Tim Symonds – författare

It's the year 1906. Rumours abound that a deadly plot is hatching - not in the fog-ridden back-alleys of London's Limehouse district or the sinister Devon moors of the Hound of the Baskervilles but in faraway Peking. Holmes's task - discover whether such a plot exists and if so, foil it.  But are the assassins targeting the young and progressive Ch'ing Emperor or his imperious aunt, the fearsome Empress Dowager Cixi? The murder of either could spark a civil war. The fate of China and the interests of Britain's vast Empire in the Orient could be at stake. Holmes and Watson take up the mission with their customary confidence – until they find they are no longer in the familiar landscapes of Edwardian England. Instead, they tumble into the Alice In Wonderland world of the Forbidden City.

In the year 1903 – the exact moment is now lost to history - Sherlock Holmes proclaimed to the world he was quitting England’s Capital to go into retirement on a small, wind-swept farm in the Sussex South Downs. His shocked comrade-in-arms Dr. John H. Watson was later to write, ‘The decision took me utterly by surprise.  I thought I had become an institution around Holmes, like his Stradivarius, or the old, oily black clay pipe and his index books.’  Reluctantly Watson wrote up three recent cases yet unpublished and returned to his medical practice. Holmes retirement didn’t last long.  Once more his faithful Amanuensis Watson took up his pen - and his Army Service revolver. The result was three more of the most intriguing cases ever undertaken by the famous pair. All six adventures have now been brought together in this special edition.

A Most Diabolical Plot.  ‘Not ‘til the day the bugle blows for me shall I forget the most diabolical attempt ever made on my friend Sherlock Holmes’s life.’

The Ghost of Dorset House.  ‘At eight o’clock on an April evening in 1894 a ghost came upon an intruder in a great London mansion and chased him through pitch-black staterooms and corridors.’

The Captain in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. ‘A ceremonial half-guard composed of six or seven men in the uniform of the Duke’s Regiment was forming on the mansion’s terrace, each soldier glancing through the barrel of his rifle to check for cleanliness. I turned the opera glasses on them.’

Die Weisse Frau.  ‘McCoy was waiting with an impatient air. On catching sight of me, he trotted up with the second horse. With a glance around but hardly a word of greeting, he cantered off, remaining silent until the horses had broken a little sweat.’

The Pegasus Affair. ‘An envelope arrived at the surgery containing a newspaper cutting from The Eastbourne Chronicle, headed Grand National Horse Race To Be Run For The First Time Away From Aintree.’

The Mystery of the Missing Artefacts. ‘The heavy door of my cell swung open. Rather than the surly Turkish warder bringing a once-daily bowl of watery grey soup, a visitor from the outside world stood there.’

For more on Tim Symonds’ short stories and his Sherlock Holmes novels see at http://tim-symonds.co.uk and https://mxpublishing.me/tag/tim-symonds/

It's 1898. Kismet brings about a chance reunion at a London club between Dr. Watson and Colonel "Maiwand Mike" Fenlon, former military comrades from their Northwest Frontier days and the desperate Battle of Maiwand. A week later an urgent cable seeking Sherlock Holmes's help arrives from the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency 30 miles off the coast of Normandy. A retired high-ranking British Indian Army officer who commanded the troops at Maiwand has dropped dead. Colonel Fenlon is in a holding cell awaiting trial for his murder.

What role in the Brigadier-General's death was played by a phial of patent medicine developed in India to treat cholera? Why are Colonel Fenlon's forefinger and thumbprint on the neck of the phial when he swears he has never seen it before?

Above all, why is Fenlon refusing to enter a plea or even to tell his Defence counsel what took place the evening the Brigadier-General dropped dead?

Six more tales of Sherlock Holmes...

'The Torso At Highgate Cemetery' I watched as the policeman took out a notebook and read from an open page. He spoke in a whisper. Inspector Lestrade's face turned ashen. He turned towards me, looking grim.

'The Mystery Of the Missing Artefacts' August 1916. A telegram is brought to my fetid prison cell under the magnificent State rooms of Sultan Mehmed V Reşâd's Çırağan Palace. It's from Sherlock Holmes. "My dear Watson," it read, "do you remember the name of the fellow at the British Museum who contacted us over a certain matter just before I retired to my bee-farm in the South Downs?"

'The Case of the Seventeenth Monk' "Now, Holmes," I interrupted, checking the dragoman was out of hearing range, "at least I've discovered you're alive. What of the raison d'être of your presence in the back of beyond? What of this Otto Müller?" "What indeed?" came the rueful reply.

'The Strange Death of an Art Dealer' "Oh my God!" he exclaimed despairingly. "It could be a catastrophe! I beseech you, Holmes, sort this whole thing out. I can neither think nor sleep nor attend to any matter of State."

'The Case of the Impressionist Painting' Holmes folded his napkin and sat back, staring into the fire. "Watson, I do not say this lightly: a shiver went through me at the look in O'Clery's eye when I revealed our identity. I have never before felt so deeply we were in the presence of some vast potency, a power of evil..."

'The Ambassador's Skating Competition' "Holmes," Watson retorted, "I must warn you, no one should confront such rich, powerful, and ruthless men head on. We learned that lesson a few years ago. We are not of their ilk. They'll ride rough-shod over us again."