Sherlock Holmes and the American Literati

When misadventure led a schoolboy in London to employment at Baker Street, few could have guessed where his introduction to Sherlock Holmes would lead. But as the lad matures and he finds himself caught in the middle of a murder investigation, his friendship with Holmes and Watson lures him into the role of detective. 'Billy' documents his experiences, and soon his sleuthing skills not only bring him to another murder, but also lay the foundation for his metamorphosis into a famous mystery writer.

They called her Lady Stewart when she was married to a British aristocrat. They called her Miss Cora when she ran a brothel in Florida. But she called herself Mrs. Crane when she asked Sherlock Holmes to locate her common-law husband, writer Stephen Crane, who'd gone missing in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. In their attempt to fulfil the lady's request, Holmes and Watson encounter a world of celebrity authors, terrorist bombings, and haunted manor houses.

Sherlock Holmes had never met a writer who had ridiculed him as bitterly as Samuel L. Clemens had. For that matter, Holmes had never met a writer who fancied himself a detective. Yet Sam Clemens not only unraveled Holmes' investigation into the murder of the hot-blooded woman on Thor Bridge, but also, while writing as Mark Twain, belittled Holmes' highly-touted detecting skills. In this recently discovered narrative, Doctor Watson sets the record straight.

In 1910, American author and social critic Jack London began writing The Assassination Bureau, Ltd., a work that he never completed. Now, thanks to the recently discovered manuscript of Dr. John Watson, we know why. The early part of London's book describes a secret organization - scoffed at or ignored by police officials - that conspires to murder influential political and social leaders. Not until Sherlock Holmes is provoked into action by threats close to home does anyone appear able to stop the Assassination Bureau.

Two corpses, a stolen diamond necklace, a Russian connection, and a dandified American writer who pals around with denizens of the theater - all add up to a murder investigation with international implications. Leave it to Sherlock Holmes who, in a classic assemblage of suspects in a high-tone British men’s club, employs his celebrated powers of deduction to reveal the guilty party.

A young inventor - the man whose name appears in the title of Dr. Watson’s narrative, “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans”—lies dead on the floor of an old house, two bullet holes in his back. To solve the gruesome murder, Sherlock Holmes enlists the aid of William Gillette, the celebrated American actor renown for his portrayal of the famous detective, and Arthur Conan Doyle, conveniently familiar with the world of spiritualism that serves as backdrop to the brutal crime.

Quarantines, masks, death—terms familiar to anyone who faced the so-called Spanish flu of 1918. Worldwide, it is estimated that the horrifying influenza killed more than 50 million people, significantly more than did the guns of the Great War, which was just then coming to a close. And yet no one has ever heard from Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson concerning their own experiences surviving the terrible virus—until now. In a recently discovered manuscript, Dr. Watson reveals the secret that for years had kept him silent about the deadly pandemic.

One moment, the lovely young woman was walking through the Battle of Hastings exhibition at the British Museum. The next, she lay dead on the checkered museum floor, a Norman arrow protruding from her breast. Inspector Lestrade believed he had solved the mystery, but almost immediately recognized that Scotland Yard needed the help of Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes examines the body of a murdered scrubwoman that lies on the floor of the South Kensington Museum of Art. But it is not a real corpse he looks at, for those remains have been removed by the coroner. The body Holmes studies appears in a drawing of the murder scene precisely rendered by an American art student. The drawing leads Holmes, Dr. Watson, and the artist-a young Frank Norris before he turns his talents to writing- across the English countryside in search of the killer.

During his first trip to England in 1899, murder was the last thing that Hamlin Garland, the so-called "Dean of American Letters," expected to find. More predictable were his descriptions of American baseball and visits with notables like Arthur Conan Doyle and George Bernard Shaw. Yet when Garland tells Sherlock Holmes of a suspicious death that occurred at Hearthstone Hall, the detective replies, "You have described the ingredients of a classic murder mystery-a dead dowager empress and a collection of courtiers any one of whom might be the killer."