THE QUINTESSENTIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES

A limited, signed and slipcased leather-bound edition

written by Richard L. Boyer

Richard L. Boyer is an Edgar Allen Poe Award winning mystery writer (author of the Doc Adams series). Since his first publication of a Sherlockian tale — The Giant Rat of Sumatra in 1976 — he has received high literary acclaim as he ably continues in the tradition of Sherlock’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Mr. Boyer writes: “This collection of stories has been, from the time of its conception, a serious attempt to continue the Sherlockian saga much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have written it were he alive today. It is not an attempt, comical or otherwise, to show that Sherlock Holmes was what he wasn’t, or wasn’t what he was.”

It is with great pleasure, and not a little pride, that Alexander Books has completed what may well be the most welcome book for fans and collectors of the Greatest Detective to appear in the 21^st Century.

Many years in the writing and making, THE QUINTESSENTIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES is a deluxe leather-bound edition of five original tales and stories in the tradition of A. Conan Doyle. Its 500 pages are filled with tight prose, enticing plots and marvelous, custom-commissioned lithographic illustrations in the mold of Steele and Paget as they appeared 140 years ago in periodicals such as Blackwood’s Magazine and The Strand.

This volume is designed for collectors by collectors, and is fully bound with genuine quality-grained leather over its entire cover and spine, with additional raised hubs on the spine. It is Smythe-sewn, ensuring durability and ease of opening, and a life of many generations. The title and spine are stamped with gold, and the page ends gilt edged. The paper is the highest quality archival paper, and a red satin ribbon will mark your place conveniently. A sturdy deluxe illustrated slipcase is also provided.

Below are the five new stories — all original by the author — in order of appearance:

The Wilton Water Horror

 (setting: South England, 1884)

This 96-page novella in Three Parts begins in the Midlands, where Holmes and Watson corner a mass-murderer in the flat of his latest victim, slaying her with a butcher knife. Watson ably dispatches him with his Webley, but alas, it is apparent through most of the story that Homes is shaken and depressed. Watson, seeking a means of respite and peace to counterbalance this state of mind, hires a cargo/passenger craft to take them on a fortnight trip along England’s famed Kennet and Avon canal from Bristol and Bath all the way to Reading, eventually to arrive in London. However, from the start, the passengers (and the reader as well) are taken on an increasingly frightening and mysterious journey as their hired canal craft, The Grebe, undergoes continual danger and subterfuge. The evil and danger escalate continually until the violent and macabre finish.

The Adventure of Zolnay, the Aerialist

 (taking place in 1890)

Gregor Zolnay, visits Holmes and Watson in hopes of assistance to his grievously-ill wife, who has fallen from the high trapeze onto the ring floor forty feet below. The reasons for her fall are unexplained…and suspicious. The more Holmes investigates the circus people and the friends of Zolnay, the more he is convinced that foul-play is involved. A real-life British personage is unknowingly at the crux of this diabolical murder, and his deplorable condition only adds to the pathos.

The Giant Rat of Sumatra

 (taking place in 1894)

This full-length novel was first published in 1976. Since then, it has been in print continuously throughout the globe, in English, Swedish, German, and French.  The late, great John Bennet Shaw called the Giant Rat, “The best, the most genuine Sherlock Holmes story yet published.”

The Adventure of Bell Rock Light

 (as experienced by Holmes and Watson in 1902)

Bell Rock Light, a wave-swept lighthouse twelve miles off the coast of Arbroath, Scotland, and built by Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather, is the setting for this, the ultimate “sealed room” mystery. One of the three light keepers is found dead, murdered in the top room of the tower. He appears to have been poisoned, but how…and why?

The Adventure of the Eyrie Cliff

 (during the Great War in 1917)

 During the darkest days of  the Great War, Watson finds himself treating the wounded and dying soldiers as they are carried or staggering out from the hospital trains that dispatch their grisly cargo at all of London’s busy railway stations. After collapsing in surgery from exhaustion and depression, Watson is relieved, even overjoyed, at an unexpected telegram from Holmes, who needs his assistance! This WWI spy story is an enticing read.

Released in December, 2007, THE QUINTESSENTIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES is available for $75 plus s&h from:

Alexander Books

65 Macedonia Road

Alexander, North Carolina 28701 USA