A dazzling collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories, which sees the detective solving fiendish crimes, many involving methods beloved of Victorian murderers, poison by arsenic or cyanide, or even by venomous arachnids and reptiles. The colourful cast of characters includes villains bent on vengeance, traitorous revolutionaries, unfaithful and greedy wives wishing to rid themselves of their husbands, unfaithful and greedy husbands ditto, gullible widows, charming seducers, and captivating con artists out to fleece the innocent. Whether at a circus at Ramsgate, a magic show at London’s Egyptian Hall, a deadly séance on Hampstead Hill, a pagan Celtic ritual in rural Wales or over genteel teas in elegant mansions, our intrepid detective, assisted as always by the long-suffering Dr Watson, stays hot on the heels of the criminals.