Dr. Watson was the chronicler of every Sherlock Holmes adventure published in The Strand magazine between 1887 and 1927. He reported them with honesty in the bluff, army-style of a military doctor, so frank in their account of human behaviour that they were too risque for the morals of Victorian England. George Newnes, the editor, purged each story before its publication. Newnes also replaced Watson's jocular illustrations with Sidney Paget's more innocuous portrayals. Newnes deleted everybody's backgrounds but in these accounts Watson reveals Holmes's family: his father, Professor Julian Cornelius Bortzoy Holmes; his wife, Wendy; his sister, Rachel, as well as Mycroft. Watson also exposes Mrs. Hudson's property empire and he tells us how Professor Moriarty became "the Napoleon of crime." Some of this new material is shocking, even by today's standards! Book 10 synopsis, When Lord St. Simon, the loftiest, sniffiest aristocrat in the country, consults Sherlock Holmes, a story of fantastic intrigue opens up for the great detective. Just why was this magnificent “catch” on the marriage circuit jilted at the altar? Why did he choose a bride who comes from America, certainly not a debutante and may not even be alive? And just why did he destroy Watson’s favourite cuckoo clock? This intriguing story plays with the social classes of the Victorian era and is full of sinister twists and turns, the most dangerous being one of Sherlock’s arch enemies.
