Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.

When Mrs. Hudson asks Holmes and Watson to find a missing girl, neither men expected what they would find. Along with Lestrade, they are plunged into a case of abduction and murder. As they race from Marylebone, to Finchley, to Wapping, and back again, time is running out for them to solve the case without further casualties. With two of their own under threat, the pressure is mounting to catch and stop the group known as "Hellfire Heirs".

From some clear pieces of glass and a raven's feather, the great detective must divine exactly who the client was and what prompted him to seek assistance at 221B. Fortunately, Holmes has a number of experts upon whom he can rely as well as his own vast store of esoteric knowledge. Treading a twisted path, Holmes soon finds himself matching wits with an unseen criminal, who appears to be the equal of the late Professor Moriarty. At the same time, he is tasked with sparing the monarchy any possible embarrassment that may stem from the investigation.

The apparition of a lady dressed in white and long thought dead, a deadly and shadowy form that wreaks terror on the heath, and a figure from the past who has accrued the power to commune with the dead! Here is collection of cases, some new, together with a few old favorites which sorely test Holmes' long-held beliefs to their very limits!

This is the fourth story from The Art of Sherlock Holmes project and first appeared in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part V.

These volumes are the complete Martin Hewitt stories, taking Arthur Morrison's original publications and presenting them as Sherlock Holmes adventures. If you are a fan of Holmes, enjoy! And by all means, seek out the original Hewitt stories and enjoy them as well.

On concluding a long day of house calls, Dr. Watson receives an urgent summons to attend his friend, Sherlock Holmes. He arrives at 221B Baker Street to find Holmes in a state of deep shock and wearing scorched clothing that reeks of excrement.

When misadventure led a schoolboy in London to employment at Baker Street, few could have guessed where his introduction to Sherlock Holmes would lead. But as the lad matures and he finds himself caught in the middle of a murder investigation, his friendship with Holmes and Watson lures him into the role of detective. 'Billy' documents his experiences, and soon his sleuthing skills not only bring him to another murder, but also lay the foundation for his metamorphosis into a famous mystery writer.

On the eve of Newgate Prison's demolition, Watson spies Holmes leaving a public sale of the prison's miscellany in the company of a beautiful stranger, and in possession of an unusual trophy–the death mask of a woman who, more than 20 years earlier, had been executed for the murder of her three children. Holmes agrees to satisfy Watson's curiosity about the memento by recounting the decades-old history of its subject.

In the year 1908, Holmes believed himself to be in retirement. Watson was once again in private practice and unwed. Mrs. Hudson had gone to Sussex to act as Holmes's housekeeper. But the fates had agreed that Martha Hudson and John Watson should be together. Or had they? When Dr. Watson proposes to Martha Hudson, it sets off a series of events that only Sherlock Holmes can deal with. Watson has already had three wives—all have died under unfortunate circumstances. Colm Campbell, Martha Hudson's nephew, thinks there is more here than meets the eye.

In real life, 221B Baker Street is the home of a bank. When fans send letters to Sherlock Holmes, bank employee Addy Zhuang, known as "Sherlock's Secretary," replies. One day, the bank is robbed, but the thieves only take three letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes. The police conclude it was all a harmless prank, but Addy suspects something more malicious is happening.

Sherlock Holmes thrives on danger. Sudden knife attacks, being stalked, and facing a network of assassins present little more than a cheery break in the monotony. But the enigmatic Lady Beatrice presents danger of a different kind. Is she a murderer or a potential victim? Or something even more perilous? Uncovering her secrets could change Holmes's life forever, and in ways even he cannot anticipate.

From the curious clauses in a miser’s will, to a plea for help on a tiny scrap of paper, these six cases, from the early years of Holmes’s career in the 1880s, present a singular collection of mysteries for the world’s first consulting detective to resolve. What is the significance of the arrival in the post one morning of a cardboard packet of children’s bricks? Who is the man found dying in a deserted warehouse in London’s East End, and what is he doing there?

There is a persistent and incorrect idea, reinforced by countless film misrepresentations, that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were always staid and dull British chaps of middle years (or older), with Holmes a spry, cranky, and impatient eccentric, and Watson a white-haired and portly Boobus Brittanicus, a la Nigel Bruce. Students of the true and Canonical Sherlock Holmes know this to be a falsehood.

This is the startling question that Jeff Cody and his wife, Lynda, hear during a wedding reception on the first night of the QueenCon mystery conference in Cincinnati. Not only are the whispered words unnerving, there is no one nearby to have spoken them.