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Revelations from the despatch box of Doctor John Watson. These seven stories previously featured in various volumes of The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories and other anthologies. They come together in their own collection for the first time.

The Incident of the Absent Thieves.

Holmes, left alone temporarily by the newly-married Watson, narrates an early episode in his career. While living in Montague Street he is approached by the wife of a well-known thief to discover the whereabouts of her husband and son. It seems that, two months previously, they had entered premises in Whitechapel with the intention of stealing a private art collection – and disappeared from the face of the Earth.

The Adventure of the Ten Tall Men

Mrs Fanshawe, a middle-aged resident of the Kent village of Tarnfields, tells Holmes of her curiosity about the ten near-identical men who, one after another, repeatedly visit the local tailor’s shop for no apparent reason.

The Adventure of Canal Reach.

Mycroft’s clerk relates a strange experience. While on holiday, he met a man who befriended him and insisted, to his astonishment, on paying all his expenses. On responding to his new-found friend’s invitation to visit him at a later date, he is astonished to find that the address is a derelict house beside a canal.

The Adventure of Marcus Davery

A client relates the story of his son’s demise. It has been accepted as suicide as a result of mounting gambling debts, but Holmes is asked to investigate the case as one of murder. The alleged perpetrator, Marcus Davery, is a man without conscience who openly boasts of his scandalous behaviour and the lives he has wrecked. When Holmes refuses to abandon his investigation, Davery requests a meeting to discuss the matter after completing preparations to murder once more.

The Adventure of the Phantom Coachman

Mycroft enlists his brother’s aid in the case of Rodney Trasker, a fellow member of the Diogenes Club. His sleep disturbed during the night, Trasker discovered his newly-hired coachman ransacking the library. Faced with a drawn pistol, he struck the man, accidentally killing him. Three nights later, he was again awakened, this time by his sister’s screams at midnight. He entered her chamber to be directed to the window, from where he looked down to the road in astonishment. The slain coachman leered up at him, apparently fully restored, before whipping up the horses and vanishing into the night. Trasker, still suffering from severe shock witnessed the same scene the following night with no less astonishment. The coach appeared once more at the same time on the night after, but this time Trasker was ready. He discharged both barrels of his shotgun, blowing the coachman to pieces as the horses bolted. The next day was spent in a worried and puzzled state, but Trasker convinced himself that the coach could not now return. And yet, promptly at midnight it stood outside his house as before, again seemingly unaffected. Holmes is at first unimpressed by the tale, until his brother confides that agents of Imperial Germany are somehow involved. He resolves to discover how this coachman can continue as if indestructible and concentrates his powers on what proves to be an extraordinary case.

The Adventure of the Frightened Architect

A fake séance sets Holmes and Watson on the trail of a multiple killer obsessed with revenge.

The Adventure of the Moonlit Shadow

A dark and stormy night finds Holmes and Watson in Norfolk, on their way to visit Lord Trentlemere who has obtained proof that his daughter was murdered. Because of the weather they are obliged to approach Trentlemere Hall by way of a windswept wood and a field, where they experience several strange and apparently inexplicable events. Holmes insists that nothing unnatural has occurred, but Watson is far from convinced.

Author: Arthur Hall

Pages: 212

ISBN: 9781787055766