Showing results by author "Craig Stephen Copland" in All Categories

He was not much more than a child. I estimated his age at fourteen. He was a handsome boy, with the raven-black hair and deeply tanned skin color that marks a person who came from the lands under the Raj. His young body was beginning to show the signs of an emerging well-made sportsman. From his place, lying on his back on the pavement, his dark-brown eyes stared up at the morning sky ... lifeless. Behind his head was a pool of blood, now darkened and congealed.

THREE NEW PASTICHE MYSTERY STORIES OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE. These stories are shorter than the other novels in the New Sherlock Holmes Mysteries series and were published in response to invitations to contribute to anthologies of Sherlockian stories. In ‘The Adventure of the Humble Mr. Hier,’ Sherlock Holmes encounters the famous Mr. and Mrs. Micawber from ‘David Copperfield’ by Charles Dickens. They have returned to England from Australia in pursuit of justice and call upon our hero to help them. ‘The Adventure of Blood and Fire’ is a fictional story about an ...

"Ah, Watson, how good of you to join me. I trust I did not disturb your work at the hospital." "Not at all. We younger doctors are not exactly choc-a-block with patients." "Not yet, my dear chap. Not yet. However, I am very grateful that you are here, and I expect that you will quite enjoy recording my meeting with this fellow."

A Scottish clergyman and his faithful border collie visit 221B and tell a tale of a ghostly Banshee on the Isle of Skye. After the specter appeared, two people died. Holmes sends Watson on ahead to investigate and report. More terrifying horrors occur and Sherlock Holmes must come and solve the awful mystery before more people are murdered. A tribute to the original story in the Canon, Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Czar of Russia was assassinated in March 1881. That summer an attempt was made to murder his daughter while she was riding through Kensington Gardens with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. A Russian Count has been found dead in a hospital in London. Scotland Yard, the Home Office, and Mycroft Holmes arrive at 221B to enlist the help of England's only consulting detective to catch the assassin before he can strike again. But will Sherlock Holmes succeed? And what unique strategy will he contrive to trap his prey? This new mystery is a tribute to The Resident Patient.

On the night of April 12, 1912, off the coast of Newfoundland, one of the greatest disasters of all time took place - the Unsinkable Titanic struck an iceberg and sank with a horrendous loss of life. On board that ship was Sherlock Holmes's friend, Victor Trentacost - his only friend other than Doctor Watson. The news of the disaster leads Holmes and Watson to reminisce about one of their earliest adventures, now over thirty years ago when the two of them and Victor went to sea. It began as a sailing race and ended as a tale of murder, kidnapping, piracy, and survival through a tempest.

Colonel James Barclay needs the help of Sherlock Holmes. His exceptionally beautiful, but much younger, wife has disappeared and foul play is suspected. Has she been kidnapped and held for ransom? Or is she in the clutches of a deviant monster? Are thousands of pounds at risk? Are the household staff in on it? Will Holmes find her in time, and if he does, what then? The story is a tribute not only to the original mystery, The Crooked Man, but also to the biblical story of King David and Bathsheba.

In 1909 the entire world of dance changed forever when Les Ballets Russes, under the brilliant impresario, Serge Diaghilev, departed St. Petersburg and opened in Paris. They also made annual visits to the West End in London. Tragically, during their 1913 tour, two of their dancers are found murdered. Sherlock Holmes is brought into to find the murderer and prevent any more killings. The story adheres fairly closely to the incredible story of the reappearance of classical ballet in Western Europe and the introduction of modern interpretive dance.

At Oxford University, an influential professor has been proselytizing for anarchism. Three naive students fall for his doctrines and decide to engage in direct action by stealing priceless artifacts from the British Museum, returning them to the oppressed people from whom their colonial masters stole them. In the midst of their caper, a museum guard is shot dead and they are charged with the murder. After being persuaded by a vulnerable friend of the students, Sherlock Holmes agrees to take on the case. He soon discovers that no one involved is telling the complete truth.

One Hundred and Twenty-Five pieces of dreadful poetry at the expense of Sherlock Holmes. But they will provide some light-hearted entertainment to dedicated Sherlockians.

Sherlock Holmes was not happy. "No, Mrs. Hudson, I will not see her now. Send her away and tell her to come back later." It was just past seven in the morning and we were enjoying an early coffee on a pleasant Sunday in the first week of June 1902, when Mrs. Hudson interrupted us. Holmes's longsuffering landlady did not leave.

Five new pastiche stories of the world's greatest detective. These stories are shorter than the other novellas in the New Sherlock Holmes Mysteries set and were published earlier in either the MX Books or Belanger Books anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories (Edited by David Marcum). 'The Singular Tragedy of the Atkinson Brothers at Trincomalee' is one of the unpublished cases we hear about in The Canon. The story Takes Holmes and Watson to the tropical island of Ceylon on behalf of the Foreign Office to investigate the murder of one of the Atkinson brothers.

A Most Grave Ritual. The locals claim the ancient estate is haunted. The estate's patriarch is murdered. The police accuse the son. The Musgrave family now owns the old castle and the great manor house beside it. It’s the place where, in 1649, King Charles I escaped from the palace in which he was being held prisoner and made a desperate run for Southampton, hoping to reach safety on the Continent. He never made it and was returned to face trial and execution. This much we know. But what did he do along the way south? Did he stop at a castle of one of his loyal royalists? Did he leave ...

A Case of Identity Theft. Her husband has vanished. She asks Sherlock Holmes for help. The husband reappears, but now his wife is missing. A couple are found dead in a London alley. Their heads are missing. Holmes and Watson investigate and discover that a massive, secret inheritance is about to fall into criminal hands. Family members are complicit. Hidden crimes from decades ago and far away come to the surface. The evil genius who wants the money will use murder, and kidnapping, and torture. Holmes has to stop him, with a little help from Mycroft. Royal Marines had better be able to ...

Five new pastiche stories of the world's greatest detective. These stories are shorter than the other novellas in the New Sherlock Holmes Mysteries set and were published earlier in either the MX Books or Belanger Books anthologies of Sherlock Holmes stories (Edited by David Marcum). 'The Singular Tragedy of the Atkinson Brothers at Trincomalee' is one of the unpublished cases we hear about in The Canon. The story Takes Holmes and Watson to the tropical island of Ceylon on behalf of the Foreign Office to investigate the murder of one of the Atkinson brothers and sends Holmes into a nasty ...

"I was under the impression that you were dead," said Sherlock Holmes to the man who had entered the front room of 221B Baker Street. "I am now inclined to think that you were not murdered after all." The gentleman was of the same age as Holmes and me but sported a full beard, gray-on-its-way-to-white hair, and a short suit jacket that immediately identified him as an American. He grinned and gave his fingers a snap.

Royston Giles Tamblyn III paid a visit to 221B Baker Street without a prior appointment on the morning of Saturday, 4 May 1901. He was a handsome young fellow, with flawless pale skin, well-combed hair that was blond-on-its-way-to-brown, and straight, gleaming teeth. He was dressed in a blazer and flannels, a creaseless white shirt, and an expertly tied old-school tie. In his polished boots, I could have seen my reflection had I bent over to inspect them.

"To the man who loves intellectual stimulation," remarked Sherlock Holmes, "London in August is the lowliest month on the calendar. Those with the means to do so have departed for the Algarve and the Riviera. Those without are off to Blackpool and Brighton." "And what about those," I asked, "who are left behind? You and I are still here." "You at least have your sensational accounts of my efforts to keep scribbling. I, on the other hand, am losing faith in the enterprising criminal class."

On September 15, 1894, an anarchist attempted to bomb the Greenwich Observatory. He failed, but the attempt led Sherlock Holmes into an intricate web of spies, foreign naval officers, and a beautiful princess. Once again, suspicion landed on poor Percy Phelps, now working in a senior position in the Admiralty, and once again Holmes has to use both his powers of deduction and raw courage to not only rescue Percy, but to prevent an unspeakable disaster.

Remember Violet Smith, the beautiful young woman who Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rescued from a forced marriage, as recorded in The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist? Ever wonder what happened to her and her true husband, Cyril Morton, in the years that followed. Well, ten years later she and Cyril reappear in 221B Baker Street with a strange tale of the theft of their bicycles -- hardly a crime worthy of the brilliant mind of the world's greatest detective. But ...What on the surface seemed like a trifle turns out to be the door that leads Sherlock Holmes into a web of human trafficking.