solar Pons is engaged with an intriguing variety of problems.
THE REDACTED SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIES
VOL. 1 –
Orlando Pearson, Dr. Watson’s successor as the assistant to Sherlock Holmes, was entrusted by the doctor with notes on cases too controversial to publish during Holmes’s career.
The three complete stories in this volume were withheld respectively due to the threat they posed to national security, the disclosure of a scandal in a foreign Royal family, and the exposure of excessively close links between Government ministers and industry….
VOL. 2 –
Volume II of the Redacted Sherlock Holmes presents more stories manifestly too scandalous to publish in the lifetime of the great Baker Street detective. Here we meet Sherlock Holmes as he investigates: Why the publication of a British Government report of a recent war is being delayed The continued career of James Windibank, villain of “A Case of Identity” The mystery behind the commissioner of a musical masterpiece A notorious killing in 1930s Berlin The complex relationship between Queen Victoria, her family and her domestic servants…
VOL. 3 –
Volume III of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes presents six more scintillating stories from the pen of Orlando Pearson about the great Baker Street detective. Holmes investigates:
Alarming events at the medical practice next door to Dr. Watson Missing autograph manuscripts in Fascist Italy Climate change and a mysterious birth in London in 1894/95 Tax evasion by the London Softwear Company The role of cricket in the rise of Hitler A Kafkaesque plot which foreshadows the banking crash of 2007/08…
VOL. 4 –
Five more sizzlingly scandalous Sherlock Holmes stories from the pen of Orlando Pearson:
“The Baron of Wimbledon”: Holmes averts an injustice and makes a dramatic self-discovery.
“On Consistent Luck”: What enables an industry to enjoy constant good fortune? Sherlock Holmes shows how.
“Variations on an Enigma”: Holmes unravels one Enigma and analyses another.
“A Study in Red, White, and Blue”: A diplomatic coup after a divisive vote on a European Alliance.
“The Hounding of Peers Baskerville”: Is the Hound back on Dartmoor? Holmes and Watson investigate. Mr. Pearson mixes the canon with elite sport, business high jinks, a musical mystery, a literary mystery, Realpolitik, and in “The Hounding of Peer Baskerville” rolls the most famous of all detective stories on 20 years…
VOL. 5 –
Five sensational Sherlock Holmes stories by Orlando Pearson followed by three meditations hinting at the most radical theory yet about the Great Baker Street Detective.
A Type of Infamy – Holmes investigates a mysterious disappearance in 1938;
The Fourth Student – shocking events in the worlds of athletics and medicine;
A Question of Time – Holmes, Churchill, and Realpolitik at Britain’s finest hour;
The Sleeper’s Cache – the sequel to the Bruce Partington Plans with Machiavellian manoeuvring by Mycroft;
The Other Woman – Holmes’s second female nemesis and a musical discovery; and Three Holmesian Meditations…
A Case of Complex Identity – the Stage Play:
The first new Greek tragedy in two and a half thousand years (The Redacted Plays Book 2)
“The harrowing sequel to A Case of Identity as Sherlock Holmes uncovers a tale as dark as anything seen on the Ancient Greek stage”
A SCANDAL IN NOVA ALBA
Stage-play version
The King of Nova Alba, in this new stage-play version of the story, approaches Sherlock Holmes to discover who killed the king’s predecessor. Shakespeare wrote comedies, tragedies and histories but he never got around to writing a whodunnit, and this mixture of the Bard and Baker Street fills the gap in his oeuvre. The King of Nova Alba approaches Sherlock Holmes.
THREE HOLMESIAN MEDITATIONS
Mr. Devine’s Original Problem, A Four Pipe Contemplation & Some Epiphanic Reasoning
Holmes receives his most illustrious client yet as he is consulted by Mr Devine on an unusual matter.
Mr Devine has apprehended two malefactors in a well-watered garden in the Middle East and is unsure what is an appropriate form of retribution to impose
Holmes, Watson and Mr Devine discuss the problem at length before arriving at a solution which satisfies all of them
Orlando Pearson himself then pens an essay setting out a radical theory about Sherlock Holmes and this theory is given further substance in an extraordinary fragment of Dr Watson’s writing found in the Public Record Office long after Watson’s death.
THE OTHER WOMAN
It is the last night before Watson’s second wedding. Holmes tells Watson of his utter vanquishment by an adversary he never met in a tale set in 1880s Germany and featuring Goethe, Beethoven, Karl Benz, and Bertha Benz.
By the end of this story, the listener would have found out about Holmes’ role in the invention of the motor car, powered flight, and the mobile phone, as well as his involvement in the discovery of a 10th symphony of Beethoven.
For good measure, Holmes also provides his own explanation of the enduring popularity of stories about his exploits and how he has carefully selected what stories he allows Watson to publish to preserve this popularity. ©2018 Orlando Pearson (P)2019 MX Publishing
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE MYSTERY WRITER
Gravesend 1920. A famous mystery writer, while searching through the remains of a damaged church looking for story ideas, happens upon a document that was never meant to be found or read. Any knowledge of its contents could change the terms of the treaty that ended the First World War. There is also a change in the hand that writes and records the cases of Sherlock Holmes.
SLEIGHT OF FATE
Ok, so you have won a few Sherlock Holmes quiz prizes, but what if your life depended on your knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes stories? That’s the shocking fate facing a woman who is tied to a chair – if she can’t answer, she dies. As the questions get increasingly more difficult, the listeners find themselves realizing when their time would be up in this most deadly of quizzes in which the winner wins the most important prize – life itself.
A fascinating short story which also includes a series of Sherlock Holmes puzzles. ©2013 Balaji Narasimhan (P)2018 MX Publishing
SHERLOCK HOLMES: BEFORE BAKER STREET
“221b Baker Street”! Just the mention of those words is enough to suggest mystery and adventure and heroism. Over many years, this humble London address was the destination of so many people – clients and policemen, the rich and the poor, those needing help and those with a secret. This famed location is known all over the world, for it’s the one most associated with the legendary…Sherlock Holmes!
But there was a time before Sherlock Holmes moved to Baker Street, before his fame had grown, when he was still learning his craft and struggling to create his unique profession – the first of its kind – consulting detective!…
A TYPE OF INFAMY
A print worker petitions Holmes about the disappearance of a fellow worker at the Daily Mail.
Holmes investigates, and after interviews with the newspaper’s proprietor, Viscount Rothermere, and with Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German ambassador, it becomes clear the missing print worker has died fulfilling a commission for the German ambassador, although it is not clear what the commission is.
Diplomatic immunity and the pusillanimity of the British government prevent any further action being taken in 1938, and the mystery is only finally solved in the ruins of Vienna in the bitter winter of 1945-46.
SHERLOCKIAN RUMINATIONS FROM A STORMY PETREL
Here are a few essays about puzzlers in and about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories: “The Devil’s Foot” and the author’s cautious inserts of the Christian sacraments he learnt as a boy; a liturgical opposite – the Hebrew rabbi in “Scandal in Bohemia”; the “Boscombe Valley” murder reemerging in a contemporary divining of a murder at Pemberley; the definitive solution and identification of Jack the Ripper – search no further; and the Salvation Army and suffragettes picked on and prodded in “The Red-Headed League”.
HOLMES AWAY FROM HOME SERIES
VOL. 1 –
Sherlock Holmes! The very name of the world’s greatest detective conjures up images of Victorian London, gaslit streets, hansom cabs, and dense fogs. But there was a time, a dark three-year period, when London had to make do without Sherlock Holmes. From 1891 to 1894, he was presumed to be dead, having perished during the epic struggle with that infamous Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty, atop the Reichenbach Falls. But unknown to most, even his friend Dr. Watson, Holmes survived. During those three years, he roamed the world, acting as an agent for the British government and using his very special skills along the way.
In volume one of Holmes Away from Home, the incredible two-volume collection of new traditional Holmes adventures, we find our hero crisscrossing the world – Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the US.
VOL. 2 –
Sherlock Holmes! The very name of the world’s greatest detective conjures up images of Victorian London, gaslit streets, hansom cabs, and dense fogs. But there was a time, a dark three-year period, when London had to make do without Sherlock Holmes. From 1891 to 1894, he was presumed dead, having perished during the epic struggle with that infamous Napoleon of crime, Professor Moriarty, atop the Reichenbach Falls. But unknown to most, even his friend Dr. Watson, Holmes survived. During those three years, he roamed the world, acting as an agent for the British Government and using his very special skills along the way.…
THE ADVENTURES OF SWEARLOT HOLMES
Meet the world’s only swearing detective.
Swearlot Holmes of 221b is for bastard Baker Street, London. Thrill to excerpts and illustrations from many of his most curious cases such as ‘The Adventure Of The Sussex Swearwolf’ and ‘A Foul -Mouthed Cow In Belgravia’. In these dark, surreal and expletive-ridden examples, Swearlot proves not only is he a master of deduction, but a loquaciously lewd legend to boot. Each story is inspired by the original Strand magazine sketches. Written by (Dean) Earle Wilkinson, the writer of television’s SMTV Live and Chums and the console games LittleBigPlanet and Worms. With a career spanning decades he has written for the likes of John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Harry Hill to name (drop) but a few.
THE SLEEPER’S CACHE
Mycroft gives Holmes an urgent commission to find documents hidden by Oberstein, the spy arrested at the end of The Bruce Partington Plans, although this commission arises out of a diplomatic deal over which Holmes has the gravest misgivings.
In a coup de maitre, Holmes finds the documents at the very last point in the time given to him by Mycroft, but Mycroft is totally distracted when he delivers them.
Holmes instigates investigations of his own and uncovers a shocking scandal. But will he be able to pursue his investigation to its natural conclusion, or will realpolitik intervene?
A thought-provoking mixture of detection and morality.
BAKER STREET BEAT
A diverse collection of Sherlock Holmes related writings including several essays, short stories, and two radio plays. Andriacco’s obsession with matters Sherlockian is obvious, and there is much here for Sherlock Holmes fans to enjoy.
A QUESTION OF TIME
It is May 1940. The British army has been routed and is awaiting its evacuation. Winston Churchill asks Holmes to stand by to provide advice on what steps to take in the face of the anticipated aerial onslaught of the Luftwaffe on British airfields. As German attacks mount, Holmes offers unpalatable advice which Churchill accepts for want of an alternative. As German attacks switch from the airfields to production facilities, Holmes provides additional detective advice on a most unexpected matter.
But it is the use to which Churchill puts the advice, which creates a rift between the two men, which remains unresolved at the end of the story.
A thought-provoking mixture of detection and morality.
SHERLOCK HOLMES PLAYS THE GAME
Sherlock Holmes Plays the Game is an interesting new collection of the further adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. It is unique in combining the style and intrigue of Holmes and Watson stories with the developing technology of turn-of-the-century Victorian England. Written in the original Strand Magazine style and told by Holmes’ companion, Dr John Watson, these previously untold tales unfold with wit and humour. Although conveyed in the classic Holmes style, these adventures see the pair involved in tracking down a lost Shakespeare manuscript, illusions, railways, airships, kidnap of animals, and people, testing of alibis, coded messages, advanced communications and electric weapons. Holmes applies his highly developed powers of deduction to whole new fields of understanding, and the stories deftly mingle fiction with facts and events of the day.
THE FOURTH STUDENT
The sequel to canonical story “The Three Students”.
Holmes and Watson are just back at their quarters, having solved the case, when the wrongdoer they have just identified interrupts their breakfast. A fourth student, his main rival in the long jump, is behaving in a very peculiar manner and is carrying all before him in the field.
The trail takes Holmes and Watson to a barber’s shop where they acquire a preparation that the barber markets as a performance enhancer, but this is by no means the end of a murky trail to discover how to win Olympic gold.
UPON A NATION’S HONOUR
1906. HMS Dreadnaught, Britain’s latest battleship, lies in her moorings in a Portsmouth dockyard awaiting her sea trials. Her design and armament renders the current warships of other nations obsolete.
Secret items of novel yet vital radio detection equipment are stolen from her hold by agents of a foreign power. Holmes is requested by military intelligence to determine the perpetrators and trace the existence of the stolen items before they are successfully removed from the country. His investigations reveal the existence of an old and implacable enemy. Secrecy is paramount. Public knowledge of the crime would possibly result in a European war of disastrous consequences.
BEYOND WATSON
Imagine a Holmes without his Boswell or, as is the case with the audiobook you will soon have to your ears, imagine a Holmes without the voice of Watson. Is there a difference? After all, we have learned about the great detective, not through his own voice and eyes but through that of his loyal companion, his dear friend and his Boswell. What might we be missing? Who else could tell of the great detective’s feats?
Find out as today’s best Sherlock Holmes authors including Derrick Belanger, Luke Kuhns, Kieran Lyne, David Marcum, Jack McDevitt, Richard Paolinelli, David Ruffle, Geri Schear, Don Smith, Elizabeth Varadan, Daniel Victor, and Marcia Wilson tell stories from the perspectives of Sherlock Holmes, Mrs Hudson, Colonel Sebastian Moran, Raymond Chandler, Inspector Lestrade, Winston Churchill, Violet Hunter, Henry Mencken, and many others.
THE HOLMES SUTRA
Sherlock Holmes, the best-known detective (sorry, consulting detective) on Earth, celebrated his 160th birthday on January 6, 2014.
As a tribute to his genius, and to mark the occasion, The Holmes Sutra is presented (by a crazed fan) as:
A compilation of 160 mantras (aphorisms/slogans/sayings – call them what you will) – some original, some canonical, some based on various print/media adaptations – that are aimed to make Sherlock Holmes (and his fans) smile.
A test of the readers’ Holmes Mania Quotient (HMQ). Based on the resulting HMQ score, the particular condition/stage of Holmes Mania would be determined, with possibilities of a cure.
Happy birthday, Sherlock – this is your birthday gift; hope you like it.
THE HOUNDING OF PEERS BASKERVILLE
It is 1909, and 20 years have passed since the great Devon adventure. Holmes is consulted by Sir Henry Baskerville’s son after a shepherd in the baronet’s clothes is found dead at the foot of a cliff.
Watson is dispatched to Dartmoor to investigate and finds that the publication of his novel – controversial at the time because of the inadequacies it exposed in Holmes’s handling of the original case – has had some wholly unexpected consequences for the members of the dramatis personae of the original story.
It takes the return of Holmes to Dartmoor to separate truth from legend and to bring some legend to the truth.
THE AFFAIR OF THE CONTENTIOUS CONTRALTO
It is 1910, a widowed Dr Watson moves back to Baker Street to discover that age has done nothing to dim his old friend’s thirst for mystery and deduction. One morning after Watson returns from a client to find Holmes in a bright mood – the reason? Holmes and Watson have been invited to the farewell concert of celebrated former Prima Donna of the Warsaw Opera – Irene Adler. The Woman requests their presence! What happens when Holmes meets his one female equal twenty years after their first, curious meeting which Watson described in “A Scandal in Bohemia”.
IN UNHALLOWED REST
Holmes being away for the day, Watson receives an anonymous request for a meeting at Waterloo station. More for interest’s sake than any other reason, he attends the railway station and is confronted by a man whom appears in the last vestiges of physical and mental stress. According to Brinton he has but little time before both his imminent death, and worse, his immortal soul will be cast forever into eternal damnation.
Detective Inspector Lestrade joins Holmes and Watson in their quest to tackle a series of grisly murders that point to a Satanic cult of vampirism.
THE SECRET DIARY OF MYCROFT HOLMES
“If Samuel Pepys could fill nine years’ worth of journals with tales of arguments with his wife, visits to the theatres, fire and plague, then I am fairly confident I should be able to achieve a similar feat – with the exception of the plague, that is.”
Thus begins Mycroft Holmes’s valiant, if irregular, attempt to chronicle his doings. Rediscovered in 1976 and now fully translated from an obscure code, Mycroft’s diaries reveal that a brother’s lot is not always a happy one, especially when that brother happens to be London’s only consulting detective. In this humorous look at the world of Sherlock Holmes through Mycroft’s eyes, between avoiding amorous cleaning ladies and eccentric family members, appeasing hopeless artists and budding novelists, keeping the peace at the Diogenes and minding doting dogs, one question always remains: will Sherlock ever get a proper job?
Devon-based journalist and lecturer, S.F. Bennett has written for the Baker Street Journal and the Journal of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, among others. This is the author’s first novel.
THE DISCARDED CIGARETTE
London 1895. A well-known author, a theoretical invention made real, and the importance of a sometimes overlooked clue challenge Holmes and Watson to prevent the perfect crime.
THE BAKER STREET CASE-FILES
Following the success of the earlier volume, A Farewell to Baker Street, we have another collection of previously unknown Holmes and Watson tales that will excite the interests of listeners across the globe – The Baker Street Case Files.
A decade before his death, Dr. Watson let it be known that with his passing he wished his nephew, Christopher Henry Watson MD, to be the executor of his will and guardian of all his personal and pecuniary affairs. One of the tasks he sanctioned was that his nephew should use his discretion in selecting for publication some of the three dozen or so cases involving Holmes and Watson which had not already seen the light of day. These seven new stories shed more light on the remarkable talents of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
The first in the collection, “The Case of the Rondel Dagger”, occurred before Holmes and Watson met. “The Mile End Mynah Bird” is a fascinating tale set in the period beyond The Great War when both men appear reluctant to retire. From the plotting of “The Radicant Munificent Society” to the hidden message of “The Manila Envelope”, there is much to entertain and enthrall us. As before, these tales are designed to contribute in some small part to the lasting memory of two extraordinary men who once occupied that setting we have come to know and love as 221B Baker Street.
Once again, “The game is afoot”!
VARIATIONS ON AN ENIGMA
How does a composer make sure his works make an impact? Composer Edward Elgar wants to know and petitions Holmes. Straight after this encounter, Elgar starts on the work that is to become his masterpiece. And to maximize public interest in it, the composer and Holmes indicate that there are mysteries about its content, inspiration, and origin. On one matter, Holmes withholds an insight of his from Elgar and — deliberately or not — the title Enigma Variations is the result. It is only after Elgar’s death and an illuminating night-time encounter with a literary contemporary of Elgar that Holmes discloses his insight, and even then insists it remain secret until after his own death.
CANON OF THE NON-SACRED WRITINGS
As Holmesians are aware, the literary works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are referred to as the Canon of the Sacred Writings. The title of this collection of short stories reflects my desire to belong to the extensive list of authors and fans that want to grow the literary and entertainment history of Sherlock Holmes. In the five short stories, listeners will note Holmes’ continued mastery of forensic science and logical reasoning as the cornerstones of resolving the thorny issues presented. Holmes’ analysis and deductions are the centerpieces of the stories that form this collection. I hope you enjoy your time with Sherlock.
A CASE OF WITCHCRAFT
A tale of witchcraft in the Northern Isles, in which some long-concealed secrets are revealed — concerning not only the Dark Arts but also the Great Detective himself.
CHARLOTTE ANNE WALTERS SERIES
CHARLIE MILVERTON
A modern reworking of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes story, Charles Augustus Milverton. Instead of the Victorian world of debutants and stolen love letters, we have a fallen tabloid editor capitalizing on the nation’s thirst for celebrity gossip and threatening to expose a young pop star for a dalliance caught on a security camera.
On the advice of her security manager, ex-Scotland Yard detective Gareth Lestrade, Milverton’s blackmail victim consults Sherlock Holmes….
THE PREMIER BATCHELOR
The second adventure in a series of five which update original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to our modern world. Based on “The Noble Bachelor”, this story provides a 21st century spin on the original scenario of an aristocratic man, his disappearing bride and an unsuitable love affair. Now we have a footballer, his missing glamour-model wife and secrets blown into the open thanks to Holmes’ brilliant reasoning….
THE LEAPING MAN
The third adventure in a series of five stories which update individual tales by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to our modern world. Based on “The Creeping Man”, a pop-star is plagued by an unusual stalker whose violent outbursts and strange jumping seem to hint at mental instability. She seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes to track him down and uncover his identity. Watson welcomes any distraction from his humdrum life of domesticity and his boring job, so enthusiastically offers to assist. As long as he makes it home in time for dinner….
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY
When a young girl goes missing, Watson puts his midlife crisis to one side and helps Holmes try to find her. Dealing with the skeptical police, a bunch of teenagers, and a grumpy stepfather all add to the challenges of the case. Can Holmes find her before it is too late? And before Detective Chief Inspector Gregson makes the mistake of his career? And will Watson achieve that elusive book deal he’s dreaming of?….
ABBEY STRANGE
The final story in a series of five adventures which re-work original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into our modern world. The murder of an aged rock star is initially blamed on a gang of burglars, but Holmes senses that his widow is hiding something. What is the formidable music mogul not telling about the night her husband died at their Gothic country home? And how will Watson and Lestrade face up to the life-changing decisions they both decide to make? A re-working of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.…
CHARLIE MILVERTON & OTHER SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES
A collection of five present-day Sherlock Holmes stories that poke gentle fun at the idiosyncrasies of modern life – not to mention the eccentric detective and his world-weary friend who are at the heart of the action. Stuck in a dysfunctional marriage and the job from hell, aspiring writer Doctor John H. Watson battles against the angst of a midlife crisis whilst being drawn further into the individual world of his friend – the irascible, difficult but brilliant consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. Each story is based directly on an adventure from the original work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but updated with a modern-day twist….
A GUIDE TO DEDUCTION
A Guide to Deduction is the ultimate handbook for any aspiring Sherlock Holmes or Watson. Building on the massively successful aguidetodeduction.tumblr.com, the book includes not only advice on deducing aspects of an individual, but a wide range of skills every detective needs. Learn how to build a mind palace, interrogate, and break codes on par with the world’s only consulting detective.
THE BARON OF WIMBLEDON
Gottlieb von Cramm, a German tennis star of the 1930s, petitions Holmes for help. The sportsman is being blackmailed on a matter of the utmost delicacy, and when the blackmailer reveals all to the National Socialist authorities, it is Holmes who comes to the rescue by asking Reichsmarschall Herman Göring to intervene. But is the better than expected outcome to the case a result of Holmes’s intervention, or is Cramm’s glamourous mother keeping her own role to herself? And why does Frau von Cramm seem so familiar to Holmes? It is only once Britain is on the brink of another war against Germany that the full truth dawns on Holmes.
ON CONSISTENT LUCK
How can the insurance companies keep on producing record profits when the economic theories of Professor Alfred Marshall and his protégé John Maynard Keynes suggest that this should be impossible when their prices can be easily compared? The Chancellor of the Exchequer would like an answer and commissions Sherlock Holmes to find out.
The great Baker Street sleuth and Dr Watson confront Mr. Peters, the CEO of Global Home Insurance, and the upshot is a change in the political landscape as well as Holmes’s retirement to his beekeeper’s cottage in Sussex.
A STUDY IN RED, WHITE & BLUE
Holmes is charged by the permanent special adviser to the prime minister, his brother Mycroft, to plot a new course for Great Britain following the country’s vote in a plebiscite to secede from the Entente Cordiale.
Holmes demonstrates that politics truly is an art and that all things are possible as he travels to Washington, Moscow, and Paris meeting statesmen who bear no resemblance at all to the present-day holders of the equivalent posts.
It takes all of the combined guile of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes to deliver a solution which leaves this country with a new alliance, a new responsibility, and a new decision to take.
THE FINAL TALES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIES
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MUSICAL MURDERS
Holmes and Watson are plunged into the secret underworld of 1925 London, where a serial killer of musical (gay) men is afoot. The killer has a little list, and Sherlock is on it. Why? And what have the Bloomsbury Group and the Diogenes Club got to do with anything?
Thanks to Royal Jelly, Holmes is a fit 71-year-old who has lost his interest in bees and returned to detecting. He’s not quite as sharp as he used to be, but he’s still pretty sharp, and a bit of a vigilante in his old age. He meets up with his colleague and friend, Dr. John Hamish Watson, a 72-year-old not-quite-so-fit-at-all twice-widower, who hankers after the good old days of derring-do….
The Hampstead Ponies
….Together they explore the case of the Hampstead Ponies, where a murdered baby is found upon the Heath; the Chelsea Necrophile and the mysterious organ that plays itself; the Holland Park Cannibal with a taste for home-made sausages; the truly nightmarish Richmond Werewolf; and the dangers of contagion in the search for the Hammersmith Hound.
THE CASE OF THE SHEPHERDS BUSHMAN
….Together they explore the case of the Shepherds Bushman when a dying aborigine finds his way to 221B Baker Street; the Acton Body-Snatchers and the disappearing boy sopranos; the Notting Hill Rapist and the stripping of pregnant women; the Clapham Witch, who casts her voodoo spells on sad old men; and the Battersea Fetishists, a secret brotherhood with some truly murderous rituals.
THE CASE OF THE KEW GARDENS GNOMES
….Together they explore the case of the Kew Gardens Gnomes and their fiery vengeance; the Portobello Pornographer and the reappearance of an old enemy; the Camden Counterfeiter and the theft of Doctor Watson’s identity; the Kensington Kidnapper and the hefty price on Mrs Hudson’s head; and the Undiscovered Country, in which a successful writer is haunted by his most famous character.
THE ACTON BODY SNATCHERS
….They are joined by their excitable new housekeeper at 221B Baker Street, the brilliant, buxom Miss Lily Hudson, and are helped in their work by Jasper Lestrade of Scotland Yard, the ambitious, respectful son of the late George Lestrade.
THE BATTERSEA FETISHISTS
In this compelling short story, a secret society is hiding some truly murderous rituals. Watson’s membership to the organisation enables him and his long-standing partner to identify a killer; a killer who happens to be a well-known politician who has risen to the rank of Sovereign Inspector-General within the arcane society…
This Sherlockian gem was first published in 2016 in the third collection of The Final Tales of Sherlock Holmes.
A SCANDAL IN NOVA ALBA
In A Scandal in Nova Alba, Holmes receives an anonymous note asking for his help and is then petitioned to solve a famous and mysterious murder that had happened 10 years previously. In solving it, he discovers not only a shocking sexual scandal, but also uncovers the true author of the most famous plays ever written.
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE ADVENTURE OF THE WINGED GHOST
In one of Sherlock Holmes’ most harrowing cases, the crown jewels are stolen from the Tower of London just days before Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In the race against the clock to retrieve the precious gems to save from national embarrassment, Holmes finds that the case to be more complex and infinitely more dangerous than it first appeared.
ANOMALOUS:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Featuring Jack Johnson and Alphonse Capone
America’s first African American heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson, has a chance encounter with a mysterious Irishman, named Altamont, when they meet at the boxer’s restaurant, Café de Champion, in August 1912. Johnson’s new relationship with the unusual man, with beady eyes and hawk-like nose, places him in an unusual circumstance to help Altamont get out of a tough situation.
In 1913, Johnson is nailed with a felony conviction in the American court system and flees to Canada, and later travels to England, to meet with fight promoters. But a stolen South African ‘blood diamond’ and a grudge harbored against the controversial boxer from the past, puts Johnson’s life in peril while on British soil, reuniting him with the mysterious Altamont. Will Johnson uncover the true identity of this Irishman, and entrust his life to Altamont’s care?
And as the action unfurls, Johnson forms an alliance with a black British rogue and grifter, Steve Dixie, but can this man be trusted?…
The Minister and the Moguls
Holmes investigates a major industry and finds there is more to smoke than meets the eye. Orlando Pearson, Watson’s successor as the assistant of Sherlock Holmes, was entrusted by the doctor with notes on cases too controversial to publish at the time.
Amongst other things these cases covered government failure to regulate the banks, excessively close links between a minister and industry, and an official cover-up of a sexual scandal at the very highest level in society.
It is inconceivable that such things could happen in the 21st century, but these stories, freshly unearthed, provide a fascinating insight into some of the issues facing society at the turn of the 20th.
THE FUHRER & HIS DEPUTIES
In May 1941, Hitler’s Deputy, Rudolf Heβ flew solo to Great Britain. The reason for his flight remained a mystery throughout the rest of the War as he brought no new peace proposals, provided no new insight into Hitler’s plans, and did not claim political asylum.
In May 1945 and with the war almost at an end, the British Government must decide whether to send the frequently overwrought Heβ back to Germany to face trial on war crimes charges. The government requires somebody whose word carries weight around the world to help with its decision and seizes upon Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson as the ideal people to conduct an investigation into Heβ’s fitness to face trial and to record the investigation.
Holmes’s interrogation of Heβ is a highly dramatic affair and the true reason why Heβ flew to Great Britain is utterly unexpected….
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE AFFAIR IN TRANSYLVANIA
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson are returning to London from Bucharest after the great detective has interceded in a delicate matter relating to the Rumanian Royal House. As they depart from Bucharest they receive their mail forwarded from London. Doctor Watson opens a distressing letter from his niece, Mina, now living in Budapest with her young husband, Janos, a newly qualified lawyer.
It seems that the young man has not returned from a business assignment in Transylvania. Holmes advises that he and Watson should postpone their return to Baker Street. Watson wires ahead and they are met at the station by Mina and her friend, Lucy Westenra. Holmes is duly intrigued by their stay overnight at the home of Dr. Westenra in the grounds of the asylum of which Dr. Westenra is the Administrator. Holmes suspects that letters from the young lawyer may have been forged, or written under duress. Next day they set off for Castle Dracula.
THE TRIAL OF JOSEPH CARR
A Case File From “The Redacted Sherlock Holmes”.
A must for all lovers of serious sleuthing.
In Kafka’s The Trial, Josef K (here rendered Joseph Carr) is arrested one morning, although he has not done anything wrong, and is put on trial although no charge is ever disclosed to him.
Here, Holmes conducts his own investigation into the arrest and subsequent legal process.
His solution has uncanny pre-echoes of the early 21st century banking crisis and, in an extraordinary twist, Watson’s text even name-checks some of the people that caused it.
In its new guise The Trial emerges truly as a story of Holmes’s time, our time and for all time.
ALLAN MITCHELL ‘MENACING’ AUDIOBOOKS
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE MENACING MONK
Sherlock Holmes looks on idle and infuriated from the sidelines while evil has Whitechapel in the grip of fear, evil which bears the infamous name of Jack the Ripper, a name set to raise the hackles on people’s necks for generations to come. A fearful officialdom has declared Sherlock persona non grata but is suffering the wrath of public opinion for its failure to bring the murderer to justice….
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE MENACING METROPOLIS
More menacing than the Menacing Moors, the Great Metropolis harbors evil and deviltry far more sinister than Dartmoor could offer – it is not for nothing that Watson describes London as the great cesspool draining the empire of its dregs. Its evil stems from the hearts of the most heartless of men, evil against which a group of stalwart Londoners is determined to act.
Knowledge is power and forewarned is forearmed, it is said, but fore-knowledge is fragile and Sherlock must balance probability with instinct, caution with decisiveness, when warned of impending disaster for both city and realm….
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE MENACING MOORS
A call from an old comrade has Holmes chasing a reported agent of Satan between the towering tors and bottomless bogs of Dartmoor only to find the limits of his own confidence and his public’s esteem. Only Watson stands his friend, but even his patience is stretched. Sherlock’s retreat to the bees of Sussex serves only to show him that his skills are unique and are desperately needed elsewhere. On returning to London, Holmes finds malign forces have been bringing ridicule to his doorstep….
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE MENACING MELBOURNIAN
Burgeoning, brash, and bold, a new Metropolis has burst forth from the golden soil of Terra Australis, proclaiming its virtues but harboring many of the evils of old which have been attracted by fortunes won from the Earth itself. Shadowy figures menacingly emerge from distant wars to deprive the unwitting of that which has been earned by honest toil….
THE RED PRIEST’S TREASURE TROVE
It is 1927. Dr. Watson is in his surgery when there is an unexpected knock at the door.
It is Sherlock Holmes, who explains that he has arranged a meeting with an Italian musicologist, Alberto Gentili, who has found some long-lost autograph manuscripts of the almost unknown 18th century Venetian composer, Antonio Vivaldi. Gentili explains how the manuscripts represent only half of a larger collection. He wants to find the other half before someone else finds it and disperses the collection.
Holmes’s investigation into this mystery enables him to provide an unexpected solution of a separate mystery about Johann Sebastian Bach.
A NEW LINE OF ATTACK
Holmes recognizes his nonpareil as he watches cricketer, Don Bradman, at the Oval in 1930.
But Holmes’s petitioner is none other than future England captain, Douglas Jardine, who wants Holmes to find a way of getting the better of the Australia star. Holmes and Jardine devise tactics that meet with extreme success when England make their tour of Australia in the winter of 1932-1933, but are hugely controversial. And these are not the only dramatic events afoot at this time. England’s tour coincides with a constitutional crisis in Germany and Holmes and Watson are commissioned by the Foreign Office to go to Germany to stop the march to power of Adolf Hitler.
But the rise of Hitler is not the only matter on the Foreign Office’s agenda.
Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Helmets
John Watson and his girlfriend plan to go skiing in the German Alps, but because Sherlock Holmes is bored, he comes along with them. Instead of a relaxing holiday, a series of mysterious skiing accidents awaits them. Sherlock and John soon discover that those accidents apparently did not happen accidentally. A modern day Sherlock Holmes story.
DR. ANSTRUTHER’S PRACTICE
Can you prove anything from statistics on death rates? On the train back to London after solving the case of the stockbroker’s clerk, Holmes asks some extremely penetrating questions about Dr. Watson’s medical practice in Paddington and that of Dr. Anstruther next door. The questioning is inconclusive, but the questions suddenly become relevant when official investigations are launched into death rates in Paddington and Watson is fortunate that Holmes is on hand. The story contains some of Holmes’s most brilliant deductions as well as providing a new insight into Dr. Watson’s financial situation in the 1890s.
SHERLOCK HOLMES – HIS LATEST BOW
The memoir Sherlock Holmes: His Latest Bow is written by Watson after VE day in May, 1945, but before the world learned of the atomic bomb in August. During the war, a Nazi plan is afoot with British collaborators that could alter the course of history. Holmes and Watson serve a critical role in uncovering the plot. With sophisticated listening devices and with the help of a surprising and indispensable ally leading to the recruit of a “private friend”, Holmes again uses his gifts for observation and deduction to forestall the infiltration into Britain of a top Nazi leader.
A DUTCH SANDWICH
Is the London Softwear Company going to close its London factory?
Ambitious politician Mr. Lawler, who has commissioned Sherlock Holmes in two previous cases, wants Holmes to find out. And what is the company’s special Dutch finishing process, and why does London Softwear Company’s managing director spend so much time in Amsterdam?
In a variety of disguises, Holmes and Watson find out the true meaning of a Dutch Sandwich and how such sandwiches are common not just to The London Softwear Company, but also to a café to be opened by a Mr. Starr and a Mr. Buck.
A SEASONAL TALE:
Holmes is petitioned by the groom of the Bedlam lunatic asylum to investigate a couple who have appeared at his stables. And after the notorious winter of 1894-5, the politician Mr. Lawler, previously encountered in The Minister and the Moguls, gives Holmes a commission to investigate whether the climate is changing and whether industrialization is the cause.
Holmes’ investigation into climate change has surprising results but are just what Mr. Lawler is looking for. Holmes is left to philosophize on the parallels with the outcome of the Bedlam case.
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIMAL MAN
London 1901. The city is in the grip of “monkey man mania”. Intrepid explorer Drake Patterson has caused a media storm following his astonishing discovery of a frozen ancient man in the remote Himalayan Mountains. This primal man has been triumphantly transported back to England as proof of the missing link in evolutionary theory. The upcoming auction of the specimen causes a stir amongst academics and the board of the British Museum. While many are excited about bidding for this yeti, or mi-go, there are some with a more skeptical viewpoint. The story of the find just doesn’t add up – neither does the fact that no one is prepared to insure the beast.
Enter the great detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Dr. Watson. Sherlock is in no doubt about the primal man’s authenticity and takes great pleasure in enlisting the assistance of his cousin, Professor Ellington Dynamo to prove the case. The fraud investigation takes a dark turn when it becomes one of murder, and Sherlock’s powers of deduction and skill are once again put to the test in this exciting adventure.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE FOURTH MESSENGER
The world’s greatest unsolved mystery.
Soon after Holmes’s return from apparent death, Holmes and Watson return from a walk through London and find a preacher waiting for them. He wants their help in writing his account of the life of a religious leader in an Eastern Mediterranean country whose death has caused unparalleled speculation.
Shortly afterwards, the preacher is abducted.
The great Baker Street detective investigates before opining on the reliability of the testimony of the preacher. Holmes adduces some startling reasons for believing in the historical accuracy of the preacher’s testimony.
THE GERMAN INTERPRETER
The British government commissions Holmes and Watson to travel to Germany in the company of leading German interpreter Paul-Otto Schmidt, to help the authorities find the man who shot Horst Wessel, the leader of the Storm Troopers. Holmes soon identifies Wessel’s attacker and takes part in a politically charged interrogation of him attended by the gauleiter of Berlin, Joseph Gӧbbels.
The story climaxes at Wessel’s funeral, where Gӧbbels delivers an incendiary speech to a baying crowd while Holmes muses on what good men should do in a world where evil thrives.
56 SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES IN 56 DAYS
To celebrate the release of her novel Barefoot on Baker Street, Charlotte Anne Walters undertook the task of reading and reviewing one of the original Sherlock Holmes short stories every day until she had completed all 56. The reviews were posted daily on her blog and attracted viewers from all over the world. The reviews are full of humor and Holmesian insight, ending in a score out of 10 for each story. This book contains all 56 blogs plus additional material including reviews of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s four Holmes novels. Although it was a pleasure for a life-long Holmes admirer to re-visit the stories, trying to do this on top of holding down a busy full-time job and family commitments was a big challenge – resulting in some stressful but comical moments detailed in the blogs. Even Mr. Walters couldn’t resist throwing in a few comments of his own.
AN ANONYMOUS COMMISSION
A Case File from The Redacted Sherlock Holmes….
THE PRINCE AND THE MUNSHI
Kidnapped!
Holmes and Watson are seized by Edward Albert, the Prince of Wales, who wants them to find evidence that his mother is unfit to serve as queen. At Balmoral, Holmes and Watson witness the aged Queen Victoria engage in some highly questionable behavior.
Shortly afterwards the prince is called away on urgent business. Holmes deduces that only something of a criminal nature could cause such a precipitate departure. As soon as Holmes and Watson are back in London, they call on Lestrade, who confirms that there is indeed a shocking scandal.
Holmes carries out some deft political maneuvering, as he deals with an empire-threatening crisis.
THE CAMBERWELL TYRANT
“A Case of Identity” saw Holmes unmask some matters involving James Windibank which the Baker Street detective dismissed as trite.
By contrast “The Camberwell Tyrant” is the most gothic of the Redacted Sherlock Holmes stories. Louis Westhouse, Windibank’s employer, commissions Holmes to investigate Windibank’s peculiar behavior in the office. The day after Holmes completes his investigation, Inspector Gregson brings news of three deaths at Windibank’s house. Gregson and Holmes investigate but cannot explain the deaths. It is only when the corpses are taken away and the blinds are drawn that Holmes elucidates some truly grotesque events.
THE CASE OF THE EVIL EYE
A member of the London Chess Club has dropped dead during a game, supposedly of a heart attack. An officer of the club believes he was murdered by his opponent’s evil eye. Holmes finds that his death was not caused by an evil eye, but – was it or was it not poisoned jelly beans?
THE AFFAIR OF THE SINGLE SLIPPER
An investigation into a provocative ad in the London Times leads to a ghoulish murder and a master criminal.
SHERLOCK HOLMES-THE ADVENTURE OF THE PECULIAR PROVENANCE
Winter, 1890. A deep freeze has fallen upon London, and its citizens remain huddled indoors. But the cogs of the criminal underworld never stop turning, and Holmes and Watson find themselves embroiled in a crime that rocks the art world.
Sir Wellington is disturbed in the middle of the night, apprehending a thief attempting to steal his rare and valuable 14th century portrait of King Edward III. In the kerfuffle that follows, the painting is set ablaze and the thief escapes. When the police track down the criminal to take him to the station, he is fatally shot by an unknown assailant.
But the labyrinth of deceit grows even more impenetrable, as the painting’s provenance is called into question and Holmes and Watson find themselves in the midst of a vast conspiracy….
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HOUSE OF PAIN
A missionary woman has disappeared in Spitalfields, one of London’s most dangerous districts. When Sherlock Holmes is called on to find her, he discovers enormous, highly intelligent rats have made their home under the streets of London. Holmes is forced to confront the horrors of his past and science gone mad. Word of this phenomenon draws the attention of rising zoologist G. E. Challenger, who decides he must meet the creatures’ creator, one Dr. Moreau.
As in the author’s Never Meant to Be, the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and H. G. Wells once again come together, this time to uncover the truth behind the giant rat of Sumatra.
THE GHOST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
New Year’s Eve, 1922. A very special dinner party is being hosted by a dubious Sherlock Holmes collector. During the course of this mysterious evening, the host will demonstrate the peculiar mind-powers of Dr. Joseph Bell, the personality profiling prowess of the Great Detective himself, the esoteric attributes of a deck of cards rumored to have belonged to Jack the Ripper, the haunted finger rings of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Cottingley Fairies, and much more! Part novella and part magic instructional book, this publication also teaches the listener exactly how to recreate these wondrous feats for themselves. Learn how to ‘fake it’ as a master detective, and be entertained by the haunting tale that surrounds this mysterious Sherlock Holmes-themed dinner party.
THE ALCOCK REPORT
Why does Irene Adler, mistress of newspaper tycoon, Robert Munroe, lock herself into a cupboard several times a day? The antipodean magnate wants to know. And why is former Prime Minister, Charles Sedgefield, causing delays to the publication of a report on a recent Middle East war? As a representative of the British government, Mycroft wants to know. Holmes investigates both matters and finds some unexpected connections between these two apparently unrelated cases.
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE:
The Wormwood Scrubs Enigma
When two prison guards are found beheaded in the barren countryside surrounding Her Majesty’s Prison at Wormwood Scrubs, Inspector Lestrade seeks Holmes’ singular powers to determine how the murders could have been committed in separate locations with the only footprints being those of the murdered guards themselves. With Doctor Watson at his side, Holmes sets out on this new adventure and uncovers deeper mysteries still; mysteries that will not only test the detectives’ powers of observation and deduction, but his skepticism of the paranormal as well.
THE CASE OF THE RUSSIAN CHESSBOARD
Late on a foggy November afternoon, a desperate young woman arrives at Baker Street, imploring Sherlock Holmes to help her. She is terrified about what may be going on inside a secretive London refuge for Russian exiles, where her sister works. Thus begins a frightening case which deeply strains both Holmes and Watson because of the dreadful consequences of failure and the mystifying nature of the forces against them.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE TAINTED CANISTER
A lost chapter in the Holmes canon finally appears. Dr. Watson recounts the mystery behind the tragic death of his beloved Mary Morstan. Join him as he attempts to bring a murderer to justice. Along the way, listeners will encounter old friends and enemies from several of the other stories, leading to a startling conclusion that may baffle even Sherlock Holmes.
SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE ADVENTURE OF THE RAVEN’S CALL
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Raven’s Call follows Holmes into retirement, where shortly after he arrives in Sussex Downs, he becomes aware that a reported accidental death may have been murder. Holmes uses his giftsor observation and deduction to discover the identity of the murderer and teams up with a new partner to get the guilty party’s confession. A pastiche of the first order, Raven’s Call will delight the Holmes enthusiast as it shows the consulting detective may retire, but is never retiring.
THE GONDOLIER AND THE RUSSIAN COUNTESS
Venice, 1902. A Holmes and Watson adventure featuring amorous women, Ukrainian bruisers, an English policeman whose wit is rather trying, Venetian churches, and the odd Tintoretto or two.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
IN THE PECULIAR PERSECUTION OF JOHN VINCENT HARDEN
Tobacco millionaire John Vincent Harden has barely arrived in London when strange things start happening to him. The clerk at his hotel swears that Harden has checked out and taken his luggage with him. Then Harden receives a wire calling him home to his plantation in Kentucky – a wire that, it turns out, was never sent. Finally, when a four-wheeled cab almost runs over the American, Harden knows it is time to turn to Sherlock Holmes for help.