Traditional Publishing

Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels. Brought together for the first time, and including brand-new material, this is the ultimate Rebus short-story collection and a must-have book for crime lovers and for Ian's millions of fans alike. No Rankin aficionado can go without it.

Holmes and Watson discover that the missing woman—Hannah Woolfson—was herself on the trail of a missing person, her close friend Sophia. Sophia was recruited to a group known as the Elysians, a quasi-religious sect obsessed with Ancient Greek myths and rituals, run by the charismatic Sir Philip Buchanan. Hannah has joined the Elysians under an assumed name, convinced that her friend has been murdered. Holmes agrees that she should continue as his agent within the secretive yet seemingly harmless cult, yet Watson is convinced Hannah is in terrible danger.

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare tells the story of an anarchist Lucian Gregory, a poet who met Gabriel Syme, a new recruit to a secret anti-anarchist taskforce at Scotland Yard. Syme meets Gregory at a party and debates with him about the meaning of poetry.

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.

When a local woman tells Sergeant Hamish Macbeth that she doesn't remember what happened the previous evening, he doesn't begin to worry. She had been out drinking, after all, and he'd prefer not to be bothered with such an arrogant and annoying woman. But when her body is discovered, Hamish is forced to investigate a crime that the only known witness - now dead - had forgotten.

Detective Chief Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire CID is used to the occasional oddity in his relatively quiet part of the English countryside. But lately, things have taken a strange turn. First, in the center of a yew maze, a body is spotted by Miss Daphne Pedlinge, the elderly chatelaine of Aumerle Court. By the time the groundskeeper actually makes it to the center, he, too, spies the body, and it is indeed dead.

Reluctantly, Sherlock Holmes agrees to assist Inspector Lestrade who is being hounded by an obnoxious nobleman whose jewel-encrusted dagger has gone missing. However, what Holmes initially believes to be a simple theft turns out instead to be his first encounter with a master criminal, who is as ruthless as he is brilliant and whom Watson dubs "The Merchant of Menace".

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.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal detective returns for ten puzzling cases ranging from his earliest career to his final bows.

In these six adventures, Holmes solves cases in alternate universes and alongside famous historical and fictional figures. In the title story, Watson is slandered by mysterious forces who spread the rumor that the good doctor pushed Holmes off of Reichenbach Falls.

The discovery of Sir Robert Boniface's body on the floor of his limousine was made quite accidentally on a sultry Friday evening towards the end of June. The industrial and financial tycoon, and former stalwart of the British Cabinet, was shot in the head and left in the quiet Vale of Health. Nearby, a rejected portrait of Sir Robert is found riddled with bullets in the studio of the now missing artist Matt Caldwell.

On the hottest day in living memory, Richard Mallory Tindall, the owner of a patent firm, does not return home to Cleete village. When a man is found crushed to death, Tindall's case goes from missing person to homicide. In the course of solving murder cases, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan has seen all manner of ugly death. But there's something particularly gruesome about this one, the body crushed beneath the marble and iron of an old Saxon church tower. With rubble blocking off access to the crime scene, no one can get close enough to inspect the body.

On the morning of the vernal equinox in 1899, Holmes is roused from his bed by Lestrade. The inspector has received a report of a girl brutally murdered at Stonehenge. Upon arriving at the famed site, Holmes discovers the body of a young woman. On her forehead, painted in blood, is a druidic symbol. On her side, also in blood, is a message written in a strange language that neither Holmes nor Lestrade can decipher. The girl was also eviscerated and her organs placed around her body. As a final touch, branches from yew trees had been artistically arranged around the corpse. Holmes senses a malevolent force at work, but without data, he is powerless. As the weeks pass, he slowly gathers information about the ancient druids and Celtic mythology and begins to assemble a small army of experts to assist him.

Radio star Nelle Brown is known coast-to-coast for her sweet and sultry voice. But her press agent and manager, Jake Justus, is familiar with another side of the darling of the airwaves: her crackpot marriage to a penniless tycoon, disastrous string of lovers, and propensity for flying into spectacular fits of rage. Now, it appears she’s being burned by an ex-flame who’s holding her scandalous love letters for ransom. The missives could ruin Nelle’s career, but so could the scoundrel’s murder.

The friendly air describes the atmosphere in warm, sunny Portugal where young, beautiful Emma Challis finds herself as the temporary companion to Lady Grantly who has just bought a home there. She took on the task at the request of her fiancé, Gerald Delmont - brilliant, sophisticated and with a promising legal career ahead. A perfect husband for Emma - but would he be? Enter handsome local lawyer Robert Weybridge, a mysterious young woman with five small children who take up residence in a packing crate, and you have the ingredients for one of Elizabeth Cadell’s finest romances.

When the fiancé of the sister of a Member of Parliament is found dead in mysterious circumstances, the man turns to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to get an answer to the puzzle.

David Eliot’s future seemed secure with his engagement to Marly Tranter, the daughter of the incredibly rich and powerful Sir Bertram Tranter. As an architect, David seemed to fit right in with the family, even if it included a golden collar. But the mission on which Sir Bertram sent David and Marly to Portugal created havoc in everyone’s plans, including the preposterous Mr. Easter, the eccentric Lady Pearling, and Teresa, Senhora Silva’s delightful and beautiful niece. What David finds out when he gets there changes his perspective on his life and future.

A Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new characters, "consulting detective" Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler, Dr. John Watson, who later became two of the most famous characters in literature. Conan Doyle wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the following year.

Mrs. Ellison makes a valiant effort to prevent her brother, the Admiral, from visiting her while her children are at home for the Easter holidays. The Admiral, however, overrides all her objections. Unable to cope single-handed with a testy brother, a convalescent elder son, and two younger children, Henry and Sue, Mrs. Ellison enlists the aid of a homeless refuge Miss Eider and the charming but faintly mysterious girl from Scotland Ellice Brook.

A decade before his death, Dr. Watson let it be known that with his passing he wished his nephew, Christopher Henry Watson MD, to be the executor of his will and guardian of all his personal and pecuniary affairs. One of the tasks he sanctioned was that his nephew should use his discretion in selecting for publication some of the three dozen or so cases involving Holmes and Watson which had not already seen the light of day.