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    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI: 2017 Annual
    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI: 2017 Annual
    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI: 2017 Annual
    Ebook1,046 pages16 hours

    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI: 2017 Annual

    By David Marcum

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    2017 is the 130th anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet, the first recorded adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. What an amazing journey it's been! In addition to the pitifully few sixty tales originally presented in The Canon, published between 1887 and 1927, there have been literally thousands of additional Holmes adventures in the form of books, short stories, radio and television episodes, movies, manuscripts, comics, and fan fiction. And yet, for those who are true friends and admirers of the Master Detective of Baker Street, where it is always 1895 (or a few decades on either side of that!) these stories are not enough. Give us more! In 2015, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories burst upon the scene, featuring stories set within the correct time period, and written by many of today's leading Sherlockian authors from around the world. Those first three volumes were overwhelmingly received, and there were soon calls for additional collections. Since then, the popularity has only continued to grow. Two more volumes were released in 2016, and this the first of two planned for 2017 - with no end in sight! The thirty-five stories in this volume – now bringing the total number of narratives and participating authors in this series to well over one-hundred! – represent some of the finest new Holmesian storytelling to be found, and honor the man described by Watson as "the best and wisest ... whom I have ever known." All royalties from this collection are being donated by the writers for the benefit of the preservation of Undershaw, one of the former homes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Part VI: 2017 Annual features contributions by: Bob Byrne, Julie McKuras, Derrick Belanger, Robert Perret, Deanna Baran, G.C. Rosenquist, Hugh Ashton, David Timson, Shane Simmons, Stephen Wade, Mark Mower, David Friend, Nick Cardillo, Roger Riccard, S. Subramanian, Carl L. Heifetz, Geri Schear, S.F. Bennett, Jennifer Copping, Jim French, Carla Coupe, Narrelle Harris, Arthur Hall, Craig Janacek, Marcia Wilson, Tracy Revels, Molly Carr, Keith Hann, David Ruffle, David Marcum, Thomas A. Turley, Jan Edwards, C. Edward Davis, Tim Symonds, and Daniel D. Victor, with a poem by Bonnie MacBird, and forewords by David Marcum, Nicholas Utechin, Roger Johnson, Steve Emecz, and Melissa Farnham.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMX Publishing
    Release dateApr 27, 2017
    ISBN9781787050884
    The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI: 2017 Annual
    Author

    David Marcum

    David Marcum and Steven Smith travel the world teaching people to utilize the corporate asset of ego and limit its liabilities. With decades of experience and degrees in management and psychology, they¹ve worked with organizations including Microsoft, Accenture, the U.S. Air Force, General Electric, Disney, and State Farm. Their work has been published in eighteen languages in more than forty countries.

    Read more from David Marcum

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      Book preview

      The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part VI - David Marcum

      The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

      Part VI - 2017 Annual

      First edition published in 2017

      2017 digital version converted and published by

      Andrews UK Limited

      www.andrewsuk.com

      © Copyright 2017

      The right of the individuals listed in the Copyright Information section to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1998.

      All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy, or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

      All characters appearing in this work are fictitious or used fictitiously. Except for certain historical personages, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of MX Publishing.

      Published in the UK by

      MX Publishing

      335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive,

      London, N11 3GX

      www.mxpublishing.co.uk

      Cover design by Brian Belanger

      www.belangerbooks.com and www.redbubble.com/people/zhahadun

      These additional Sherlock Holmes adventures can be found in the previous volumes of

      The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

      PART I: 1881-1889

      Foreword - Leslie S. Klinger

      Foreword - Roger Johnson

      Sherlock Holmes of London - A Verse in Four Fits - Michael Kurland

      The Adventure of the Slipshod Charlady - John Hall

      The Case of the Lichfield Murder - Hugh Ashton

      The Kingdom of the Blind - Adrian Middleton

      The Adventure of the Pawnbroker’s Daughter - David Marcum

      The Adventure of the Defenestrated Princess - Jayantika Ganguly

      The Adventure of the Inn on the Marsh - Denis O. Smith

      The Adventure of the Traveling Orchestra - Amy Thomas

      The Haunting of Sherlock Holmes - Kevin David Barratt

      Sherlock Holmes and the Allegro Mystery - Luke Benjamen Kuhns

      The Deadly Soldier - Summer Perkins

      The Case of the Vanishing Stars - Deanna Baran

      The Song of the Mudlark - Shane Simmons

      The Tale of the Forty Thieves - C.H. Dye

      The Strange Missive of Germaine Wilkes - Mark Mower

      The Case of the Vanished Killer - Derrick Belanger

      The Adventure of the Aspen Papers - Daniel D. Victor

      The Ululation of Wolves - Steve Mountain

      The Case of the Vanishing Inn - Stephen Wade

      The King of Diamonds - John Heywood

      The Adventure of Urquhart Manse - Will Thomas

      The Adventure of the Seventh Stain - Daniel McGachey

      The Two Umbrellas - Martin Rosenstock

      The Adventure of the Fateful Malady - Craig Janacek

      PART II: 1890-1895

      Foreword - Catherine Cooke

      The Bachelor of Baker Street Muses on Irene Adler - Carole Nelson Douglas

      The Affair of Miss Finney - Ann Margaret Lewis

      The Adventure of the Bookshop Owner - Vincent W. Wright

      The Case of the Unrepentant Husband - William Patrick Maynard

      The Verse of Death - Matthew Booth

      Lord Garnett’s Skulls - J.R. Campbell

      Larceny in the Sky with Diamonds - Robert V. Stapleton

      The Glennon Falls - Sam Wiebe

      The Adventure of The Sleeping Cardinal – Jeremy Branton Holstein

      The Case of the Anarchist’s Bomb - Bill Crider

      The Riddle of the Rideau Rifles - Peter Calamai

      The Adventure of the Willow Basket - Lyndsay Faye

      The Onion Vendor’s Secret - Marcia Wilson

      The Adventure of the Murderous Numismatist - Jack Grochot

      The Saviour of Cripplegate Square - Bert Coules

      A Study in Abstruse Detail - Wendy C. Fries

      The Adventure of the St. Nicholas the Elephant - Christopher Redmond

      The Lady on the Bridge - Mike Hogan

      The Adventure of the Poison Tea Epidemic - Carl L. Heifetz

      The Man on Westminster Bridge - Dick Gilman

      PART III: 1896-1929

      Foreword - David Stuart Davies

      Two Sonnets - Bonnie MacBird

      Harbinger of Death - Geri Schear

      The Adventure of the Regular Passenger - Paul D. Gilbert

      The Perfect Spy - Stuart Douglas

      A Mistress - Missing - Lyn McConchie

      Two Plus Two - Phil Growick

      The Adventure of the Coptic Patriarch - Séamus Duffy

      The Royal Arsenal Affair - Leslie F.E. Coombs

      The Adventure of the Sunken Parsley - Mark Alberstat

      The Strange Case of the Violin Savant - GC Rosenquist

      The Hopkins Brothers Affair - Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett

      The Disembodied Assassin - Andrew Lane

      The Adventure of the Dark Tower - Peter K. Andersson

      The Adventure of the Reluctant Corpse - Matthew J. Elliott

      The Inspector of Graves - Jim French

      The Adventure of the Parson’s Son - Bob Byrne

      The Adventure of the Botanist’s Glove - James Lovegrove

      A Most Diabolical Plot - Tim Symonds

      The Opera Thief - Larry Millett

      Blood Brothers - Kim Krisco

      The Adventure of The White Bird – C. Edward Davis

      The Adventure of the Avaricious Bookkeeper - Joel and Carolyn Senter

      PART IV - 2016 Annual

      Foreword - Steven Rothman

      Foreword - Richard Doyle

      Foreword - Roger Johnson

      A Word From the Head Teacher at Undershaw - Melissa Farnham

      Toast to Mrs. Hudson - Arlene Mantin Levy

      The Tale of the First Adventure - Derrick Belanger

      The Adventure of the Turkish Cipher - Deanna Baran

      The Adventure of the Missing Necklace - Daniel D. Victor

      The Case of the Rondel Dagger - Mark Mower

      The Adventure of the Double-Edged Hoard - Craig Janacek

      The Adventure of the Impossible Murders - Jayantika Ganguly

      The Watcher in the Woods - Denis O. Smith

      The Wargrave Resurrection - Matthew Booth

      Relating To One of My Old Cases - J.R. Campbell

      The Adventure at the Beau Soleil - Bonnie MacBird

      The Adventure of the Phantom Coachman - Arthur Hall

      The Adventure of the Arsenic Dumplings - Bob Byrne

      The Disappearing Anarchist Trick - Andrew Lane

      The Adventure of the Grace Chalice - Roger Johnson

      The Adventure of John Vincent Harden - Hugh Ashton

      Murder at Tragere House - David Stuart Davies

      The Adventure of The Green Lady - Vincent W. Wright

      The Adventure of the Fellow Traveller - Daniel McGachey

      The Adventure of the Highgate Financier - Nicholas Utechin

      A Game of Illusion - Jeremy Holstein

      The London Wheel - David Marcum

      The Adventure of the Half-Melted Wolf - Marcia Wilson

      PART V - Christmas Adventures

      Foreword - Jonathan Kellerman

      Foreword - Roger Johnson

      This bids to be the merriest of Christmases. - Foreword by Roger Johnson

      Undershaw: An Ongoing Legacy - Foreword by Steve Emecz

      A Word From the Head Teacher at Undershaw - Foreword by Melissa Farnham

      The Ballad of the Carbuncle - Poem by Ashley D. Polasek

      The Case of the Ruby Necklace - Bob Byrne

      The Jet Brooch - Denis O. Smith

      The Adventure of the Missing Irregular - Amy Thomas

      The Adventure of the Knighted Watchmaker - Derrick Belanger

      The Stolen Relic - David Marcum

      A Christmas Goose - C.H. Dye

      The Adventure of the Long-Lost Enemy - Marcia Wilson

      The Queen’s Writing Table - Julie McKuras

      The Blue Carbuncle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Dramatised by Bert Coules)

      The Case of the Christmas Cracker - John Hall

      The Man Who Believed in Nothing - Jim French

      The Case of the Christmas Star - S.F. Bennett

      The Christmas Card Mystery - Narrelle M. Harris

      The Question of the Death Bed Conversion - William Patrick Maynard

      The Adventure of the Christmas Surprise - Vincent W. Wright

      A Bauble in Scandinavia - James Lovegrove

      The Adventure of Marcus Davery - Arthur Hall

      The Adventure of the Purple Poet - Nicholas Utechin

      The Adventure of the Vanishing Man - Mike Chinn

      The Adventure of the Empty Manger - Tracy J. Revels

      A Perpetrator in a Pear Tree - Roger Riccard

      The Case of the Christmas Trifle - Wendy C. Fries

      The Adventure of the Christmas Stocking - Paul D. Gilbert

      The Adventure of the Golden Hunter - Jan Edwards

      The Curious Case of the Well-Connected Criminal - Molly Carr

      The Case of the Reformed Sinner - S. Subramanian

      The Adventure of the Improbable Intruder - Peter K. Andersson

      The Adventure of the Handsome Ogre - Matthew J. Elliott

      The Adventure of the Deceased Doctor - Hugh Ashton

      The Mile End Mynah Bird - Mark Mower

      Copyright Information

      All of the contributions in this collection are copyrighted by the authors listed below. Grateful acknowledgement is given to the authors and/or their agents for the kind permission to use their work within these volumes.

      The following contributions appear in this volume:

      The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

      Part VI - 2017 Annual

      The Adventure of the Returned Captain ©2016 by Hugh Ashton. All Rights Reserved. Hugh Ashton appears by kind permission of Inknbeans Press. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure at St. Catherine’s ©2016 by Deanna Baran. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author. Illustration handwriting by Linda Johnson.

      The Coffee Trader’s Dilemma ©2016 by Derrick Belanger. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Case of the Vanishing Venus ©2016 by S.F. Bennett. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author

      The Adventure of the Murdered Spinster ©2016 by Bob Byrne. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author

      The Adventure of the Traveling Corpse ©2016 by Nick Cardillo. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Curious Case of the Charwoman’s Brooch ©2016 by Molly Carr. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Vanishing Apprentice ©2016 by Jennifer Copping. All Rights Reserved. Originally published in a somewhat different version online as The Adventure of the Disappearing Man, ©2014. First publication of this revised version, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Case of the Plummeting Painter ©2016 by Carla Coupe. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson Learn to Fly ©2016 by C. Edward Davis. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Curious Case of Mr. Marconi ©2016 by Jan Edwards. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Undershaw: An Ongoing Legacy for Sherlock Holmes ©2016 by Steve Emecz. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      A Message From the Head Teacher of Stepping Stones ©2017 by Melissa Farnham. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure at the Apothecary Shop ©2008, 2016 by Jim French. All Rights Reserved. First publication of text script in this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Apologetic Assassin ©2016 by David Friend. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Frightened Architect ©2016 by Arthur Hall. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Unwelcome Client ©2016 by Keith Hann. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Case of the Temperamental Terrier ©2016 by Narrelle M. Harris. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Tetanus Epidemic ©2016 by Carl L. Heifetz. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Sunken Indiaman ©2016 by Craig Janacek. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Foreword ©2016 by Colin Jeavons. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Universality of the Man’s Interests ©2016 by Roger Johnson. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Sweet Violin ©2017 by Bonnie MacBird. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Problem of the Holy Oil and Editor’s Introduction: A Holmesian Golden Age ©2016, 2017 by David Marcum. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Irregular ©2016 by Julie McKuras. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Radicant Munificent Society ©2016 by Mark Mower. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Two Patricks ©2016 by Robert Perret. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Queen’s Teardrop ©2016 by Tracy Revels. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Apothecary’s Prescription ©2016 by Roger Riccard. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of a Thousand Stings ©2016 by GC Rosenquist. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Tempest of Lyme ©2016 by David Ruffle. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Bubble Reputation ©2016 by Geri Schear. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Cat’s Claws ©2016 by Shane Simmons. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Case of the Bereaved Author ©2016 by S. Subramanian. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      "Die Weisse Frau" ©2016 by Tim Symonds and Lesley Abdela. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Adventure of the Wonderful Toy ©2009, 2016 by David Timson. All Rights Reserved. Originally appeared as an audio book commissioned by Naxos AudioBooks and read by the author in his collection The Complete Sherlock Holmes Read by David Timson. First text publication original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      A Scandal in Serbia ©2016 by Thomas A. Turley. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Foreword ©2017 by Nicholas Utechin. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      A Case of Mistaken Identity ©2016 by Daniel D. Victor. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Grave Message ©2016 by Stephen Wade. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      The Exorcism of the Haunted Stick ©2016 by Marcia Wilson. All Rights Reserved. First publication, original to this collection. Printed by permission of the author.

      Editor’s Introduction: A Holmesian Golden Age

      by David Marcum

      In late 1887, a doctor who also wanted to write saw his work appear in an obscure volume, Beeton’s Christmas Annual. The narrative was A Study in Scarlet, recounting some astounding events that had occurred in early 1881.

      In the one-hundred-thirty years since that small volume was published, the name of its subject, Sherlock Holmes, has gone on to be known and admired literally all over the world. In 1890, a second work about Mr. Holmes appeared, The Sign of the Four, and the following year, shorter narratives of his investigations were revealed in the recently created Strand magazine. The genie was out of the bottle. The public - those that weren’t already acquainted with Our Heroes, The Detective and The Doctor - desperately wanted to know more. Through the next few decades, up until 1927, new official adventures were irregularly published. The first twenty-four short stories, eventually comprising The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, appeared in The Strand from June 1891 until December 1893. At that point, it was revealed the Holmes was believed to have died in early May 1891 at the hands of the nefarious Professor Moriarty, just a month before The Strand had started publishing the shorter adventures. In spite of outcries of disbelief and demands for additional chronicles, nothing was forthcoming until 1901, when details of The Hound of the Baskervilles were revealed.

      In 1903, around the time of Sherlock Holmes’s retirement to Sussex, new stories were shared, divulging exactly how the great detective had survived his supposed 1891 death at the Reichenbach Falls, where he had gone afterwards, and about how he returned to London in April ’94 to resume his practice. These additional accounts, eventually collected in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, continued to be placed before the fascinated reading public until 1927, when the last story of the official Canon was finally published.

      And for some people, those pitifully few sixty reports are enough.

      But not for the rest of us.

      In The Problem of Thor Bridge, Watson writes:

      Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch box with my name, John H. Watson, M. D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine.

      Even when Watson’s original writings were being published in The Strand, other extra-Canonical tales began coming into sight. Some were obviously parodies, but others had the feel of veracity - Watsonian efforts that had gone astray, perhaps, and revealed themselves in non-Strand settings by way of someone other than the Literary Agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This continued through the years, with newly discovered compositions appearing in varied and diverse places - newspapers, magazines, books, radio and television shows, films, and even within the hallowed pages of The Baker Street Journal and The Sherlock Holmes Society of London Journal.

      In 1974, an event of incredible Sherlockian importance occurred: A Watsonian manuscript was discovered and subsequently published by Nicholas Meyer as The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. The existence of this document alerted (or reminded) The World that there were other lost writings by Dr. Watson afoot. The World sat up and took notice.

      After Meyer showed The World that other Watsonian manuscripts did indeed exist, The World went out and began to find them. For someone like me, who was ten years old in 1975 and just discovering the way to 221b Baker Street, The Canon was simply insufficient, even in those bygone days. Others might enjoy repeatedly arguing about the minutiae related to the original publications - I wanted more adventures!

      And even though more were being found, there still weren’t enough. However, excellent detective work by Holmes fans and scholars all over the world have recovered more and more of Watson’s own lost writings, as well as manuscripts from other pens that relate Holmes’s adventures from many different perspectives than that of just the Good Doctor.

      Meyer’s initial discovery of that lost Holmes adventure was said to be the beginning of a new Holmesian Golden Age. Some argue that it dwindled for a time, and that we’re now in a new and different Golden Age. That’s for someone else to decide. I only know that - finally - my addiction to more and more Holmes adventures is (mostly) being adequately fed. Still, there will never be enough!

      I can say with assurance that whatever Golden Age that we’re in now only promises to continue. New Holmes stories, it seems, appear almost daily. And it isn’t only the print medium which helps to satisfy my addiction, along with that of so many others out there. Imagination Theater kept the Holmes Fires burning on the radio for years, continuing a tradition of decades. And after a number of years without Our Heroes being represented in film, there are rumors that the next Holmes motion picture featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, respectively, might be creaking into motion.

      I understand that some feel that the previous Downey films possibly stretched the Canonical Holmes a little bit beyond recognition, but I’m happy enough with them. They do get some things seriously wrong, I’ll admit, but they also show many aspects of Holmes that were referred to in the original stories but only appeared off-screen, so to speak. Additionally, as there have been no other film representations of Sherlock Holmes since the now long-ago Granada films of the 1980’s and 90’s starring Jeremy Brett, something new is completely a cause for celebration. (Of course, one can certainly point to a few other Holmes-influenced television shows since those Granada episodes, such as House, M.D. and even The Big Bang Theory, in which main characters have a few Holmesian traits, but at least - while they were being influenced somewhat by Holmes - they had sense enough not to steal his name while doing it.)

      In early 2015, I had the idea for this now ongoing series of anthologies, partly due to a perceived need to remind people about the true Sherlock Holmes, a man of the Victorian and Edwardian age, born in the 1850’s. People needed to remember that Holmes is a hero and not a villain. He was complicated, but not irreparably and quite objectionably damaged.

      The proposed book that occurred to me was initially planned to be a couple-of-dozen stories (at best) in a paperback format. However, it grew and grew to a three-volume hardcover set, Parts I, II, and III, with sixty-three new adventures - the largest collection of new Holmes stories yet assembled. It was quickly realized that the popularity of the anthologies, along with the desire of so many editors of Watson’s manuscripts to participate, would lead to additional volumes. In 2016, two more were published, Part IV: 2016 Annual and Part V: Christmas Stories. Now, in 2017, you’re reading this latest edition, Part VI: 2017 Annual, and Part VII: Eliminate the Impossible is already in the works for Autumn 2017. And there’s no end in sight - Two more volumes for 2018 are in the early planning stages.

      Part of what makes this ongoing collection so special is that all of the participants - now over one-hundred of them! - donate their royalties, (as well as the hours and hours of work that go into producing their contributions,) to the Stepping Stones School at Undershaw, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former homes. My ever-present deerstalker and I were very privileged to be able to attend the Grand Opening of the Stepping Stones School at the refurbished Undershaw on September 9th, 2016, and to see first-hand both the famed building itself - which I’d heard about for so long - and the school and the students, making this whole project even more real and important to me than it ever had been before.

      In the past year, these anthologies have also been issued in India (four volumes so far,) and they are being translated into Japanese. The books have raised over $15,000 for the school, and as I wrote, there is no end in sight, either in terms of these collections, or for a couple of additional related projects now in the works.

      This incredible team effort truly stretches around the world, with contributors from many countries and most continents. (I’m still hoping for stories from South America and Antarctica. Tell your Antarctic Sherlockian friends to email me!) All of these incredibly generous people continually offer their very best, and once again, I’m very happy and proud to be sharing this collection with everyone, since I’ve had the selfish pleasure over the last few months of being the only one who, up until now, has had a chance to read all of these wonderful stories collected in this one place, straight out of Watson’s Tin Dispatch Box.

      This collection spans Holmes’s days in Montague Street, before he moved to the famous 221b, through the 1880’s and 1890’s, and so into the 20th Century, and those complicated days both before and after the Great War. As with other volumes, the stories are arranged chronologically, and each adds yet more important and entertaining threads to The Great Holmes Tapestry.

      As always, I have a number of people that I wish to thank for all the help that went into this volume:

      First and Most: My wife Rebecca and son Dan. Both of you are everything to me.

      All of the Contributors: I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your efforts, encouragement, and friendship.

      Steve Emecz: Your tireless enthusiasm and support never cease to amaze me. I’m very lucky to know you.

      Roger Johnson and Jean Upton. Huge thanks yet again! I can’t count all the nice things you’ve both done for me, and also the ways that you’ve both helped this project, all the way back to the beginning. And of course I’ll never forget that you hosted me at your wonderful home during a portion of my second Holmes Pilgrimage to England in 2015.

      Derrick Belanger: Your encouragement for this and other projects far and wide, as well as your friendship, is always appreciated.

      Marcia Wilson: One of my favorite authors - Period! - and one of the most supportive people I know. Your advice along the way is always invaluable. I’m so glad to have written you that fan letter years ago.

      Bob Byrne: My friend with whom many things are discussed on a nearly daily basis: Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, mysteries, family and faith, work, vexations, and amusements.

      Dan Victor, whose work I first read decades ago - and you’re only getting better! Very glad to have met you in person for just a few minutes in London, and to have gotten to know you (in this modern sense) much better through regular emails. And thanks for letting me read your stories hot off the presses - Always a treat!

      Tom Turley: We began emailing in relation to these volumes, and it’s progressed to a very enjoyable ongoing conversation. And now it’s turned out great that you have a story in this book, as well as the next one, coming later in 2017. I always look forward to hearing from you.

      Mark Mower: You sent a story for the first set of books, and I was fortunate enough to meet you in person at the launch party in London in 2015 - and thanks again for your support to get me over there. Since that time, we’ve become email pen-pals, and I always enjoy hearing your man-on-the-ground perspective from England. I’m jealous of where you live!

      Denis Smith: My favorite pasticheur! I’m so happy that you were still at that old address where I’d written twenty-plus years ago, and that I was able to find you again in the present to get you into this party. I enjoy our regular communications, and while you’re not in this book, I’m certain that you’ll be in the next!

      Shannon Carlisle: After being introduced at a meeting of The Nashville Scholars of the Three Problem Scion, Shannon, teacher extraordinaire and Sherlockian, arranged for her class to interview me about being a Sherlockian. I was very honored, and their insightful questions helped me to examine and explain some of the things that I like best about Sherlock Holmes. A big thank you to Shannon and her class!

      Brian Belanger: Once again, another great cover, and it’s always a pleasure to work with you. You have many many talents, and I can’t recommend you highly enough. Keep up the great work!

      Nick Utechin: Thanks again for lending your expertise to this endeavour, and for the time you spent showing me around Oxford. I wouldn’t have known what I was missing if you hadn’t given me the inside scoop!

      Hugh Ashton: I appreciate your stepping up from the beginning and being so supportive of this project with your contributions. I really appreciate the work you do as one of the true and best traditional pasticheurs. I wish I’d had a chance to talk with you more in London a couple of years ago, but hopefully there will be another chance.

      Craig Janacek: I have much gratitude for the authentic stories that you write, and how you have been so willing to contribute any time there is a call. Keep up the great work!

      Colin Jeavons, for writing a foreword to this volume, and his son Saul Jeavons for arranging it. Mr. Jeavons, you are the definitive Inspector Lestrade for all time and for all generations, and I’m so proud to have you associated with this project. Thank you, sir!

      Larry Albert: A long overdue thanks to you, who have worked tirelessly in your own field, and have also been a tremendous help with this project, as well as some that you and I are working on that haven’t even been revealed yet!

      Luke Kuhns: We met you in 2013, on my first Holmes Pilgrimage, when you coordinated my initial book-signing at The Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street - not massively attended, but something that I’ll never forget. Later, you were the first to send a story when I put out requests for the original MX Anthologies. In September 2016, when I was able to go to Undershaw for the grand opening of Stepping Stones, you led me down from London and back again. To someone who is always willing to make the extra effort, I salute you!

      Judy Baring-Gould Orthwein: Thank you for letting me pick your brain about your father, William S. Baring-Gould, that amazing Sherlockian who explained so many things perfectly and answered so many questions exactly right. I’ve been a Baring-Gouldist almost as long as I’ve been a Sherlockian, and it’s much appreciated!

      Mr. David Forbes-Nixon and his assistant Julie Owen, both of whom got me to England for the grand opening of Stepping Stones in September 2016. Through his DFN Foundation, Mr. Forbes-Nixon has done amazing things there, and I’m very happy to have been able to be attend the festivities and meet both of them.

      Melissa Farnham, Head Teacher at Stepping Stones. I now have a much better understanding of the amazing work you’re doing, and I appreciate that you took time to take my picture, with me sitting in Doyle’s very study at Undershaw, in the very spot where The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Return of Sherlock Holmes were completed. You were very patient, and many thanks!

      Richard Doyle: I enjoyed getting to hang around with you for a while at Undershaw, exploring the place and trying inadequately to explain U.S. politics. It was just a few minutes for you, but I’ll never forget it!

      And now... the game is afoot!

      David Marcum

      January 6th, 2017

      The 163rd Birthday of Mr. Sherlock Holmes

      Questions or comments may be addressed to David Marcum at

      thepapersofsherlockholmes@gmail.com

      Foreword

      By Colin Jeavons

      Little did I imagine when I took on playing Lestrade that it would still attract so much attention so many years later! I had fond memories of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films of my youth, and when initially asked to consider the role, I wondered if I could make it work, as Dennis Hoey’s portrayal was so different to what I had to bring to the part. I asked my younger son (who was an avid fan of the books) to look up Conan Doyle’s descriptions of Lestrade - whilst not flattering, here was a role I could play... my family have had many a laugh at my expense over the descriptions of ferret-like and rat-faced over the years since! In fact, I was once sent a script for another programme where I was unsure which part I was intended to play, so we read through until the description A ferret-faced man enters... and sure enough, that turned out to be the part I was being offered!

      Whilst I am by nature something of a hermit, and this will I suspect be the only foreword I’ll ever be persuaded to write, I am delighted that the royalties from this anthology go to the Stepping Stones School for special needs students. We have seen first-hand the difference that this wonderful school can make to the life of a child, and to their whole family, as dear friends of ours have a daughter who is lucky enough to be a current pupil.

      Happy reading!

      Colin Jeavons

      January, 2017

      Foreword

      by Nicholas Utechin

      Forty-two years ago, Nicholas Meyer published The Seven-Per-Cent Solution – an immense success out of left field. Forty-one-and-one-half years ago, a colleague and I at a radio station thought we would try and write a Holmes pastiche. Austin Mitchelson edited news bulletins which I read to some thousands of people in London. Every half hour, we would scribble notes of plot and dialogue. We wrote separate chapters and stitched them together.

      The end result was something called The Earthquake Machine. For some reason, we were pleased with it, so we thought of another and called it Hellbirds. They were published in the U.S. in 1976 and neither was particularly good.

      We thought we had been so clever to use Rasputin, Winston Churchill, Baron von Richtofen, and (very briefly) a young Adolph Hitler spread around the two books. (After all, our guide, Meyer, built his whole novel around Sigmund Freud.) We thought that a death atop the Eiffel Tower or a robbery at the Tower of London would add so much pizazz. Did Doyle ever insert Mr. Gladstone or Sir Arthur Sullivan into his works? Was there good reason that he only wrote four long stories?

      Mind you, I was only twenty-four. (Mitchelson was older and should have been wiser).

      Paramountly, we thought that we had the Watson/Doyle style nailed. Vitally, we eschewed Americanisms (gotten to Baker Street, etc.). Crucially, it didn’t work: An erudite Scottish minister who doubled as a literature/computer expert looked at how Doyle used words, how Mitchelson-as-Doyle used words, and how I used words as both myself and as Doyle. I was easily differentiated from Doyle, as I was from Mitchelson. All very disheartening.

      This is a precursor to saying that writing Sherlock Holmes pastiches - good ones - is very difficult indeed. With good reason, as a veritable tsunami of often merely average and sometimes downright bad attempts at being Watson rolled out over the decades, I stepped back until a couple of years ago, when I was enthused by Editor David Marcum - on a visit to Oxford - to return to the fray and contribute to the preceding two volumes in this MX series. Others may comment on their quality (or not), but I think that is probably that from me. Just as I have always avoided contributing to the chronology of Sherlock Holmes’s cases - because it is too damn hard - so I believe that the art of a goodish pasticheur is to write little and rarely. How many did Starrett pen, or S. C. Roberts? Steer clear of the bandwagon unless you are very sure of your abilities.

      All that said, there are some crackers in this latest collection and I am grateful to David for having afforded me some space to surmise.

      Nicholas Utechin, BSI

      Oxford, U.K.

      January 2017

      EDITOR’S NOTE: As we were going to press, Nick Utechin passed on to me the sad news that Austin Mitchelson passed away in late February of this year.

      The Universality of the Man’s Interests

      by Roger Johnson

      When Derrick Belanger asked about his vision for The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, David Marcum said, My main condition when assembling the stories was that the authors’ submissions had to be about the true Holmes and Watson from the Original Canon. There could be no parodies, and no new characteristics about them that were not in the original stories. In an interview with The Baker Street Babes, he explained that the stories "should be set within the lifetime ranges of the historical Holmes and Watson, men who were born in the 1850s and lived into the 20th Century. The characters cannot be uprooted and modernized, for if they are moved to different eras, whether it’s the present or the ancient past or three-hundred years from now (as has been done in some Star Trek stories) they are not the correct Holmes and Watson who were born in the Victorian era, and thus the stories are no longer about Holmes and Watson. The characters should use the language and technology available to them during the appropriate timeframe - no time machines or overblown supernatural encounters with Dracula - and their behaviour should match that established in the original Canonical stories as well."

      Over the years, we’ve been presented with Sherlock Holmes as a time-traveller from the distant future, Holmes as a 19th-century man re-awoken in the late 20th century - or in the 22nd century, Holmes as a woman, Holmes and Watson as a gay couple, Watson as a woman, Watson as a robot, Holmes as a ghost-hunter.... With or without the faithful Doctor, the Detective has, we’re told, met Rudolf Rassendyll, Reginald Jeeves, Scarlett O’Hara, Tarzan, Captain Nemo, James Bond, Richard Hannay, Sigmund Freud, Theodore Roosevelt.... He has come up against A.J. Raffles, Arsène Lupin, Dr. Crippen, Count Dracula, Baron Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Phantom of the Opera - and, of course, Jack the Ripper....

      Science-fiction, the supernatural, domestic relationships, exotic adventure, comedy, high political intrigue and much more - all of which has very little to do with the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle. Or does it?

      The chronicles of Sherlock Holmes form only a part of Conan Doyle’s very considerable output, a part that, as we know, he soon came to think of as overshadowing much more important work. (Later, of course, he realised that the public’s preference for the adventures of the great detective could be an advantage rather than a hindrance, and his daughter Dame Jean remembered that he would read each new story aloud to the family, with evident pleasure.) But consider the rest of his fiction.

      The Lost World is one of the great science-fiction novels, and a gripping tale of exotic adventure. For the supernatural, read such masterly stories as The Leather Funnel, The Ring of Thoth, and Lot No. 249. Domestic relationships? Try A Duet, With an Occasional Chorus. For comedy, the exploits of the redoubtable Brigadier Gérard rank high.

      With political intrigue, we’re closing in on the Holmes Canon. Think of The Naval Treaty, The Second Stain, The Bruce-Partington Plans, and His Last Bow - that last subtitled The War Service of Sherlock Holmes and published just a century ago.

      The fact is that all those apparently separate genres are represented in the adventures of the great detective. Holmes may have dismissed the notion of supernatural forces (The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.) but he had to contend with apparently paranormal horrors in The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sussex Vampire. The Wikipedia article on science-fiction notes that historically science fiction stories were intended to have a grounding in science-based fact or theory at the time the story was created - which is certainly true of The Creeping Man, even though the theory behind it has long since been discredited. Domestic relationships are at the heart of many of the problems brought to Baker Street: Random examples being A Case of Identity, The Yellow Face, The Veiled Lodger, and The Noble Bachelor. (The categories are not mutually exclusive: A marital relationship is of the essence in the tale of The Sussex Vampire, and the same is true of The Second Stain.)

      And if you ask whether any of Holmes’s cases can truly be classed as comedy, then I challenge you to read the story of The Red-Headed League without breaking into a grin at least once!

      Superficially, the stipulations that David Marcum has imposed upon his contributors may seem restrictive, but in fact they allow a great deal of latitude, and his authors wisely take advantage of it. After all, they’re simply following in the tradition set by Arthur Conan Doyle himself - and there could be no better model.

      Roger Johnson, BSI, ASH

      Editor: The Sherlock Holmes Journal

      January 2017

      Undershaw: An Ongoing Legacy for Sherlock Holmes

      by Steve Emecz

      Undershaw, Circa 1900

      The authors involved in this anthology are donating their royalties toward the restoration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home, Undershaw. This building was initially in terrible disrepair, and was saved from destruction by the Undershaw Preservation Trust (Patron: Mark Gatiss). Today, the building has been bought by Stepping Stones (a school for children with learning difficulties), and is being restored to its former glory.

      The building re-opened in September 2016 as the new home for Stepping Stones, (a school for children with learning disabilities,) and has been restored to its former glory.

      Undershaw is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many of the Sherlock Holmes stories, including The Hound of The Baskervilles. It’s where Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back to life. This project will contribute to specific projects at the house, such as the restoration of Doyle’s study, and will be opened up to fans outside term time.

      You can find out more information about the new Stepping Stones School at www.steppingstones.org.uk

      Steve Emecz

      London

      January 2017

      A Word From the Head Teacher of Stepping Stones

      by Melissa Farnham

      Undershaw, September 9, 2016. Grand Opening of the Stepping Stones School (Photograph courtesy of Roger Johnson)

      Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons, with the greatest for the last.

      - Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Red Circle

      Whilst this may have been Sherlock Holmes’s swan song, it is a statement that reflects the ethos of his home here in Hindhead today.

      As a school, our core ethos is to empower learners for life, and with the gift of this beautiful home and the legacy that we are honoured to carry, we shall change mindsets within society just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did in his time while settled in this home.

      Melissa Farhnam

      Head Teacher, Stepping Stones, Undershaw

      January 2017

      Sherlock Holmes (1854-1957) was born in Yorkshire, England, on 6 January, 1854. In the mid-1870’s, he moved to 24 Montague Street, London, where he established himself as the world’s first Consulting Detective. After meeting Dr. John H. Watson in early 1881, he and Watson moved to rooms at 221b Baker Street, where his reputation as the world’s greatest detective grew for several decades. He was presumed to have died battling noted criminal Professor James Moriarty on 4 May, 1891, but he returned to London on 5 April, 1894, resuming his consulting practice in Baker Street. Retiring to the Sussex coast near Beachy Head in October 1903, he continued to be involved in various private and government investigations while giving the impression of being a reclusive apiarist. He was very involved in the events encompassing World War I, and to a lesser degree those of World War II. He passed away peacefully upon the cliffs above his Sussex home on his 103rd birthday, 6 January, 1957.

      Dr. John Hamish Watson (1852-1929) was born in Stranraer, Scotland on 7 August, 1852. In 1878, he took his Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of London, and later joined the army as a surgeon. Wounded at the Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan (27 July, 1880), he returned to London late that same year. On New Year’s Day, 1881, he was introduced to Sherlock Holmes in the chemical laboratory at Barts. Agreeing to share rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, Watson became invaluable to Holmes’s consulting detective practice. Watson was married and widowed three times, and from the late 1880’s onward, in addition to his participation in Holmes’s investigations and his medical practice, he chronicled Holmes’s adventures, with the assistance of his literary agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a series of popular narratives, most of which were first published in The Strand magazine. Watson’s later years were spent preparing a vast number of his notes of Holmes’s cases for future publication. Following a final important investigation with Holmes, Watson contracted pneumonia and passed away on 24 July, 1929.

      Photos of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson courtesy of Roger Johnson

      The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories

      Part VI - 2017 Annual

      Sweet Violin

      by Bonnie MacBird

      (Imagine this... to the tune of Sweet Violets)

      There once was a man who is called Sherlock Holmes

      Who’s so tall and thin, you could say skin and

      Nerves and what’s special is his giant brain

      But when he’s at work you must always re–

      Frame your conception of when you should speak

      ’Cause he works in silence, he’s kind of a

      Stickler on logic and facts, just the facts!

      He’s wired, takes morphine to try to re–

      Member that he should slow down, take a breath.

      ’Cause our Sherlock Holmes works himself to near

      Train wreck but there’s no one else in his class

      And that’s because Watson stays right on his

      Case. He will keep Holmes away from his vice.

      Tells him to be civil, perhaps even

      Normal though that is a truly lost cause

      ’Cause Sherlock Holmes normal would give us all

      Vapors, we want him as odd as he is

      A boxer, stick fighter, musician and

      Wizard of inductive reas’ning profound

      Now what’s that I hear? It’s a beautiful-

      Sweet violin.

      Sweeter than all the roses

      Singing and scraping the bow out and in

      Note after note from his

      Sweet violin.

      Purple and blue, and a colour called mouse

      Are what Sherlock Holmes wears when he’s in the

      Mood disputatious, the mood Watson hates

      The good doctor bristles and he tempts the

      Poor bored detective from out of his lair

      They travel to Simpson’s for good English

      Beef and a chance to escape the four walls

      But Holmes has is no appetite, no not at

      Least out in London where criminals thrive

      The thrill of the chase makes him feel so

      Aware of the drawbacks of Watson’s poor brain

      His friend can be slow, and it’s kind of a

      Drag on proceedings, but does shed some light

      And he can be handy when there is a

      Brawl or villain who needs to be shot

      The doctor’s a true friend and like it or

      Else there’s the needle but better than that

      Is work and a pipe and that damned ear-flapped

      Thing on his head that we’ve seen many times

      Now shoot me before I will run out of

      Lyrics so let’s go to 221

      Be - cause it is time for this rhyme to be

      Finished or else it’s the cardinal sin

      To bore or be bored. So let’s listen to

      Sweet violin.

      Sweeter than all the roses

      Soundtrack to Holmes yes, again and again

      Note after note from that

      Sweet violin!

      The Adventure of the Murdered Spinster

      by Bob Byrne

      Through the tightly closed bow window, I could just hear the bitter wind whistling down Baker Street. Fortunately, I was ensconced in our lodgings with a cup of tea and a copy of The Lancet. My practice, never very tiring, had required little time this day and I was feeling relaxed.

      Unfortunately, that very state was abhorrent to my flat mate, Sherlock Holmes. There had not been a case worthy of testing his talents for some months and, as he said, idleness exhausted him completely. It also made him a less-than-pleasant fellow tenant.

      Why do I even bother with these bleatings of society, Watson? he asked, tossing aside a newspaper for the third time that evening. The London criminal is certainly a dull fellow.

      It was a common refrain and I no longer responded with an indignant outburst. I merely grunted noncommittally and turned my attention back to what I was reading.

      He sighed and I could feel his piercing glare boring into me. I looked up, setting the journal aside. Lestrade or Gregson don’t have need of your talents, Holmes?

      He eyed his cherry pipe, precariously perched on the edge of the table at his side, but decided to leave it there. Either their cases are so mundane that they can solve them on their own, or their inflated senses of self-worth are too great for them to ask for my help at present.

      Charitable is not a word I would choose to use to describe Holmes’s comments when he was in a mood such as this.

      I sighed loudly. I really would like to finish this article, Holmes. Why don’t you paste some clippings into your scrapbooks, or study the lividity of fingernails after death by poisoning, or some such?

      That merely earned me a snort of contempt in response. Other than the aforementioned wind, all was quiet for several minutes until he spoke again.

      Watson, did I ever tell you of my role in solving the Gilkey murder?

      I looked up, The Lancet instantly forgotten. I often tried to convince Holmes to share accounts of his cases from before we met. He had teased me with vague references and hints, but rare was the time he chose to fully recount one.

      No, you have not, Holmes. I should love to hear of it.

      A look of solicitousness came over his face. But I must apologize, my good man. I have interrupted your reading. Surely you will never finish that article that interests you so if I ramble on about some dusty old case. Perhaps it is best saved for another time.

      Really, Holmes, this is too much! You cannot bring up one of your old cases, then when I show the least bit of interest...

      I stopped my blustering because Holmes was laughing and had raised a hand towards me. Control yourself, Watson. I am merely goading you. Of course, I shall help us pass this cold evening with a tale. If you would be so good as to pour us fresh cups of tea?

      I did as he requested, using this mundane task to calm my emotions. I convinced myself that it was unfair of me to remain angry when Holmes was just having a bit of fun, as he had intended to tell me of the Gilkey case all along.

      Once the tea was poured and Holmes had stoked the fire, I sat back with my pen in hand and notebook open on my knee.

      He smiled at me. As you know, when I came down to London from University, I had two rooms in Montague Street, just around the corner from the British Museum. My nascent practice left me with no shortage of time to visit the reading rooms there and learn much of what would become useful in my chosen profession.

      He paused to relight his pipe, then continued. Early in 1879, I was occasionally working with a constable from the Yard named Trench. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments. You would have been serving in the army at this time.

      I mumbled my assent. Yes. I had not been wounded yet.

      He continued. Trench was more intelligent than the average Scotland Yarder. Of course, he had to follow procedures and orders, but he showed some signs of imagination. We would sometimes meet and discuss various aspects of investigations, and in a few instances, he allowed me to visit crime scenes. Such was the case when an elderly woman named Gilkey was murdered in her flat. You’ve not heard of her?

      Shifting to a slightly more comfortable position, I replied in the negative. Not at all.

      Marion Gilkey was a wealthy, elderly woman who occupied the second floor of lodgings in New Princes Street. Her maid, Ellen Whitcomb, went out at the accustomed time to get the evening paper and also some groceries. She returned to find her employer savagely beaten and near death in the dining room.

      Terrible, I muttered.

      Whirls of blue smoke lazily climbed towards the ceiling. Yes, indeed, Watson. The woman died within an hour of discovery. Of course, it was in the papers and I asked Trench about it the next day. More smoke.

      He informed me that the force believed that a missing diamond brooch was at the heart of the matter. Either she interrupted the robbery, or perhaps the thief, believing the flat to be empty, was dismayed to find her there and killed her to protect his identity.

      Was anything else missing?

      My friend smiled. Excellent, Watson. Our years together have sharpened your skills. That is the very question which I asked Trench.

      I believe that a flush of red may have suffused my cheeks. Praise from Holmes was always warming to my heart.

      No, Holmes. Only the brooch was taken. We walked along in the cold air, it being a few days after Christmas. The snow had turned into the soggy slush that nipped at the ankles. Trench, nearly as tall as I, matched my stride with no difficulty.

      I pondered this. The press reports that she kept a great deal of jewelry and lived in fear of intruders. It strikes me as odd that someone would just take the one item. What say you?

      He eyed me. We’re relying on Ellen Whitcomb, the maid. She said that was the only thing missing. Trench was a stolid Scotsman and seemed more willing to look beyond the obvious than the average Yard man. But he was still a mostly conventional officer.

      After more discussion, I convinced him to let me visit the crime scene. I would most certainly find that more helpful than simply extracting fragments of information from him. He agreed and we set off to the Gilkey residence.

      There are three flats in the building, Holmes. A musician named Adams lives on the ground floor with his sisters, with Miss Gilkey on the first floor. The uppermost rooms are vacant. One street door gives access to Adams’ flat, while another gives onto a stair to the other two. That door is opened by levers in the apartments upstairs.

      So, no one could gain access from the street without having to ring in first? I inquired.

      Exactly. And the late Miss Gilkey had two locks on her own door. The old lady was in the habit of peering over the bannister to see who was coming up the stairs after she granted access. That way, she could scurry back inside and bolt her door if the need arose.

      Sounds as if the woman had installed herself in a fortress.

      For all the good it did her, Trench snorted.

      He let us in with a key that he had and took me into dining room where she had been killed. It was an elegant room with candles, clocks, and decorative curios throughout. She had been attacked directly in front of the fireplace and savagely beaten, apparently with some type of weapon like a hammer or a crowbar.

      That chair over there was also used.

      He indicated a wooden chair at the dining table. It was still in sound condition, though I noted what appeared to be blood stains along one of the legs.

      I stared at it thoughtfully. Why would someone attack her with one object, then switch to a chair and continue the attack? Or the reverse?

      Trench eyed the chair. I wondered that myself. Perhaps the killer didn’t want to get additional blood on himself.

      I thought that to be a rather weak speculation, but let it pass. It certainly bore further thought.

      I explored the flat, though it looked as if half the Yard had already tramped through the place. A box in the bedroom, containing various papers, had been broken open and its contents scattered. The remainder of the bedroom had been in order, according to Trench - only the decorative wooden box touched.

      What were the papers?

      He waved a hand dismissively. Mostly personal letters. A few things related to her deceased husband’s affairs. Nothing of interest.

      Sometimes it is what is not there that we must see, Trench.

      He shook his head and stared at me. Do you actually believe all those little sayings, Holmes?

      I ignored his comment and continued my examination of the premises. There was a collection of valuable jewelry in another bedroom, but it hadn’t been disturbed. If the maid was to be believed, only the one brooch was missing.

      A window in the kitchen, overlooking a small yard, had been found slightly open. Whitcomb had said that was unusual but not unheard of when it became too hot in there from cooking.

      I found nothing else of note and we departed. I wish I could have been here before your colleagues undoubtedly erased many clues, I told Trench as we walked away.

      He glanced askance at me. Holmes, your social skills could do with some improving.

      I looked at him, surprised. Whatever do you mean?

      He merely shook his head, told me that he had some things to attend to, and headed off in another direction.

      Later that same evening, we were sitting in the threadbare chairs that made up my sitting room in Montague Street.

      Why does the official force believe that this Braunstein is behind the killing, Trench?

      He had informed me that the Yard had arrested a German Jew named Oscar Braunstein. I had been familiarizing myself with the criminal fraternity in London as quickly as I practicably could, but did not know the name.

      He took a sip of what I’m sure was a rather uninviting cup of tea. I was forced to make my own tea and I had not quite mastered the practice. I vowed that someday I would have a landlady who would make me a good cup of tea.

      "An associate of his told us that Braunstein was trying to get rid of a pawn ticket for a diamond brooch. Braunstein wasn’t unknown to us, as we believe the woman he is living with is an unfortunate. Braunstein is a gambler, and also lives off of the proceeds of her work.’

      If he has pawned the stolen diamond brooch, it would certainly count against him. I paused. Though it would not be conclusive.

      We caught him fleeing the city. He and the woman were taking a ship to America. We nabbed them there yesterday.

      I carelessly flicked cigarette ash onto the worn carpet. Though I preferred a pipe, my earnings were not such that I could afford any but the cheapest tobacco.

      A man went out to the pawn shop today, but I don’t know yet what he found.

      I exhaled and watched the smoke for a moment. Tell me. What do you make of the brooch?

      He

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