Holmes and Moriarty (2024)

A Holmes pastiche by Gareth Rubin endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. Cover image below is the 2025 paperback edition sporting the estate's logo.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have been hired by theater actor George Reynolds to find out why the audience who comes to see him perform onstage every night are the same people—only wearing different disguises each time. Is something sinister going on and, if so, what?

Meanwhile, Holmes’s archenemy, Professor James Moriarty, is having problems of his own. Implicated in a rival gang leader’s murder, Moriarty and his second, Moran, must go on the run from the police as they try to find out who’s behind the frame-up.

But their investigation puts them in the way of Holmes and Watson and it’s not long before all four realize they’re being targeted by the same person. With million of lives on the line, Holmes and Moriarty must form an uneasy alliance in order to unmask the true villain.

For fans of Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk and Moriarty, this is the first Sherlock Holmes book endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate in over a decade.

Title: Holmes and Moriarty
Author: Gareth Rubin
Year: 2024
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Purchase: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899

This one wasn't found inside the tin dispatch box. In fact, it's not even a Sherlock Holmes story. But it is about an acknowledged Sherlockian who became a friend (and then foe) to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and is known to have helped the great detective from time to time. This is my own first book about Harry Houdini!

HOUDINI BEGINS! 

Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899, reproduces every page of Houdini's very first diary, kept when he was a struggling performer playing dime museums, medicine shows, circuses, and séance chambers. It's an incredible artifact that has never been made available to the public, and an inspiring story of perseverance. The diary is annotated by Houdini historian John Cox and illustrated with previously unseen material from the world's finest magic collections.

Will Houdini escape his obscurity? Read the story in his own words.

Title: Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899
Author: John Cox
Year: 2025
Publisher: Mike Caveney's Magic Words
Purchase: Mike Caveney's Magic Words