Week 3 - 75 more audiobooks to give away.... and this week's extra focus is biographies - if you would like extra codes for several biographies we have please add [BIOGRAPHIES] to your audio code request.

plus...

1. New Books (get them pre-publication)  

2. January Offers

3. Free Audiobooks 

4. Audio App - Jeremy Brett Is Sherlock Holmes book added

5. Sherlock Holmes Book Club 

6. Biographies

1. New Books

As many of you will know, one of the benefits of subscribing to our newsletter is to know about, and get access to, new Sherlock Holmes books months ahead of the public. Here are some great new books you can grab now whilst others wait.....

Mrs Hudson Goes To Paris - 14th Feb 2022

This is Susan Knight's third book featuring Mrs Hudson as investigator. The first was a short story collection (Mrs Hudson Investigates) and the second her first novel (Mrs Hudson Goes To Ireland).

The Sherlock Holmes Society of London's review of Mrs Hudson Goes To Ireland was glowing - Rarely do I finish a book in one sitting; on this occasion I had to burn the midnight oil to find out what happened in the end. If Mr Holmes ever worried about his competition, he need only look under his own roof; in Mrs Hudson, he may have well and truly met his match in terms of her investigating skills!    

Sherlock Cat and The Missing Mousie (31st March)

We've been itching to make this gorgeous book available and here it finally is. Written and illustrated by friends Heather and Amanda this is a brilliant book for young children. It's also featuring in a Kickstarter this week.... (click here)

“From now on, I am going to be Sherlock Holmes, the World’s Greatest Cat Detective.” With those words, my friend Spot decided he would become a crime-solving kitty.

“And you, of course,” he said dramatically. “Will be my faithful friend, Dr. John Watson. The one who writes down all of my adventures and shares them with the world! We’ll be famous! Everyone will know the name ‘Sherlock Holmes, The World’s Greatest Cat Detective!’” 

“Mm hmm,” I agreed. I wasn’t too worried. I was sure that, by morning, Spot would have forgotten all about becoming Sherlock Holmes. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong.

The Undiscovered Archives of Sherlock Holmes (24th March)

The author of these “history mysteries” is John Lawrence, a University of California-trained history Ph.D. who spent nearly 40 years as a top staff person in the U.S. House of Representatives, the last 8 as chief of staff to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The author uses his professional training to blend historical fact with Holmesian embellishments that produce unique stories any devotee of The Canon will enjoy. These are all traditional-style pastiches published in various anthologies from 2015 – 2020, including the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

The Additional Investigations of Sherlock Holmes (21st April)

One look at Arthur Hall's profile on this site (click here) and you'll see that Arthur Hall is one of the most prolific Holmes writers of the last decade with six novels (a seventh coming soon) and several short story collections. This book contains seven more of his short stories.

Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Illustrations - Volume 2 (20th March)

Fans loved Mike's first collection of illustrations, even though the first book was dominated by Sidney Paget. The second volume is even larger at 456 pages and over 400 images. The books are very large casebound hardcovers and they are running on Kickstarter too.

New Cases of Sherlock Holmes (14th April)

An unidentified woman is found dead with a set of false teeth mysteriously gripped in her hand. A young tutor finds himself accused of a bizarre art theft. A Russian refugee in hiding is helped by Watson’s wife Mary, and now Mary has disappeared.

In these ten stories, Shaw reveals to us a mercurial and complex Holmes, a conflicted Watson, and a relationship between the two that is nuanced and psychologically rich. Here is a Sherlock Holmes you will welcome: true to form yet renewed; by turns infuriating and charming.

Shaw suggests issues that resonate with a contemporary reader while deftly avoiding piety. In this debut collection, you will discover wry humour, Victorian pathos and of course, hansom cabs in a London fog.

Mrs. Hudson and The Wild West (15th May)

When Buffalo Bill Cody's horse is stolen, the star of the world's foremost wild west show travels to Baker Street to consult the star of the world's foremost consulting detective agency. Like the many before him, Colonel Cody takes Sherlock Holmes to be that star. The true sage of 221B Baker Street, who also serves as its landlady, takes control of the situation, and finds both the purloined animal and the two children who had taken the horse for a joy ride 1903 style. When their father is murdered weeks later, the children fear they will be blamed because of their quarrel with him. They run away to join the wild west show leading Colonel Cody to make a return visit to Baker Street—this time with the two children in tow, and to enlist Holmes in the search for a murderer.

Mrs. Hudson, will, of course, once again take charge, once again without acknowledgement of her contribution, once again maintaining the fiction of Sherlock Holmes's leadership, an essential pretense in the male dominated world of Victorian England. As Mrs. Hudson and her colleagues work to discover the murderer, they will find themselves having to counter an anti-Indian bigotry that places at risk the marriage of friends of Mrs. Hudson's from the wild west show, and Mrs. Hudson's very life. With the help of her two young horse thieves, now happily rehabilitated, Mrs. Hudson may yet find the way to a just and rewarding outcome.

2.  January Offers

With nearly 100 Sherlock Holmes books written by female authors, our main January offer is a 40% discount on all the book in our 'Female Authors Collection'. With over forty authors, including several award winners there's lots to choose from.

Minimum purchase is three books using the code 'sherlockfemale'.

3. Free Audiobooks

This week it's all about short story collections - there are over twenty Sherlock Holmes stories up for grabs here. Remember to use the contact us form, quote #THIF 112 and let us know which country you are from.

Holmes and Watson: An Evening in Baker Street - David Ruffle

On the eve of Sherlock Holmes' retirement, Watson pays a final visit to 221b Baker Street. Their quiet conversation is interrupted as other guests drift in and out of the 221b sitting room.... Also included here is the account of a visit made by Holmes and Watson to Inverness and a record of a strange tale set in Borley Rectory, once believed to be the most haunted house in England.

Cat Flap (Bernie Quist Book 1) - Ian Jarvis

The first of four novels featuring a modern day Sherlock Holmes based in York.

A contemporary Sherlock Holmes, the eccentric Bernie Quist is a consultant detective in the city of York. Christmas is days away, and once again, the reclusive sleuth will be quietly celebrating alone. His assistant Watson, a teenager from the Grimpen housing estate, has other ideas, mostly involving parties, girls, and beer. Yuletide plans are halted when three chemists die and the fiance of one hires them to look into her apparent suicide. After discovering the chemist wasn't engaged, they're drawn into the mystery when their employer is killed. Added to this, Watson has a puzzle of his own - Quist is clearly hiding something and he's curious to know what. The investigation leads to a shady cartel of northern businessmen, a forgotten Egyptian cult, and an ancient evil lurking in the medieval alleyways of York. Quist's secret is also revealed, and Watson doesn't know what terrifies him the most.

Graceland Cemetery in Chicago: A Sherlockian Walk Midst the Tombstones

Graceland Cemetery is one of Chicago's most outstanding memorial grounds. It's like a little town with a private lake and mausoleums lining its streets.

The funerary architecture is spectacular. Here lie Chicago's deceased: baseball players, boxers, ballerinas, fire victims, detectives, politicians, department store owners, and inventors. They passed through nature and on to eternity, but not without a pawky connection to Sherlock Holmes.

4. Audio App

The MX Audio Collection continues to grow - this week we added our first full length audiobook into the app and many more to come.

We have a January offer on the app which you can read here - Audio App Adds more stories

5. Sherlock Holmes Book Club

If you haven't started collecting the MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, now is the perfect time. There are thirty volumes in the collection so far with over 800 Sherlock Holmes traditional short stories. Our subscription means you get a beautiful hardcover edition every month at a discount from RRP each month. It's a brilliant way to collect, with 20-30 stories per volume.

It also makes the perfect gift as you can select a different delivery address. With over 200 authors participating it's the largest Sherlock Holmes story collection in the world by far.

Join the club here 'Sherlock Holmes Book Club' 

One of our collectors (Craig) with his favourite editions 

6. Biographies

Whilst we are very heavily focussed on Sherlock Holmes, we also do biographies. 

Here are some of the main ones:

Under The Red Blanket

Under The Red Blanket is a memoir of a Swedish-American family living in the remote area of North East India among headhunting tribes. The book opens with the father of Bea, Bengt Anderson, immigrating to the United States from Sweden on the advice of his aunt Hedda, who worked as a cook for the Roosevelt family at their home in Hyde Park, New York. He later moved to Minnesota, where he met and married Edna Michaelson. Soon after, they left the US to spend 29 years living in India. The story relates the trials and tribulations of life in the jungle. It includes stories of life under the British Raj, World War II, and the Japanese invasion into India. The book also describes the horrors witnessed during the separation of India and Pakistan in 1947.

80 Years Gone in a Flash: The Memoirs of a Photojournalist

From presidents to royalty, war-torn regions to stunning scenery, the camera of John Jochimsen has captured it all. Perhaps the last person left alive today who was with Queen Elizabeth the day she became queen, John is one of the last remaining old-school photojournalists. 80 Years Gone in a Flash traces the remarkable story in his own words and with his own incredible pictures. From life at The News of the World to the jungles of Malaya, John provides an honest, witty, and touching account of a colorful career spanning more than five decades.

Benedict Cumberbatch, in Transition

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Star Trek into Darkness, The Hobbit trilogy, Twelve Years a Slave, August: Osage County, The Fifth Estate, Hedda Gabler, After the Dance, Frankenstein, Hawking, To the Ends of the Earth, The Last Enemy, Parade's End, and, of course, Sherlock. For most actors, these stellar cinematic, theatrical, and television events would be the highlights of a lifetime's work.

On Benedict Cumberbatch's résumé they are only a few of many entries. Especially since 2010, his performances have garnered a plethora of best actor awards, both in the theatre (Evening Standard Theatre Award, Critics Circle Theatre Award, and Olivier Award), by playing the dual roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature in the National Theatre's Frankenstein, and on television (Broadcasting Press Guild Award, Critics Choice Television Award, Crime Thriller Award, and TV Choice Award), by starring as the titular Holmes in the BBC's Sherlock. Add these and other recent accolades to nearly a decade s nominations and awards (such as the Golden Nymph as best actor in Hawking), and it's easy to see why Benedict Cumberbatch is often hailed as the actor of his generation.

Cumberbatch's body of work further includes indie films, radio plays and series, television documentaries, live dramatic readings, multimedia advertisements, and even the occasional stint as a fashion model. He often shares an intriguing perspective on his profession, as evidenced in sometimes controversial interviews. He has become so much in demand that online box offices crash when tickets for his performances go on sale, and, before a Cheltenham Literature Festival Q&A session, fans overwhelmed Twitter when so many responded immediately to a call for questions. Cumberbatch consistently is a top name on lists ranging from sex appeal to global influence. In 2012 he beat David Beckham in the former and US President Barack Obama in the latter.