Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt

The famous tin box in the attic of the house on Baker Street is again unlocked in this new collection of tales contrived by the ingenious Donald Thomas. As in Thomas’s successful previous collection, The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson presents six cases of real-life crime that he has uncovered in the unpublished papers of the world’s most celebrated detective. Crossing historical fact with inventive fiction, Thomas introduces Holmes in these stories to such controversial clients as Oscar Wilde and Dr. Crippen. Holmes also meets and is himself arrested by his future ally, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. In these tales, a grim discovery lies behind the scandal of naked bicyclists in rural Essex; the deceptions of a military swindler lead to the execution shed; a young woman goes missing with a minor criminal, whom only Holmes believes to be the most dangerous psychopath of modern times; and a “Talking Corpse” unveils horror in the Lambeth slums. In all, the Great Detective appears at his most determinedly deductive and downright devious. “It is all Holmes, sweet Holmes for the premier sleuth’s many fans.”—Booklist