Showing results by narrator "Stephen Thorne" in All Categories

The Red-Headed League is the second of the 12 stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in 1892. In it, Jabez Wilson, a flame-haired London pawnbroker, comes to consult Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Some weeks before, Wilson responded to a newspaper want ad offering highly paid work to only redheaded male applicants.

In "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", Miss Hatty Doran, after several strange episodes on the day of her marriage to Lord St. Simon, disappears from the reception. St. Simon tells Sherlock Holmes that he noticed a change in the young lady's mood just after the wedding ceremony, having been uncharacteristically sharp with him. Also unusual: she dropped her wedding bouquet and a gentleman in the front pew handed it back to her.

A young London engineer, contracted to service a hydraulic press at a country house, discovers that the owner is using the machine for illegal purposes. After confronting the owner, the engineer narrowly escapes death and loses a thumb when the owner turns on him. Sherlock Holmes deduces the actual use of the machine and sets off to bring the evildoers to justice.

A banker, Mr. Alexander Holder, makes a loan of £50,000 to a socially prominent client, who leaves a beryl coronet - one of the most valuable public possessions in existence - as collateral. Feeling that he must not leave this rare and precious piece of jewelry in his personal safe at the bank, he takes it home with him. Awakened by a noise in the night, he is horrified to see his son playing with the coronet and apparently trying to bend it. Three beryls are now missing from it. In a panic, Mr. Holder travels to see Holmes, who agrees to take the case.

Grandad is the most important person in Gavin’s life. The two understand each other perfectly. Grandad teaches Gavin to fish in Stonehaven harbour, and is making him a beautiful model boat for his birthday. Gavin names her Selkie, after the mythical seal-people, who will help you if you're in trouble.

On a cold morning in Grimsby, Albert Hardcastle wakes up to the first day of his retirement. His days of working in a shop are behind him, and he and his wife, Alice, decide to celebrate by taking the luxury cruise of which they always dreamed. Meanwhile, on the Essex coast, Rear Admiral Sir Benbow Harrington, a retired Royal Navy officer, is trying to assemble a fleet of passenger ships. His newest vessel, the Golden Handshake, is ready for its maiden voyage.

Fascinating, frightening or just plain frustrating? These eight gripping stories show detective work as it really is - and sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. Hear about the ghostly dream that helped to solve a baffling murder mystery, some clever detectives' tricks that led to the conviction of the 'Laurel and Hardy' jewel thieves, and the crafty blackmailer who nearly got away with the perfect crime.

A dead Colonel, a small animal and a deformed old man involve Holmes in ‘one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man’s brain as he and Watson investigate the mysterious death of Colonel Barclay.

On Christmas Eye, in the year 1907, Mr Batchel, who would have liked to sleep well lay hopelessly wide awake. A brilliant moon shone into his room - he heard the clocks strike the hour of midnight, and having now lost all hope of falling asleep, he rose from his bed and passed into the library, with the intention of reading himself sleepy - if he could.

When the chance to escape the dull life of his orphanage comes, Yanis seizes it. But what does he really know about his new master, or his mission in the frozen, secretive East?

When Mr James Massey moves to the Parish of Hilby and becomes the new tenant of Wood Farm he is soon the centre of attention. Invited to events within the small Norfolk Village, Massey finds himself attending village concerts, high tea at the grange and even dinner at the vicarage. As the residents warm to him so too do the hearts of two women, Helen Smythe and Pollie Freeman.

Watson and Holmes are engaged by the prime minister and the European secretary to help recover a sensitive stolen political document. Tracking the document to a recently murdered spy, Holmes realizes that the European secretary’s wife actually has the letter. The questions immediately pile up in this tale of international intrigue, blackmail, and double-dealing.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson are asked to assist on a home invasion and murder case. A woman reports that a gang of men broke into her home, killed her husband, tied her up, and stole the family silver. Though it seems like a clear-cut case of robbery gone wrong, Holmes' gut tells him otherwise. But what motive lies behind this erstwhile victim’s story?

A young rugby player asks Holmes and Watson for help finding his missing teammate before a big game. The client explains that his missing teammate disappeared with an older man after sending a mysterious telegram. Holmes and Watson, using forensic techniques on the telegram, track the missing player to a nearby town. After being stonewalled by the doctor of the missing player, Holmes finally finds him with the help of a tracking dog. Then Holmes and Watson learn the shocking secret of the man’s disappearance.

A young man working as the assistant to a professor has been murdered. While it appears that anyone could have entered the house and committed the murder, a clue in the form of a pair of gold glasses is found near the body. Working on the assumption that the killer wore the glasses as well as several other clues, Holmes comes to the chilling realization that the murderer is still in the house.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson, on a research trip in a university town, are approached by a professor. The professor believes someone has entered his office and seen, and perhaps copied, the examination papers he is to administer the next day. Holmes begins by narrowing down the suspects to three students who live nearby. After studying several innocuous pieces of evidence, he believes he has identified the culprit. All that remains is to elicit the confession.

Someone is destroying small busts of Napoleon Bonaparte. At first merely a nuisance, vandalism quickly turns to murder after one of the statue owners finds a dead man on his doorstep beside a smashed statue. Reasoning his way back to the source of the statues, Holmes determines that there is more to this case than just antipathy toward the great French leader. Can Holmes and Watson solve the mystery before the bust buster strikes again?

Sherlock Holmes is hired by a lady who is being harassed by Milverton, a notorious blackmailer who has ruined many people and caused much grief. Though he is determined to stop him, Milverton is very crafty, and Holmes is unable to find the evidence necessary to put him away. Finally, Holmes and Watson decide on a daring plan to retrieve their client’s incriminating letters. While there, they witness a crime that forces Holmes and Watson to make a momentous choice.

The distraught head of an elite boarding school hires Holmes and Watson to investigate the sensitive disappearance of the young heir of a local nobleman. Searching in the fields surrounding the school, they make a grisly discovery - the dead body of one of the boy’s teachers. Sensing the growing danger to the young boy and suspecting the interference of the duke’s secretary, Holmes and Watson question the duke himself, who reveals a shocking detail to them.

A Norfolk country squire from a reputable family hires Holmes to help him learn who has been sending him weird encoded messages, in the form of dancing stick figures, that are disturbing his wife. Upon collecting enough of the messages, Holmes cracks the code. He returns to Norfolk to present his findings only to find that his client has been met with tragedy. Using forensic science and his inimitable powers of deduction, Holmes is able to assist the Norfolk authorities and identify the criminal.