1895. The eyes of the world are fixed on France. An obscure Jewish artillery officer is accused of selling military secrets to Germany... A desperate message is delivered to "The Court of Final Appeal" at a famous address in London's Baker Street...
Not even the last-hope pleas of Alfred Dreyfus's wife can move Sherlock Holmes to take on the case of the unjustly accused artillery officer convicted of treason--until the aging Queen Victoria issues a direct command.
"...matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."
At last revealed––some adventures of Sherlock Holmes that even Dr. Watson did not dare to publish during his lifetime! Fifty years after his death, a bank vault in London is opened to reveal new material about the most fascinating fictional detective of all time. In their hilarious and brilliant new film, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond have recreated the world of Sherlock Holmes in an adventure never before imagined. What you don't know about Sherlock Holmes has made a great motion picture...and a delightful new novel.
SHERLOCK HOLMES RETURNS!
The Revenge of the Hound is set in June 1902, only months after the publication of the most popular mystery of al time, The Hound of the Baskervilles. The coronation of Edward VII has been postponed for what at first seem to be mysterious reasons. Spy scares are rife across England. The working class is filled with unrest. The unthinkable, a British revolution, now seems possible.
Amid it all, Dr. John H. Watson, esteemed chronicler of the adventures of the world's most famous consulting detective, is in love. He has become engaged to an American woman many years his junior, a decision which may affect his long-standing relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Holmes himself is on the verge of a major decision. Although he is not quite fifty years old, he sees the coming age as a time to retire. With the end of the Victorian era and the advent of forensic methods, his unique talent for deduction is being challenged by science and the growing conformity of the modern world.
Yes before the decision can be made,three seemingly unrelated events occur. From Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard comes news of a baffling case, the sighting on Hampstead Heath of a creature frighteningly similar to that of the infamous Hound of the Baskervilles; from Holmes's brother, Mycroft, comes a mysterious summons; and from the deck of am English Channel ferry, Holmes and Watson witness firsthand the apparently motiveless murder of a ship's steward.
Suddenly, the midnight oil is burning again at 221B Baker Street. Holmes's deductive mind is roused from self-indulgence to excitement. The die is cast. The game's afoot. As the coronation of Edward VII grows closer, Holmes and Waston realize that what might be the last case of their career together may indeed decide the very fate of England!
Sherlock Holmes settled back into his chair, filled his pip with tobacco, and, with a nightcap libation in hand, found his mind drifting over the career that had made him the most famous detective in the world. Although his old friend Dr. Watson believed that he has chronicled faithfully many of his cases, the time had come to set the record straight....
This fictional biography by a Holmesian expert and biographer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the first totally convincing account of the great detective's life. A vanished world is magnificently evoked as Holmes recounts a career that began with methodical self-training in criminal investigation, an apprenticeship with the famous Pinkerton Agency in Chicago, a fateful meeting with Dr. Watson in the laboratory of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and the move to Baker Street, which began their long partnership in adventure. Holmes also reveals the sensational details of what really append at his confrontation with his archenemy Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls and during the three "missing" years before he tuned up again in Dr. Watson's rooms in London.
Ingeniously based on Sherlockian scholarship, this book demonstrates the author's uncanny abilities to use the immortal characters and their surroundings with an understanding that has been praised as making the book worthy of a place alongside the great originals.
AT THE REQUEST OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, SHERLOCK HOLMES
....leaves his Baker Street apartments to meet with Queen Victoria....steals on to–and off, again–the infamous French prison of Devil's Island...and attends a seance to gather more information!
For a reason known only to Her Majesty–and Holmes's brother Mycroft–the truth behind the trial and imprisonment of Alfred Dreyfus is of utmost importance to the Crown. Holmes had already turned down the family's pleas to investigate the Dreyfus Affair, a decision strongly supported by Doctor John Watson. But it did not take much of the great detective's world-famous powers of deduction to realize that the matter was more important than he had been led to believe. From what Her Highness had related to him, it was clear that what Dreyfus did–or did not–do would have an impact all over Europe. And just as clearly, Sherlock Holmes was the only man who could uncover the truth in time!
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are back!
World-class Sherlockian Michael Hardwick has faithfully resurrected Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved super-sleuth in a dazzling new adventure so devilishly ingenious that Sir Arthur himself would most certainly have applauded!
A sleeping derelict is savaged by a huge hound... The headless skeleton of Oliver Cromwell is stolen...A Chinese ship's steward is mysteriously murdered... And the King of England is threatened with blackmail. A sinister game is afoot, and it's up to Sherlock Holmes and his devoted crony and chronicler Dr. John Watson to put the pieces of the bizarre puzzle together, in order to keep the British Empire from being torn apart!
SHERLOCK HOLMES –
THE UNPUBLISHED FACTS.
Dramatic new revelations.
Dr. Watson's secret memoirs unearthed.
"In my lifetime I have recored more than sixty cases which demonstrated the singular gifts of my friend Sherlock Holmes, the best and wisest man that ever lived. But there were other adventures shared by us which, for reasons of discretion, I have decided to withhold from the public until a later date. They involve matters of a delicate and sometimes scandalous nature..."
Sherlock Holmes fans can rejoice that the world's most famous right-hand man has finally set pen to paper to tell his own story. John H. Watson was, after all, twenty-six years old when he met the Great Sleuth, and had already had a veritable lifetime of action and passion to his record. Who was this man who was to become Holmes' companion-biographer, his Boswell?
In this rousing autobiography Dr. Watson tells the whole truth: a humble background in Scotland, with an ominous streak in his heredity; the family upheavals that were to eave their mark on him forever, and the ironic circumstances that led to his becoming a doctor, army surgeon . . . and sleuth's assistant. His story takes us across four continents, onto the stages of London and Paris, over Afghan battlefields, and into more than a few ladies' boudoirs.
This great adventurer in life and love is revealed as the worthiest possible companion to offset the genius of Holmes, and their momentous meeting, which ends the book, seems a natural conclusion to this chapter of Watson's life––and, of course, the forerunner to the adventures already familiar to millions of readers.