Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was born on January 6th 1854. The Holmes family were descended from country squires, which meant that according to tradition, the eldest brother would have to stay to manage the house. It is unclear how many siblings Holmes had as not all of them may have made an appearance in public. Known Holmes siblings were Sherrinford, Mycroft, Emma, Sherlock, Sigerson, and Enola.

The Holmes family was mysterious and most information of them comes from the accounts of Watson and others. Sherlock himself seemed to be distant. What is known is that the elder brother was Sherrinford and so he remained at home to take care of the family parents while his siblings set out into the world. A sickly child, Sherlock would remain at the family manor, though he was hardly lonely having his eldest brother, Sigerson and two sisters for company. Mycroft was the first to set out to attend Greyfriars school. He excelled so much that he eventually rose to the highest ranks of the Diogenes Club which like the school which he had attended was not what it seemed.

Holmes claimed that his grandmother was sister to the famous french painter Vernet, but did not make clear if this was Claude Joseph,Carle, or Horace Vernet, all famed painters of the time.

In 1968, Mycroft hired a tutor for the 15 year old Sherlock named Amyus Crowe, who was an american hunter and also a member of the Pinkerton detective agency. During their first lesson Holmes found a dead body on his family’s estate and took a sample of a yellow powdery substance around the body. Sherlock and Crowe’s daughter Virginia discovered the culprit as Baron Maupertuis and while the yellow powder was destroyed, the Baron escaped custody.

Crowe continued to mentor Sherlock though it became progressively harder to keep the young detective away from mysteries which he wished to solve. The adventures of Young Sherlock Holmes included a search for John Wilkes Booth in the Godalming estate where he was rumored to be hiding that uncovered an operation to invade Canada and and transform it into a confederate stronghold. This insidious plot was brought to the attention of Sherlock and Crowe by turncoat conspirator Jerrold Moriarty.

Unknown to Sherlock, Mycroft had gained prominence in the inner circle of the Diogenes club and had vouched for his brother. It was decided that a test be performed. Mycroft invited Sherlock and Crowe to the Diogenes Club one day. They found Mycroft standing over a dead body with a bloody knife. Sherlock and Crowe quickly found a connection between the murder and events going on in Russia and Sherlock joined a traveling Russian theatre troupe as part of his disguise while uncovering the conspiracy. Eventually the three were able to prove Mycroft’s innocents. Though holmes would use the identity of a circus performer again later in life, he would never realize unless perhaps later in life that he was being tested to see if he possessed the traits of a worthy spy. He failed this test. His report stated that while he was indeed talented in his powers of deduction, he had missed several obvious clues.

His government prospects dashed, Sherlock returned home yet would still find mysteries to solve. He at one point discovered that his Uncle Sherrinford Holmes, for whom his eldest brother was named, was being blackmailed by a servant and put an end to this, aided Crowe in ending the threat posed o this life by Bryce Scobell, a former confederate general whom Crowe had attempted to kill but had instead accidently killed his wife and son.

While Sherlock was away from home, Mycroft informed his that their mother had died. She had gone missing but Mycroft had used his deductive skills to come to this conclusion. Sherlock demanded evidence but Mycroft refused as the matter of her death involved the Diogenes Club and was classified. The father of the brothers

Sherlock returned home for the funeral, reuniting with his many siblings including Sherrinford and Emma, whom announced that she would be marrying soon. Emma spoke to Holmes and explained that she saw faceless men stalking her. Both these incidents convinced Sherlock of a conspiracy at the heart of his own family.

That night Emma woke Sherlock up and proved herself to be correct as faceless men were indeed in the home. These men seemed interested in the desk of their father Siger Holmes before they were confronted and retreated.

Both Mycroft and Sherlock paid a visit to Emma’s prospective fiancé, James Phillimore. Phillimore soon after vanished from his own house.

James's brother was engaged on an engineering project of unparalleled size to dig a canal to connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean which seemed a likely place to continue the investigation. Holmes and his ally Matthew Arnatt and Jonathan Phillimore (James's brother) found James Phillimore tied to scorpions. After freeing him he revealed that George Clarke, engineer and saboteur, had rediscovered the secret of Greek Fire, and intended to destroy the Suez Canal with it. Clarke claimed to be backed up by parts of the British Government. After an altercation with Holmes, he ended up falling into and drowning in a vat of oil. Rufus Stone seemed to oppose Holmes immediately, having also been hired by Mycroft´s superiors to investigate the events. While the two clashed a few times it was Rufus Stone who would aid Sherlock in discovering and rescuing his mother from a similar predicament as James Phillimore. The secret of Greek Fire would not stay buried and was later redicovered by a greek inventor named Lampros.

## Young Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson would first meet as teenagers entering Brompton University in 1870. Holmes grew close to his fencing instructor, Rathe. After the news reported two suicides, Holmes began to believe the two suicides were in fact murders brought about by hallucinogenic drugs, but his attempts to bring this up with the then Detective Lestrade were ignored. Holmes was expelled from Brompton. Another man was killed in front of Holmes by accidentally stabbing himself while trying to fight off invisible Gremlins caused by the drug. Before he died he whispered the word: "Eh-Tar"

With this clue Holmes, Watson and Holmes's girlfriend Elizabeth began their investigations, uncovering the existence of Rame Tep, an ancient Egyptian cult of Osiris worshippers. The cult's main weapons were blowpipes, which were used to shoot thorns dipped into a solution made of plant and root extracts which, when injected into the bloodstream, caused the victim to experience realistic, nightmare-like hallucinations. Holmes, Watson, and Elizabeth then tracked the cult to a London warehouse, where the Rame Tep were performing human sacrifices in a secret underground wooden pyramid. After they interrupted their sacrifice of a young woman, the Rame Tep chased the trio, but the three manage to escape into a cemetery. Though they were hit with thorns and began to experience hallucinations (Elizabeth hallucinated being chased by the undead, Watson hallucinated being force fed by sentient pastries, and Holmes hallucinated his dead father getting angry with him due to uncovering his adulterous ways), but Holmes was able to keep them all level-headed and they did not succumb to the self harm that resulted in the accidental death of the poison's previous victims, eventually making a full recovery.

The following evening, at Waxflatter's loft, Holmes and Watson discovered a picture of the three victims and a fourth man, Chester Cragwitch, the remaining victim. However, they were discovered by Professor Rathe and Mrs. Dribb, the school nurse, resulting in Watson and Elizabeth expected to be expelled. That night, while Elizabeth headed to Waxflatter's loft to salvage his work, Holmes and Watson headed to see Mr. Cragwitch, who explained that in his youth he and the other men had discovered an underground pyramid of Rame Tep and the ancient tools of five Egyptian princesses while building a hotel in Egypt.(This was among many of the findings such as the valley of the Kings in which a great number of royals were buried together in a mass tomb). Their find led to an angry uprising by the people of a nearby village which was violently put down by the British Army. The men returned safely to England. However, a local boy of Anglo-Egyptian descent named Eh-Tar and his sister vowed revenge against them after their parents were killed in the attack. They also vowed to replace the bodies of the five Egyptian princesses with those of the men.

Cragwitch was shot by a poisoned thorn but was fortunately incapacitated by Detective Lestrade who had discovered the poison and reevaluated Holmes's claim, now believing him.

Holmes deduced that Eh-Tar was none other than Professor Rathe, and Mrs. Dribb was revealed herself to be Eh-Tar's sister. Elizabeth was kidnapped with the intent of her sacrifice avenging the last Egyptian Princess. Holmes attempted to rescue her. Mrs. Dribb attempted to kill with a blow pipe which Holmes breathed into, inadvertently poisoning Mrs.Dribb by spitting into the tube containing the thorn before the teacher could do so, shooting the poison into her throat and driving her insane. Her back was then set on fire and she ran off. Eh-Tar attempted to shoot Holmes but instead shot and killed Elizabeth. This instigated a battle between the two which was left unfinished as a result of the conflict escalating into the frozen river Thames where the ice broke and Rathe fell under the water. Holmes returned long enough to be with Elizabeth in her final moments.

Afterwards, Holmes decided to transfer to another school to get his mind off Elizabeth. As he exchanged goodbyes with Watson, Holmes explained how he deduced the identity of Eh-Tar. Watson also pointed out that "Rathe" is "Eh-Tar" spelled backwards, a clue that Holmes failed to notice, and one that may have suggested the false appearance of the entire case. Watson gave Holmes a pipe as a Christmas and farewell present. As Holmes left with his new detective outfit, Watson later expressed that he was certain he would have more adventures at Holmes's side. Unfortunately, he would soon forget this adventure.

The poison was shown to have side effects. Most of the victims had not survived long enough to experience them. Holmes, Watson and Lestrade each dealt with the effects independently. Lestrade had it the easiest, due to being exposed to a smaller dose. He took credit for solving the case and was promoted to Inspector which of course resulted in many visits from admirers while he was at the ward.

Watson developed an irrational fear of pastries. After suffering for some time, he was submitted to hypnosis in order to forget the entire experience, but after recapping the entire story to his hypnotist, a man named Svengali. The hypnotist successfully removed the entirety of the "Delusion" including all memory of the case.

Holmes's had a harder time overcoming his poisoning due to the more personal nature of his fear which the others lacked. Holmes dealt with the lingering effects by taking Opium.

In 1870, Mycroft was working for Edward Cardwell, the British Secretary of State for War, proving himself as a shrewd player in the British government. He also befriended a man named Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent born and raised in Trinidad, where Mycroft’s then fiancée, Georgiana Sutton, was raised.

Cyrus heard troubling news from home: mysterious disappearances; strange, backwards-facing footprints on the sand; spirits enticing children to their deaths. Mycroft´s fiancée received the same news, abruptly panicked, and departed for Trinidad. Mycroft, worried to death for her, talked Cyrus into following her on this hazardous journey. Georiana and Mycroft would break up following this case, presumably due to Mycroft's reluctance to do anything himself even when those close to him were in danger.

In April of 1871, Holmes, then in London, was approached by Karl Marx, then the head of the Communist Internationale. Marx was being pursued by an assassin hired by Thiers and Bismarck, and asked for help from Holmes. Holmes narrowly escaped the assassin’s attempt on his own life and then began hunting the assassin. Holmes pursued the assassin across London and into France, apprehending him at the time of the Communist uprising.

In 1868, Mycroft Holmes hired a tutor for his brother Sherlock named Amyus Crowe, who was an American hunter and also a member of the Pinkerton detective agency. During their first lesson Holmes found a corpse on his family’s estate and took a sample of a yellow powdery substance around the body. Holmes and Crowe's daughter Virginia followed a trail to discover the one responsible to be Baron Maupetuis, a high ranking Official in the her majesty's army though he seemed to be organizing a plot against it. The Yellow Powder was burned though the Baron escaped custody.

NOTE: Sherlock Holmes was born on January 6th 1854. The Holmes family were country squires, which means that the eldest brother would have to stay to manage the house. This fell upon the shoulders of Sherrinford and freed up Holmes and his older brother Mycroft to go out and carve their way into the world.

In 1868, Mycroft had hired a tutor for Holmes named Amyus Crowe, who was an american hunter and also a member of the Pinkerton detective agency, becoming some sort of mentor figure to him. During their first lesson Holmes found a dead body on his family’s estate and took a sample of a yellow powdery substance around the body.Sherlock and Crowe’s daughter Virginia discover the culprit is future Holmes enemy Baron Maupertuis, who kidnapped the two,after they learned he was plotting against the British Army. After they escaped they met up with Crowe and a group which then set out to burn the Yellow Powder, though the Baron escaped.(Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud by Andrew Lane)

A few months later, Holmes was visited at his family manor by Mycroft and Crowe, who believed John Wilkes Booth had fled to England. Sherlock set out on his own to Godalming, the future estate of Arthur Holmwood, and where Booth was rumoured to be hiding. Along the way he befriended Matthew Arnatt, whom served as some sort of aid during these cases in the same way Watson would later in his life. In this year he also met the person who would become his violin teacher, Rufus Stone. A notorious act during the few enigmas he encountered as a kid was the fact that a man named Duke Balthazard planned to invade Canada and have it become a Confederate stronghold, it should be noted that the man who led him the entrance of England was Jerrold Moriarty, uncle and father figure of the future foe of Sherlock Holmes, James Moriarty. (Young Sherlock Holmes: Red Leech by Andrew Lane)

Mycroft invited Holmes and Crowe to the Diogenes Club where he was found and arrested upon being found standing over a dead body. They quickly find a connection between the murder and events going on in Russia and Sherlock joins a traveling Russian theatre troupe as part of his disguise. Eventually the three are able to expose the conspiracy and prove Mycroft’s innocents.(Young Sherlock Holmes: Black ice by Andrew Lane).

Sherlock discovers that his Uncle Sherrinford Holmes is being blackmailed by a servant and puts an end to this. Later on he discovers Crowe is being hunted by a man named Bryce Scobell a former confederate general whom Crowe had attempted to kill but instead killed his wife and son. Scobell attempts to kill Crowe and his daughter Virginia. Holmes was able to release a bear from its cage which killed Scobell.(Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm by Andrew Lane).

Later in that year, Mycroft informed Sherlock that their mother had died (though this was likely a lie for some unknown reason purporting to Mycroft and the Diogenes Club,considering Enola Holmes believed her alive in 1888). Sherlock reunites with his older sister Emma, whom announced that she would be marrying soon, despite the state of mind claiming there to be faceless men, though that night Emma waking Sherlock up proved to be correct. These men seemed interested on Siger´s desk. Both Holmes siblings pay a visit to Emma’s prospective fiancé, James Phillimore, matters become even stranger when Phillimore vanishes from his own house, leaving Sherlock with a classic puzzle to solve. Sherlock set on a journey with his friend Matty, that has international ramifications while attempting to find the clues behind the disappearance of James Phillimore from his house near Arundel and his brother who was engaged on an engineering project of unparalleled size to dig a canal to connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. After some investigation, Holmes, Matthew Arnatt and Jonathan Phillimore (James brother) found James Phillimore tied to scorpions. After freeing him he revealed that George Clarke, engineer and saboteur, had rediscovered the Greek Fire, and intended to destroy the Suez Canal with it. Clarke mentioned to be backed up by parts of the British Government (possibly in between these was Jerrold Moriarty). After an altercation with Holmes, he ended up falling on oil and drowning on it. Rufus Stone seemed to oppose Holmes immediately, having also been hired by Mycroft´s superiors, though leaving ambiguous if he was hired by him directly to stop Holmes, after the duel, while forgiven, his friendship with Sherlock would end strained, much like the brothership between Sherlock and Mycroft, perhaps due to this Mycroft felt he needed to stop Moriarty during his government conspiracy. Jerrold´s nephew, Colonel James Moriarty dealt with someone who once again rediscovered the Greek Fire, a greek man named Lampros. (Young Sherlock Holmes: Night Break by Nathan Lane).

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson first met as teenagers entering the University in 1870, growing close to his fencing instructor, Rathe. Holmes began to believe that two murders that appeared to be suicides were in fact murders brought about by hallucinations but his attempts to bring this up with Detective Lestrade were ignored. Holmes was expelled from Brompton. Another man was killed in front of Holmes as he left by accidentally stabbing himself while trying to fight off invisible Gremlins. He whispered the word: "Eh-Tar"

With this clue Holmes, Watson and Holmes's girlfriend Elizabeth began their investigations, uncovering the existence of Rame Tep, an ancient Egyptian cult of Osiris worshippers. The cult's main weapons were blowpipes, which were used to shoot thorns dipped into a solution made of plant and root extracts which, when injected into the bloodstream, causes the victim to experience realistic, nightmare-like hallucinations. Holmes, Watson, and Elizabeth then tracked the cult to a London warehouse, where the Rame Tep were performing human sacrifices in a secret underground wooden pyramid. After they interrupted their sacrifice of a young woman, the Rame Tep chased the trio, but the three manage to escape into a cemetery. Though they were hit with thorns and began to experience hallucinations (Elizabeth hallucinated being chased by the undead, Watson hallucinated being force fed by sentient pastries, and Holmes hallucinated his dead father getting angry with him due to uncovering his adulterous life), but Holmes was able to keep them all level-headed and they did not succumb to the self harm that resulted in the accidental death of the poison's previous victims, eventually making a full recovery.

The following evening, at Waxflatter's loft, Holmes and Watson discovered a picture of the three victims and a fourth man, Chester Cragwitch, the remaining victim. However, they were discovered by Professor Rathe and Mrs. Dribb, the school nurse, resulting in Watson and Elizabeth expected to be expelled. That night, while Elizabeth headed to Waxflatter's loft to salvage his work, Holmes and Watson headed to see Mr. Cragwitch, who explained that in his youth he and the other men had discovered an underground pyramid of Rame Tep and the ancient tools of five Egyptian princesses while building a hotel in Egypt.(This was among many of the findings such as the valley of the Kings in which a great number of royals were buried together in a mass tomb). Their find led to an angry uprising by the people of a nearby village which was violently put down by the British Army. The men returned safely to England. However, a local boy of Anglo-Egyptian descent named Eh-Tar and his sister vowed revenge against them after their parents were killed in the attack. They also vowed to replace the bodies of the five Egyptian princesses with those of others.

Cragwitch was shot by a poisoned thorn but was fortunately incapacitated by Detective Lestrade who had discovered the poison and reevaluated Holmes's claim, now believing him.

Holmes deduced that Eh-Tar was none other than Professor Rathe, and Mrs. Dribb was revealed herself to be Eh-Tar's sister. Elizabeth was kidnapped with the intent of her sacrifice avenging the last Egyptian Princess. Holmes rescued her, inadvertently poisoning Mrs.Dribb by spitting into the tube containing the thorn before the teacher could do so, shooting the poison into her throat and driving her insane. Her back was then set on fire and she ran off. Eh-Tar attempted to shoot Holmes but instead shot and killed Elizabeth. This instigated a battle between the two which was left unfinished as a result the conflict escalating into the frozen river Thames where the ice broke and Rathe fell under the water. Holmes returned long enough to be with Elizabeth in her final moments.

Afterwards, Holmes decided to transfer to another school to get his mind off Elizabeth. As he exchanged goodbyes with Watson, Holmes explained how he deduced the identity of Eh-Tar. Watson also pointed out that "Rathe" is "Eh-Tar" spelled backwards, a clue that Holmes failed to notice, and one that may have suggested the false appearance of the entire case. Watson gave Holmes a pipe as a Christmas and farewell present. As Holmes left with his new detective outfit, Watson later expressed that he was certain he would have more adventures at Holmes's side. Unfortunately, he would soon forget this adventure.(Young Sherlock Holmes)

The poison was shown to have side effects. Most of the victims had not survived long enough. Holmes, Watson and Lestrade each dealt with the effects independently. Lestrade had it the easiest, due to being exposed to a smaller dose. He took credit for solving the case and was promoted to Inspector.

Watson developed an irrational fear of pastries. After suffering for some time, he was submitted to hypnosis in order to forget the entire experience, but after recapping the entire story to his hypnotist. The hypnotist successfully removed the entirety of the "Delusion" including all memory of the case.

Holmes's had a harder time overcoming his poisoning due to the more personal nature of his fear which the others lacked. Holmes dealt with the lingering effects by taking Opium.

In 1870, Mycroft was working for Edward Cardwell, the British Secretary of State for War, proving himself as a shrewd player in the British government. He also befriended a man named Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent born and raised in Trinidad, where Mycroft’s fiancée, Georgiana Sutton, was raised.

Cyrus heard troubling news from home: mysterious disappearances; strange, backwards-facing footprints on the sand; spirits enticing children to their deaths. Mycroft´s fiancée received the same news, abruptly panics, and departs for Trinidad. Mycroft, worried to death for her, talks Cyrus into following her on this hazardous journey, drawing them all into a web of dark secrets that grow more insidious and baffling with each step they take. While they managed to save Georgiana, she and Mycroft broke up. (Mycroft Holmes, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse)

In April of 1871, Holmes, then in London, was approached by Karl Marx, then the head of the Communist Internationale. Marx was being pursued by an assassin hired by Thiers and Bismarck, and asked for help from Holmes. Holmes narrowly escaped the assassin’s attempt on his own life and then began hunting the assassin. Holmes pursued the assassin across London and into France, apprehending him at the time of the Commune uprising. (Marx & Sherlock Holmes, Alexis Lecaye. (1981))

While Holmes was in France at the conclusion of the Marx case, he traveled through the country. While on Annecy, he met the recluse and hermit Maximilien Heller, whom had been active since at least the late 1860s and though little known to the public, had a string of victories over criminals to his credit. He also had many traits in common with William of Baskerville and the adult Sherlock Holmes. (Maximilien Heller (1871))

Sometime later in that month, Holmes traveled to Italy, where he encountered John Siloch. Siloch, who later became known as “the Sherlock Holmes of Italy,” was in fact active (in the words of his biographer Antonio G. Quattrini) “at least ten years” before Holmes, which would place Siloch’s tenure as a consulting detective as beginning in or around 1871. As with his visit with Heller it is not known how long Holmes visited Siloch, and how much Holmes took away from the meeting. Holmes was impressed with Siloch’s methods and personality, as he presumably was with Maxilien Heller’s, and it can be assumed from Holmes’ own later behavior that he modeled himself, at least to a certain degree, on Heller and Siloch. (John Siloch stories, Antonio G. Quattrini)

At November 1871, at London, Holmes was advised to stay at his family state due to a typhoid outbreak, but he finds out other people were habitating the home. Upon encountering his Uncle Gideon (born 1820), he explained that Siger had to rent the house to other people, so now he had to live with the widowed Rachel Holmes (born 1818). Rachel was married to one of Siger brothers, and was as well, a distant relative of him. Gideon was Rachel's brother. It should be noted that Rachel had a daughter named Charity Holmes, whom she considered the image of a properly well behaved person.

It was here where Sherlock Holmes befriended the housekeeper Martha Cunliffe, Martha was engaged to the railroad conductor Thomas Hudson. Martha would later become Sherlock Holmes’s landlady. He also meets Doctor Sowerbutts, his daughter Charlotte and his son in law John Whitney.

It was near this time where he found out about the death of Nathaniel Dan, a local bum who made the rounds of the region as an itinerant storyteller. The fact that he had died upon being invited by the people who had rented the Holmes manor, Colonel Turnbull, his wife and their nephew Jasper Moran, led Holmes to suspect on them. Holmes soon finds out that the Turnbulls had an elaborate plan of disguise Mrs. Turnbull as Queen Victoria, convincing a somewhat reluctant John Whitney to aid him in the case.

At first, it was believed their plan was to assassinate the Queen through the use of a poison from India while using Natty as a test, but as the investigation stumbles on they find that they planned to put the queen ill as they steal the Koh-I-Noor Diamond for a mysterious “Professor J. Moriarty”.

Once the plan fails, the Turnbulls apparently flee, but a bomb underneath their carriage nearly kills them, Mrs. Turnbull then explains she is an actress known for her mimicry, and she herself had been tricked into thinking this plan was by orders of Prime Minister Gladstone to save Queen Victoria. Jasper Moran captures but does not kill Holmes, promising revenge before fleeing to India to join his brother, records do not show what happened to Jasper.  (Young Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Manor House)

Holmes entered his second University in 1873. He made few friends at college due to his distinct interests, but he does become a skilled fencer and boxer in addition to his academic studies. He formed a friendship with Victor Trevor when he was bitten on the ankle by Trevor's pet bull-terrier. Holmes later recalls Trevor as "the only friend I made during the two years I was at college."

At this year, while at Dublin, Holmes solved the theft at the Kildare Street Club of a hair-brush from an Irish duke. The responsible person turned out to be Brigadier Sebastian Moran, whom Holmes would later encounter aiding Professor James Moriarty. (The Affray at the Kildare Street Club by Peter Tremayne)

In the summer of 1874, Staying with the father of his friend Victor Trevor at Donnithorpe in Norfolk, Sherlock Holmes (age 20) solved his first case, uncovering that the ship The Gloria Scott had been destroyed in a mutiny. (The Gloria Scott)

At 1875, Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock and Victor Trevor uncovered a plot between some British government officials, led by Jerrold Moriarty. Their plan was leading to the downfall of the American government and restore Confederacy under British control. Jerrold lost his life in this attempt, fueling Professor James Moriarty´s grudge for the Holmes family (Enter the Lion: A Posthumous Memoir of Mycroft Holmes)

Holmes left University later in that year. He was still friends with Trevor and became an acquaintance of Reginald Musgrave. During this time, Holmes and Musgrave crossed paths with the oriental criminal mastermind later known as Fu Manchu. Musgrave would later recount that he and Holmes would later take a "mad voyage" aboard the submarine Nautilus and encounter the maniacal Dr. Moreau.  (Musgrave Version, G.A. Effinger)

In 1876, Holmes had a "brief but notable" stint on the New York stage billed as "Mr. William Escott." Holmes went on tour and is involved in several mysteries in the process. Holmes used the "William Escott" many times throughout his career. Indeed, his birth name was William Sherlock Scott Holmes. It was sir Arthur Conan Doyle who referred to him by his well known moniker.

In 1877, Sherlock Holmes (age 23), having returned to England, begins his career as the world's first consulting detective. He took rooms in Montague Street, around the corner from the British Museum.

In 1878, Prince Florizel of Bohemia and Colonel Geradine gained entry into a a secret society of people which they are shocked to learn, intended on losing their lives, in what is known as The Suicide Club, as it is called. The two vowed to put an end to the organization, and turned to the young Sherlock Holmes in this matter. They also went to Colonel Moriarty for assistance but received none. While Homes indirectly aided in foiling the group's plan, The Prince and the Colonel were aided as well by Dr.James Noel, a retired evil mastermind himself,  So pleased was Prince Florizel with Holmes's performance that he would later on come seeking his aid once again, concerning a scandal in his home country.(The Suicide Club)

Following the case of The Suicide Club. The consulting Detective found his career not going well. Most of Holmes's client were old schoolmates of his and he had three of such consultations as his sole clients by 1879. Reginald Musgrave visited him for help in solving the disappearance of two of his domestic staff, Rachel Howells, a maid and Richard Brunton, the longtime butler. The pair vanished after Musgrave had dismissed Brunton for secretly reading a family document, the Musgrave Ritual. which dates from the 17th century, and is a riddle set in question/response form. It reads as follows.

"Whose was it?''His who is gone.''Who shall have it?''He who will come.'('What was the month?''The sixth from the first.') Where was the sun?''Over the oak.''Where was the shadow?''Under the elm.''How was it stepped?''North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and by two, west by one and by one, and so under.''What shall we give for it?''All that is ours.''Why should we give it?''For the sake of the trust."

Holmes deduced the Ritual were instructions in finding a hidden treasure which the two had followed until Brunton was murdered by Rachel, who fled with the treasure, belonging to King Charles I and intended for his successor King Charles II. Musgrave's ancestors had been Kingsman and watched over the treasure for 200 years.(The Musgrave Ritual)

From the summer of 1879 to the Winter of 1880, Holmes's business begins to grow following the discovery of the treasure of King Charles II. As his practice grows, Sherlock Holmes takes on several cases, including the Tarleton murders, the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, the adventure of the old Russian woman, the singular affair of the aluminum crutch. He also works on a case with Theodore Roosevelt(The Stalwart Companions).

At some point in 1880, Holmes was invited to the estate by the then Earl’s son, a classmate, Philip “Popsy” Pemberthy. Pemberthy is certain that his father is being duped by an Italian man named Ricoletti, who is visiting at the Earl’s London address, but will go to the estate with his wife, a woman of tibetan origin. Holmes’ impressions of Ricoletti are not favorable, and he knows he has made an enemy. However, there have been several thefts at the manor house, and Holmes receives an invitation to Duxbury Place. Upon their arrival, they discover other small but valuable things have gone missing.  Holmes’ solving of the case is not without embarrassment to him.. (“The Adventure of Ricoletti of the Club Food (and His Abominable Wife”) by Roberta Ragow (ascribed to PG Wodehouse))

In addition, Holmes takes on a case concerning an opal tiara for a Mrs. Farintosh, helping her in her hour of sore need. Mortimer Maberley is one of Holmes' early clients in a trifling matter.

By 1881, Holmes has established a considerable, though not very lucrative, connection.

## **Partnership with Watson Begins**

Later at that year, Dr. John H Watson, having returned to London after serving in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and being forced to leave due to an injury in the shoulder, runs into an old friend of his, Archibald Stamford, who had been a dresser under him in St. Bartholomew Hospital. Stamford mentions that an acquaintance of his, Sherlock Holmes, is looking for someone to split the rent at a flat at 221B Baker Street, warning Watson about Holmes's eccentricities.

Upon taking Watson back at St. Bartholomew, they found Holmes experimenting with a reagent. Its unknown if Holmes recognized Watson or not, but if he did, he probably kept it to himself to avoid talking about Elizabeth's death. What its known is that Holmes knew about Watson´s service in the army and injury upon simply looking at him. Both reached the agreement to share the previously mentioned flat and split the rent.

Watson quickly became reacquainted with Holme's techniques of deduction and was impressed, comparing him to detectives such as Dupin and Lecoq. Holmes's own thoughts on Dupin are as follows:

*"No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."*

-Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet

Early In Fall 1881. Holmes journeyed to Sumatra on a case, the details of which are unknown even to Watson. It is unknown who hired him, but they seemed to have desired secrecy, suggesting it was a mission for the crown, or more likely the Diogenes Club as Holmes sailed on the SS Matilda Briggs which the Club used to sail to and from Sumatra regularly in the 1880s. Brigadier Donald Fellowes met Holmes while he was posing as "Mr.Verner" and the two encountered off the coast of Sumatra, a group of man-rat hybrids called the Folk, created by Alphonse Moreau protégée Cornelius Van Ouisthoven. The details of this case are unknown but both men escaped alive. Holmes would have another similar incidents involving a Giant Rat of Sumatra later in his career.(A Father's Tale).

In October 1881, Doctor Percy Trevelyan approached Holmes on the case of the strange behavior of his landlord, Blessington, which quickly evolves into a murder investigation when Blessington is found dead in a seeming suicide by hanging, a search begins for three men. The men and the diseased Blessington, real name: Sutton, were former Russian Bank Robbers whom Sutton had betrayed, resulting in his murder.(The Resident Patient)

In August 1882, Inspector Lestrade brought to the intentions of Holmes, three human ears delivered as a warning to an address. Holmes deduced that this was intended for Sarah Cushing, the house's previous occupant, from a Jaded lover named Belfast and that they belonged to Cushing's now murdered sisters. Belfast is arrested.(The Cardboard Box)

In Early April 1883, a young woman named Helen Stoner approached Holmes, fearing that her stepfather Dr.Grimesby Roylott, may try to kill her. An Indian servant had been killed, his last words being "The Speckled band!". Holmes and Watson spend a night in Helen's room and discover a venomous snake called the "Speckled band". Holmes drove the snake back, where it bit Roylott, who had been waiting for the snake to return after killing Helen.(The Speckled Band).

Later in April 1883, Holmes and Watson solved a case involving an artist named Vukcic. Holmes learned the identity of the mastermind behind the mystery, whose named he knew as well as his own, but declined to name the one responsible at the time. (The Adventure of the Old Russian Woman)

From October 1883 to March 1885, Holmes and Watson were on a case after being hired by attorney G.J. Utterson to look into a certain Edward Hyde on behalf of Utterson's childhood friend and client, renowned physician and scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll. Hyde, an uncouth ruffian and would-be murderer, had recently been named Jekyll's sole heir in the doctor's revised will, and the lawyer feared blackmail.The case grew in scope with the Queen herself requesting Holmes solve the case, with the implication of Hyde in the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. Holmes and Watson tracked down Dr.Jekyll and witnessed his transformation into Hyde.

Hyde is described as evoking an immediate loathing and giving the impression of deformity yet none can be seen. Watson describes Hyde has having a black hump of hair, large teeth and conjoined. batwing like eyebrows. Written in 1918, Watson's account may have been influenced by stage and film adaptations of the Jekyll and Hyde tale which came about between his writing of the tale and the events themselves. Although the joined eyebrows are quite intriguing. It may be also that Hyde never actually looked exactly the same each time he manifested, beyond being a small man until his later transformations in 1898.

Jekyll transformed into Hyde and then drank a vial of carbolic acid. The acid however did not have an immediate effect. Hyde turned on Holmes and Watson and received gunshots through his midsection and chest. He was falsely believed dead. Holmes and Watson left quickly, making the scene appear as a suicide. In reality, the doctor and his alter ego survived. Some accounts even state that Hyde was buried. (Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Holmes)

It should be noted that before this events, Mr. Hyde had encountered a detective posing as Sherlock Holmes named Robert Graceman, whom might have been one of the first people who had the Great Detective Syndrome. (Le Crime Etrange de Mr. Hyde, Naugrette, Jean-Pierre)

In February 1886, banker Alexander Holder of Streatham received a Beryl Coronet as collateral. He took it home and found his son attempting to bend the damaged Coronet. Holder's niece Mary brought this case to his attention of Holmes. Holmes  with his exceptionally strong hands, found he himself could not bend the Coronet, making it doubtful the child could. Holmes discovered Holder's niece was the culprit, though she escaped justice with notorious criminal Sir George Burnwell.(The Beryl Coronet)

In March 1886. There was a poorly recorded case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra, only certain details of which are known,blended in with similar later cases. Holmes, without Watson, was recruited by the Diogenes Club to once again board the SS Matilda Briggs to return to Sumatra. As it happened, the earlier case was left unfinished. Cornelius Van Ouisthoven had been killed, but his research was continued.

While the details of what transpired are uncertain, the solution to this problem seems to be that a yet unknown mastermind called “The Professor” had been seeking a specific breed of Sumatran rat, a genetically engineered life form created by Van Ouisthoven using a creature that had been dislocated from its dimension of R’yleh into our own and augmented by the Scientist to serve as a career and a lab rat in creating the deadly strain. Oisthoven had met his end but the Mastermind passed the task of creating the virus to biologist Culverton Smith, who conconceted the disease known as Tapanuli Fever, (Tapanuli is an administrative district of North West Sumatra; the highly lethal infectious disease is also known as Melioidosis; it is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei.) It was intended to be sent back to England onboard the same ship Holmes had arrived on.

Holmes was not alone on this case, he was joined by scientist Professor George Edward Challenger, sent with him for the purposes of studying any remains of the rat monsters they may have found. The culprits, which included not only Culverton Smith but one Mr.Stapleton who Holmes would uncover another scheme of in the case of the Hound of Baskerville, attempted to fool Holmes and Challenger by injecting the virus into a Malayan tapir, which substituted the Giant Rat of Sumatra. This ruse appeared to work until the SS Matilda Briggs was on its return trip. It was according to Holmes, Challenger who deduced the ruse, and the two were able to find and drown the crate containing the rats smuggled onboard, seemingly saving London.

Unknown to Holmes, but still relevant to the case was the appearance of a man claiming to be the Doctor and his companion Leela in London. The Doctor, a time travelling fan of Sherlock Holmes, impersonated the detective as he investigated the Tong of the Black Scorpion, a subsection of the Si Fan criminal Organization, which worshipped an ancient god, Weng-Chiang, who was in reality the supernatural being Lo Pan, whom China originally was formed to combat. The rats in question were but one shipment which the Professor in charge of the criminal empire in England was tasked with delivering to the Lord of Strange Deaths, a collector of exotic animals used in assassinations, including the Speckled Band, and Vampire Squids. The Giant rats were however to be a new invention, the unholy union of Oisthoven’s Rat men, creatures of R’yleh and a breed of Rodent of Unusual Size found in Florin which many believed did not exist.

The Doctor and his companion with the aid of Professor George Litefoot, and theatre owner Henry Gordon Jago, a former resident of London’s Old Jago district for which he was named. The group put an end to the schemes of Si Fan General and Asian imposter Magnus Greel and his midget henchman Mr.Sin, himself a hybrid of some sort involving a pig. They encountered the giant rats kept by Greel, who were destroyed along with the two evil doers and their hideout under the establishment Singapore Charlie’s(Doctor Who Episode The Talons of Weng-Chiang).

The classified nature of Holmes’s assignment while he was out of London coupled with the fact that an eccentric, intelligent man with a distinctive nose, acting in a way channeling Sherlock Holmes, dressed in deerstalker and accompanied by a medical doctor who happened to be staying in a loft owned by Mrs. Hudson, and that said Doctor and theatre owner would then begin to solve mysteries as the pair of Dr.Litefoot and Jago, understandably caused some confusion at the time. Nonetheless, this seemed to for a time put an end to the danger of the rats of Sumatra.

This story was famously lost for many years and slipped into legend. A comedic album titled The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra parodied its legacy, depicting a difficult to understand Holmes explaining the tale in an over the top way in a difficult to understand accent, whom Watson would write down a lot more elegantly than had been said. For instance: "rattan-festooned" is written down as "rat-infested."

In 1886, Holmes and Watson traveled to Brazil to solve a series of murders being committed there.(A Samba for Sherlock)

In December 1886, Holmes helps Amanda Aldridge, the black actress and daughter of the famous "Negro Tragedian," the late Ira Aldridge. Holmes is hired by Thomas Kane (Amanda’s suitor) to investigate a strange series of events. Holmes also fights Phillipe Moreau, an assassin hired to kill Amanda Aldridge, and relative of Dr. Alphonse Moreau. The first duel between Moreau and Holmes ends in a draw. In the second duel, a sword fight, Holmes kills Moreau. (Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello)

In December 1886, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are approached by a man named Nigel Brewster. Brewster is a newlywed and one of the Queen's doctors. He is concerned that people have reported seeing him in places he's never been. Holmes wakes Watson up in the middle of the night to go out on their case. He explained that he believes there is an unknown master criminal manipulating events. They visit the Brewster household, where Nigel Brewster lies nearly dead with a red leech on his chest. They save him but they are ambushed by Brewster's wife, who is working for someone called the "Professor." She dies in the struggle. Holmes and Watson rush to Buckingham Palace, where Inspector Lestrade helps them stop an imposter posing as Brewster. The imposter was planning to kill the Queen with a red leech similar to the one used on Brewster. Afterwards, Holmes explains his deductions, and tells Watson not to publish this account until they can find more information on the ringleader. Just then a rock crashes through their window, with a note that says "If you cross my path again it shall go hard on you."(The Adventure of the Red Leech, Detective Comics number 572).

On January 7th of 1887, Sherlock Holmes received a cipher message from Fred Porlock, a pseudonymous agent of Professor Moriarty. After Porlock sends the message, however, he changes his mind for fear of Moriarty's discovering that he is a traitor.

From the cipher message and the second note, Holmes is able to deduce that it is a book-cipher and that the book used for the encryption its an almanac. Holmes tries the latest edition of Whitaker's Almanac, which he had only received a few days earlier, and fails; he then tries the previous edition. With this almanac, Holmes is able to decipher the message as a warning that "some devilry is intended against one Douglas", a country gentleman residing at Birlstone House.

Inspector Macdonald arrived at Baker Street a few minutes later, with the news that a Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone Manor House, Birlstone, Sussex, had been murdered. Holmes tells MacDonald of Porlock's warning, suggesting Moriarty's involvement. However, MacDonald does not fully believe that the prestigious Professor Moriarty is a criminal. Holmes, Watson, and MacDonald then traveled to Birlstone House, an ancient moated manor house, to investigate the crime.

Douglas had been murdered the evening before. Cecil Barker, a frequent guest at Birlstone House, had been in his room at half-past eleven when he heard the report of a gun, according to his testimony. He had rushed down to find Douglas lying in the centre of the room close to the front door of the house; a sawed-off shotgun lay across the murdered man's chest. He had been shot at close range, receiving the full charge of the shotgun in the face. His head was blown 'almost to pieces'.

Barker had rushed to the village police station and notified Sergeant Wilson, who was in charge of the station. Wilson followed Barker to the house after notifying the county authorities and then started investigating immediately. Barker drew his attention to the open window, and to a smudge of blood like the mark of a boot-sole upon the window sill. The drawbridge over the moat had been raised at 6:00 pm. Barker speculated that the murderer had entered by the drawbridge before that time, hid in the room, and left by the window directly after killing Douglas. The moat was only a few feet deep, and could be easily crossed.

Holmes, MacDonald, and White Mason went to the scene of the murder. Barker then told them that he believed a secret society of men pursued Douglas, and that Douglas retreated to rural England out of fear for his life. Mr. Douglas married after arriving in England five years earlier. His first wife had died of typhoid. Douglas met and worked with Cecil Barker in America, before departing for Europe. Some episode of Douglas's life in America caused the fear for his life, and Mrs. Douglas said her husband mention something called "The Valley of Fear".

By studying Barker's slippers, Holmes determines Barker's shoe made the mark on the window, to give the appearance that someone exited that way. In their lodgings, Holmes tells Watson that Cecil Barker and Mrs. Douglas are certainly lying: the events as they tell them would be impossible. Moreover, Holmes learns that the housekeeper heard a sound, as if of a door slamming, half an hour before the alarm; Holmes believes that this sound was the fatal shot. White Mason, the Sussex detective, and MacDonald track a bicycle found on the grounds of the house to an American staying at a guest house. The American appears to be the murderer, but there was no sign of the man.

Holmes asked MacDonald to write to Cecil Barker, telling him that the police intend to search the moat the next day. That night Holmes, Watson, MacDonald and White Mason lie in wait outside Birlstone Manor and see Cecil Barker fish something out of the moat. The four men rush Cecil and discovered the bundle from the moat contains the clothes of the missing American connected with the bicycle. Barker refused to explain the situation.

At that moment, Mr. Douglas appeared alive and well, handling Watson a written account called "The Valley of Fear", which explains why he feared for his life. Douglas explained that his real name was Birdy Edwards and he had been a Pinkerton detective in Chicago. Edwards had infiltrated a murderous gang, known by locals as the Scowrers, in Vermissa Valley (known as The Valley of Fear) and brought them to justice. Afterwards, the criminals attempted to kill him, after being released from jail. Hounded, Douglas had run to England, where he met and married his second wife, the current Mrs. Douglas.

Douglas then told them that he had spotted an enemy of his, Ted Baldwin, in the area and expected an attack. When Baldwin attempted to shoot Douglas in his study, Douglas grabbed the gun and, in the struggle, Baldwin was shot in the face. With Cecil's help, Douglas dressed the man in his own clothes, except for Douglas's wedding ring, to deceive the secret society which he and Baldwin had belonged to, since both arms bore the society's mark. Cecil and Mrs. Douglas had covered for Douglas who had been hiding in a secret compartment in the room where the shooting occurred.

Holmes urged Douglas to leave England and warns that a new threat now hangs over him. Douglas takes this advice, but shortly after Holmes learns that Douglas was lost overboard on the vessel to Africa. Holmes believes Moriarty was responsible for ending Douglas' life. Holmes wants to bring Moriarty down, but warned Watson and Barker that it will take some time to achieve. (The Valley of Fear)

In 1887, Several as of yet unrecorded cases occur in which Watson is involved these include:

Sherlock Holmes suspects Col. Sebastian Moran in the death of Mrs. Stewart of Lauder, but is unable to prove a connection.

The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber.

An adventure involving the Amateur Mendicant Society, who have a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse.

Holmes takes a case involving Lieutenant Richard Hornblower, great-grandson of Admiral Viscount Horatio Hornblower and helps clear up the loss of the British barque Sophy Anderson.

Holmes and Watson are involved in the singular adventures of the Grice Pattersons in the island of Uffa.

Holmes solves the Camberwell poisoning case by winding up the dead man's watch and proving that it had been wound two hours ago, establishing that the deceased had gone to bed within that time.

Holmes undertakes a delicate case for the King of Scandinavia. It is possible that this case is related to the Netherland-Sumatra Company and the then unrevealed schemes of Baron Maupertuis (whom would be the mentor of Charles Foster Kane).

From February to April 1887, the following adventure takes place.

Sherlock Holmes, and Doctor Watson, are returning from a holiday in Vienna when their train -- the Orient Express -- is flagged down by a carriage occupied by Pope Leo XIII. Potentially dangerous books have been stolen from the secret Library of St John the Beheaded, a Catholic repository of forbidden texts which is located in England so the Vatican can deny its existence. Holmes agrees to take the case, and upon returning to England he and Watson visit the Library, in the heart of St Giles’ Rookery -- a den of vice and squalor which Holmes notes seems less crowded than usual. The Library itself is a sequestered, underground building, designed such that a single entrance provides all of the ventilation it requires; this entrance is guarded day and night by two rival criminal gangs, who would like nothing better than to catch the other out in a mistake. As Holmes examines the scene of the crime and studies the list of visitors who had recently requested the stolen books, Watson observes a hooded figure entering a private reading room, and meets an oddly-dressed little man reading a copy of Redvers Fenn-Cooper’s autobiography.

Having tested the Library’s security and found it adequate, Holmes and Watson return to their lodgings in Baker Street, where the odd little man from the Library is waiting for them. He identifies himself only as “the Doctor”, confirms that he is one of the people on Holmes’ list, and claims that the books were stolen in order to prevent him from reading them. Whilst accepting that he is a suspect, he nevertheless suggests joining forces to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion. Holmes accepts, but is disconcerted by his inability to deduce anything about the Doctor; he is unable even to identify the mud on the Doctor’s trouser cuffs, which the Doctor claims is from a planet called Menaxus.

While Holmes pursues another avenue of investigation, the Doctor and Watson visit one of the others on the list, Mrs Kate Prendersley. Outside her home, they catch a glimpse of something in the shadows -- something like a sack of water suspended in a frame of stilts, which vanishes when they try to get a closer look. Mrs Prendersley explains that she has been investigating her husband’s death; he was apparently an innocent victim of the Trafalgar Square riots, but she believes that he had stumbled across a conspiracy and was murdered to prevent him from investigating further. She attempted to follow up her husband’s researches in the Library, but has found it a disturbing place; once, she believes, she saw the shadow of a man eating a book. She tries to quote the evil-sounding syllables which her husband had scribbled down in his notes, but as she does so, she bursts into flames and dies within seconds. The Doctor convinces Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard to write it off as a case of spontaneous human combustion, and leaves the shaken Watson to return to Baker Street.

Meanwhile, Holmes visits the seamier parts of London to investigate the two men who were guarding the Library at the time of the theft. While undercover, he witnesses a fight to the death between three trained dogs and a three-legged, reptilian “giant rat” from Sumatra, a creature like nothing he has ever seen on Earth, even when compared to the Rat Folk of Ouisthoven. The two Library guards are brought before their respective leaders, Mr Jitter and Mackie “Mack the Knife” Yeovil (Unknown if he is the famed Mackheath of “Mack the Knife” killer, who would be quite old), to explain themselves, and although they insist that they are innocent they have their hands cut off as punishment for their failure. Holmes is spotted as an impostor, but manages to escape from the angry crowds around him and returns to Baker Street to ponder these events.

The next morning, Holmes is summoned to the Diogenes Club by his elder brother Mycroft, who has a bone to pick with them. The Diogenes is in fact a front for Britain’s secret service, and the Queen is upset that the Pope has chosen to hire a private detective rather than come to her own intelligence service for help. Mycroft peruses Sherlock’s list of names, and as he discusses them with Sherlock, Most of the people on the list are members of the Diogenes Club, and one in particular, Baron Maupertuis, is already suspected of making shady business deals in his desperate attempts to make a name for himself in Victorian society. Mycroft summons the Baron to speak with Sherlock, but Maupertuis gives nothing away and they have no pretext to detain him further. As Maupertuis departs, however, Holmes notices a figure waiting for him in a hansom cab outside -- the same hooded figure Watson saw earlier in the Library.

Mycroft learns Maupertuis’ destination from the club’s doorman, and shows his brother to a secret underground pneumatic railroad which is used to smuggle dignitaries out of the Club after clandestine meetings. Holmes and Watson arrive at their destination moments too late to identify Maupertuis’ companion, but Holmes realises that they have entered a child brothel and pretends to be a client in order to get inside. He then leads the horrified Watson to an empty room in order to eavesdrop on Maupertuis, whose unknown companion is here for a séance with the notorious Madame Sosostris. Holmes and Watson hear the medium and the hooded figure chanting, and as the chant starts to develop an oddly compelling rhythm a strangely chilling third voice joins in. The figure warns the third voice that a detective and a man called the Doctor are interfering with their plans, and the third voice agrees to send more brethren through the gateway to render assistance.

Before Holmes can identify the hooded figure, he is spotted eavesdropping and is forced to flee. He and Watson are pursued by Maupertuis’ hulking, deformed bodyguard Surd, who proves to have the ability to incinerate people with the power of his mind -- as Watson very nearly fatally discovers before one of the brothel’s footmen gets in Surd’s way. Holmes flags down a passing cab, which proves to be carrying the Doctor; he claims to be following something which has been following Holmes and Watson, but all Watson can see out of the window are glimpses of the same sack on stilts he saw at Mrs Prendersley’s. They are overtaken by another hansom cab, and the Doctor loses sight of his quarry near the Library of St John the Beheaded. He, and Holmes enter the Library to find that they are expected; Mycroft is here, and has taken it upon himself to contact another name on the list… the eldest Holmes brother, Sherrinford.

Sherrinford informs the others that some of the stolen books were the journals of their father Siger. The Doctor claims to have met Siger while travelling in India with his grand-daughter Susan, and further claims that the journals contained tales of Siger’s time in the East India Company, and a description of a hidden temple where the fakirs could chant open a gateway to another world. Intrigued by Siger’s tales, the Doctor arranged for his journals to be confiscated and placed in the Library, where he could consult them later when he had the chance. However, it appears that Maupertuis has stumbled across them, and plans to lead an army through the gateway and conquer the planet beyond in the name of Britain. Mycroft is openly skeptical until the Doctor tears aside a tapestry to reveal Sherrinford’s other guest -- the sack on stilts, an alien being named K’tcar’ch from the planet Ry’leh.

Sherrinford admits that he investigated his father’s tales some time ago, travelled through the gateway, and made contact with K’tcar’ch’s people. They are a peaceful race threatened by Maupertuis’ colonial ambitions; he has been raising an army from the criminal underclasses of London, and he intends to invade the Plain of Leng on Ry’leh. Siger’s journals contain the alien syllables with which it is possible to chant open the rift that connects the two planets; Mrs Prendersley was killed by Surd to prevent her from revealing those syllables to the Doctor. Maupertuis has now fled the country following the fight at the brothel, and is on his way to India to lead the invasion of Ry’leh. Holmes, however, reveals that he stole a book from Maupertuis as they struggled in the brothel, and he finds it to be one of his father’s journals. He and Watson agree to help the Doctor stop the invasion, and Mycroft, while unwilling to commit the British government to any course of action, nevertheless informs them that they may find assistance from a big game expedition in India which has been funded by the Diogenes.

The Doctor, Holmes and Watson take the SS Matilda Briggs to Bombay, where the Doctor’s friend Benny is waiting, disguised as a man to avoid attention. She tells them that crates labelled with Maupertuis’ handwriting were recently sent to the railway station at Jahalbahad, and the Doctor decides to follow them. That night, however, while perusing Siger’s journals he is attacked by a rakshassa, a flying demon with spikes for a face and bat-like wings. The rakshassa kidnaps the Doctor, leaving Benny, Holmes and Watson with no option but to continue on to Jahalbahad and continue their investigation alone. Colonel Warburton, the local Resident, invites them to a dinner with the Nazir Tir Ram, which is also attended by the hunter Lord John Roxton and a missionary named O’Connor. Watson excuses himself to answer a call of nature, but on his way back to the others he is attacked by Maupertuis and Surd, and barely escapes with his life. Benny also manages to escape, but the others -- apart from Tir Ram, Warburton and his wife, who are also involved in the conspiracy -- are taken prisoner.

Benny and Watson follow the prisoners to an underground temple, where the Doctor is being held as well. Maupertuis’ army is preparing to storm through the gateway and bring fame and fortune to Tir Ram’s formerly insignificant province, and Maupertuis can’t understand why his enemies oppose this. Roxton reveals himself to be a member of the Diogenes Club, and announces that Maupertuis is once again acting without the approval of the British government; however, Maupertuis feels certain that he will be rewarded when he presents Victoria with a whole new territory for her empire. He scoffs at the Doctor’s and Holmes’ claims to champion the defenceless -- and is even more scornful when O’Connor reveals himself to be the criminal mastermind Moriarty, here to find out why his underlings have been disappearing. Maupertuis summons four rakshassi to deal with the intruders while Tir Ram’s fakirs chant open the rift, and Benny and Watson join the fight, assuming that the rakshassi are trained animals from Ry’leh. Their intervention turns the tide, and Roxton shoots Surd before he can kill Watson -- but by the time the rakshassi have been killed, the army has passed through the rift, and it has closed up behind them.

The Doctor and Benny study Surd’s body and find that his deformities were caused by horrific vivisectional surgery which has all but hollowed him out. The books were smuggled out of the Library within the hollow spaces of his body, and his pyrokinetic powers developed due to the damage to his brain. The battle must now be taken to Ry’leh, and Moriarty, who is perfectly willing to let Holmes get himself killed on an alien world, departs after giving them a transcript of the fakirs’ chant. Holmes sends Roxton to report the situation to the Diogenes Club, and he, the Doctor, Benny and Watson chant open the gateway and pass through to Ry’leh.

Ry’leh is a barren world surrounded by a solid shell of frozen atmosphere. In this territory, Watson is in his element, tracking Maupertuis’ army through unknown terrain. Holmes, however, relies upon a comprehensive knowledge of his surroundings to make his deductions, and in an alien environment he is completely at a loss. The Doctor, meanwhile, fears that the fakirs’ chant mentioned the name of Azathoth, one of the legendary Great Old Ones, beings of unimaginable power who survived the destruction of the Universe which existed before this one. He has fought them before; amongst others, he’s encountered Yog-Sothoth in Tibet and London, Lloigor on Vortis, Cthulhu in Haiti, and Hastur the Unspeakable, who also goes by the name of Fenric. If one of the Great Old Ones is present on Ry’leh, the situation is even worse than he had imagined.

Watson locates Maupertuis’ army, but spots movement on the surrounding slopes as well, and realises that the ostensibly peaceful natives are gathering -- and are heavily armed. He tries to learn more by infiltrating Maupertuis’ camp, only to stumble into an ambush when the natives open fire. The panic-stricken humans scatter in terror, and Warburton blames Maupertuis; he was given no time to train the men properly, and it is now clear that he was misled about the strength of the native resistance. The furious Maupertuis shoots Warburton, but before he can do the same to Watson, the Doctor’s friend Ace arrives and shoots Maupertuis instead.

Ace has been on Ry’leh for some time, scouting out the situation for the Doctor, and she accompanies Watson back to the others’ camp to report -- only to find that they have been kidnapped. To Watson’s surprise, Ace reveals that the rakshassi are not animals at all, but an intelligent life form which worships a god living in a nearby city. She has seen them trying to sing open the rift to Earth themselves, and once chased one of the planet’s reptilian, three-legged animals through the rift to see what would happen. Leaving the battle behind, Watson and Ace climb a nearby mountain, using the swollen skins of balloon-like animals as suits to protect themselves from the cold and lack of air. Eventually they reach the summit, where they find a passageway carved through the ice onto the frozen surface of Ry’leh’s atmospheric shell.

The rakshassi have kidnapped not only the Doctor, Benny and Holmes, but Tir Ram and his fakirs as well. They are taken to the surface of the shell, where the rakshassi have transported a caravan across the top of the ice to avoid detection. There, the hooded figure, Maupertuis’ ally, is waiting for them -- and is revealed to be Sherrinford Holmes. When Sherrinford made his first trip to Ry’leh he met Azathoth, goddess of the rakshassi, and was converted to her cause. As the horrified Sherlock watches, Sherrinford casts off the last vestiges of his human form and transforms into a rakshassi, as K’tcar’ch had done before him. K’tcar’ch’s people are in fact the Shlangii, mercenaries under orders to confine Azathoth to her prison on Ry’leh following her attempt to spread her Word across the Universe. Over the years, Azathoth has managed to convert a number of the Shlangii to her cause, but the rakshassi cannot sing the frequencies required to open the rift between Ry’leh and Earth. Maupertuis’ invasion was never meant to succeed; his army is merely here to keep the local Shlangii garrison occupied while Tir Ram’s fakirs sing open the gateway. Soon Azathoth will escape her prison of centuries, and bring her Word to the Earth.

Sherrinford takes his prisoners to the central cavern to meet Azathoth herself, and the Doctor is somewhat disappointed to find that she’s nothing more than a giant telepathic slug, an empathic mutant playing upon the reputation of a Great Old One to convince her followers that she is a god. Ace and Watson are already here, and as they are apparently transforming into rakshassi themselves, Sherrinford leaves them to guard the others; however, Ace and Watson are merely disguised, using hollowed-out crustacean body parts they took from the converted Tir Ram after Ace killed him. She is holding Azathoth hostage with a pre-programmed smart bomb, to ensure that it does not attempt to convert them to rakshassi; presumably the rakshassi are the adult form of Azathoth’s race, a stage which this mutant larva never reached.

As the Doctor ponders his next move, the rakshassi blast a hole through the ice and lower the caravan through to the Plain of Leng, where Maupertuis’ army and the Shlangii garrison have wiped each other out. Azathoth manages to convert the smart bomb to her cause, but the Doctor and his friends survive its attack and flee. As the fakirs begin to sing open the rift, however, Ace reveals that she overheard part of Azathoth’s conversation with Sherrinford during the séance, and has learned that a dissonant chord could shift the terminus of the gateway. After some thought and calculation, the Doctor works out a new chant which will shift the gateway to San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. He and his friends join in the fakirs’ chant, moving the gateway to the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Azathoth and her followers are forced to pass through the gateway when Shlangii reinforcements arrive, and the Doctor and his friends follow them. The rift closes behind them, leaving the immobile Azathoth trapped in the hotel as the fire raging through the earthquake-torn city consumes it. Sherringford attempted to kill Watson to avenge his goddess’ death, but Sherlock kills his brother to save his friend's life. They retreat from the hotel as it goes up in flames, incinerating every living thing inside.

The Doctor leaves the others, spends three months crossing America and the Atlantic Ocean, fetches the TARDIS from its resting place in London, and returns for his friends a moment after he left them. He offers Holmes and Watson the opportunity to travel with him, but they turn down his offer; one such adventure is enough for them. Instead, they return to 19th-century Baker Street, where Holmes resumes his career as a consulting detective. As usual, Watson writes up the adventure in his memoirs, and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle helps him to turn it into a novel; and, as usual, Watson and his friend’s names are changed to “James Watson” and “Sherlock Holmes” to protect their true identities. But unlike the other novels and stories on which Doyle has collaborated, Watson has done this one for his own benefit; the world is not ready for it, and The Strange Case of the All-Consuming Fire will never see print.

Holmes' iron constitution breaks down under the strain of the two-month long investigation. It is some time before his health recovers.

Watson receives word that Holmes is lying ill in the Hotel Dulong. Watson takes Holmes to the home of his friend Col. Hayter at Reigate in Surrey to aid in his recovery from April 14th to the 26th.(The Reigate Squires)

During the Spring and Summer 1887, John Watson's older brother H. Watson passes away. His watch is left to his brother John.

Reflecting on the loss of his own brother, Watson starts a conversation with Holmes, mentioning the tragic loss of the detective’s own brother. Holmes reveals to Watson that he has another older brother.

In June 1887,Holmes takes Watson to the Diogenes Club to introduce him to his older brother Mycroft properly, the two having not been introduced during All Consuming Fire.

*“If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solution, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.”*

-Holmes on his brother Mycroft.

Mycroft consults Holmes on a Mr.Melas, a Greek Interpreter who had been kidnapped by a man named Latimer to aid in negotiations with a Mr.Kratides, who had plaster over his mouth and could only write. Melas realized Latimer was trying to force Kratides into signing property over to him. The incident was interrupted by a woman unexpectedly walking into the room, who recognized Kratides as Paul. “Paul” was able to get the plaster off his mouth to call her “Sophy”. Afterwards Melas had been dropped off.

An advertisement was placed in the papers and a Mr.Davenport claims to know the woman in question. When Melas is attacked they realize they are on the right track and get a search warrant to investigate Beckenham, where they believe Melas was kept, except it is abandoned with Melas and Kratides bound in a closed room where charcoal has been lit to gas the two of them. They are only able to saved Melas. Kratides is already dead.

Thankfully Kratides never signed any papers. Sophy’s friends contacted Kratides, Sophy’s brother in Greece, and told her about her bad situation with Latimer. He came and was kidnapped. Latimer tried to force Kratides to sign over his sister’s property, but he refused absolutely.

All that is ever again heard of the thugs Latimer and Kemp is a news story from Hungary describing the deaths of "two Englishmen who had been travelling with a woman". The official report attributes their deaths to a fight between the two of them; however, Watson notes in closing that Holmes believes Sophy to have avenged the abuse of Kratides and herself by stabbing both Latimer and Kemp. ("The Greek Interpreter")

In Summer 1887, Watson witnesses Holmes injecting cocaine three times a day for many months, indicating that Holmes is going through a period of inactivity or is having difficulty coping with what he saw following the case of the All Consuming Fire.

In Late August 1887, Holmes' practice extends to the Continent as he is consulted by François le Villard of the French detective service in a case concerning a will. Holmes is able to recommend two parallel cases, one at Riga in 1857, and another at St. Louis in 1871, which suggest the true solution to le Villard. Soon after, le Villard begins translating several of Holmes' monographs into French.

From September 7 to 10, 1887, Miss Mary Morstan hires Holmes to investigate the matters of her father's disappearance and the mysterious pearls she has been receiving in the mail. Mary claimed that ten years ago, her father had telegraphed her upon his safe return from India and requested her to meet him at the Langham Hotel in London. When Mary arrived at the hotel, she was told her father had gone out the previous night and not returned. Not being able to find trace of him despite the efforts, Mary contacted her father's friend, Major John Sholto, but he denied knowing her father had returned.

Another enigma was the fact that she has received one pearl per year from an anonymous benefactor since 1882. With the last pearl she received there was a letter remarking that she has been wronged and asking for a meeting. Holmes takes the case, finding out that Major Sholto had died 6 years ago, believing there might be some sort of connection. The only clue Mary could give Holmes is a map of a fortress found in her father's desk with four names.

Holmes, Watson, and Mary met Thaddeus Sholto (son of major Sholto) whom confirmed to be the one sending the pearls and that his father had met Captain Morstan they day of his death, both agreeing to split with each other a treasure found on India, sadly, Morstan got a heart attack. Out of fear that police might suspect him, the major hid the body, he confessed this to his sons, Thaddeus and Bartholomew at his deathbed.

Both of the living Sholtos discussed if they should give part of the legacy to Mary, ending on bad terms. To make matters worse, Bartholomew was later killed, and the police suspected Thaddeus, but Holmes uncovered that the ones responsibles were a one legged man and a small accomplice. Upon catching the true culprit, Jonathan Small, he revealed that he was aiding Morstan and Sholto in finding the treasure, but the latter had actually double crossed him and the captain, and that it wasn't his intention to kill Bartholomew. After the adventure, John Watson proposed to Mary Morstan.(The Sign of Four)

From September 29 to 30, 1887 A young Sussex gentleman named John Openshaw comes to Holmes about several odd occurrences. Left behind were five orange pips and a letter from “K.K.K.” which Holmes recognized as the sign of the Ku Klux Klan. John’s father Joseph was found dead days later. John Openshaw himself is later murdered. Holmes believes the killer was the Captain of a ship called The Lone Star, who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and sends five orange pips to the Captain, the sign that the person will be murdered. The ship never makes it to shore. Since the Ku Klux Klan members all wear hoods they can’t recognize each other, and so they have been tricked into killing one of their own members.("The Five Orange Pips")
**In Early October, 1887,Holmes clears up the little matter of the Governor Square furniture van.**

October 6, 1887 Lord Robert St. Simon seeks Holmes' aid in finding his new bride, who disappeared just after their wedding. She was seen walking with a man through Serpentine Park(Later versions change the name to the modern Hyde park). They find the wife and the man together. They were formerly married but the mystery man, Francis H.Moulton, was thought killed in an Apache raid. He survived and found her on the wedding day. The two chose to wait until after the wedding to run off together rather than make a scene. (The Noble Bachelor)

Doyle’s entry is inconsistent in describing Watson’s wound compared to how it was described in A Study in Scarlet, in which Watson stated “I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery”. Given that in Watson’s entries he is rarely shot at, it’s like the injury described by Watson is a most recent one sustained in All Consuming Fire in which Watson did indeed see combat and was wounded.

In October 1887, Paterson Erskine Guthrie takes a position as the confidential secretary to British spymaster Mycroft Holmes, essentially playing a Victorian Archie Goodwin to Holmes' Nero Wolfe. (Against the Brotherhood).

In Late Autumn 1887, Holmes and Watson once again meet the Doctor, who takes them to the year 2010 to attend the wedding of Mr.Jason Kane and Professor Bernice S.Summerfield. They are returned to their own time shortly after.(Happy Endings)

In November 1887, Dr. John H. Watson (age 35) marries Mary Morstan (age 26).

From Late 1887 to Early 1888, Watson returns to civil practice and buys a connection in the old Paddington District. For the next several months he is too busy to visit Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes deals with several international cases. He is summoned to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, clears up the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and undertakes a mission for the reigning family of Holland.

On March 20th 1888, Sherlock Holmes met for the first time his match, Irene Adler, a coloratura soprano opera singer from New Jersey, whom outsmarted him on a case that Frank Joseph I, the King of Bohemia, assigned Holmes. The King required Holmes to retrieve some incriminating photos about an affair between him and the opera singer. While a disguised Holmes entered Irene´s house,  Watson tried to fake a fire so Irene Adler would try to open a case with the photos in the rush of the moment to save them, thus Holmes learning their location.

While at first a foolproof plan, Sherlock did not counted that Irene Adler and her to be husband, Godfrey Norton, had left England, but promised in a letter that due to her love to Norton she wouldn't make the photos public, wanting to avoid scandals. Since then, Sherlock referred to Irene Adler as “The Woman” (Ironically his arch-nemesis, whom was outsmarted by the same woman under a different circumstance, had a derogatory way of calling Adler)(A Scandal in Bohemia)

In June 1888, A young clerk, Hall Pycroft, consults Holmes with his suspicions concerning a company that has offered him a very well-paid job. Holmes, Watson and Pycroft travel by train to Birmingham, where the job is initially to be based, and Pycroft explains that he was recently made redundant from a stockbroking house. He eventually secured a new post with another stockbrokers, Mawson and Williams, in Lombard Street in the City. Before taking up the job, he was approached by Arthur Pinner, who offered him a managership with a newly established hardware distribution company, to be based in France.

Pycroft is sent to Birmingham to meet Pinner's brother and company co-founder, Harry Pinner. He is offered a very well-paid post with £100 in advance, and is asked to sign a document accepting the post, and is also asked not to send a letter of resignation to his would-be employers. He immediately commences his duties, but he is concerned about the unprofessional aspects of the business and their sparse offices, as well as the suspicious fact that the two Pinners have a distinctive gold filling in their teeth in the same place, suggesting that they might be the same man.

When the trio arrive at the Birmingham office, with Holmes and Watson presented as fellow job-seekers, Pinner is reading a London newspaper and is clearly in shock. As they leave, he attempts suicide, but Watson is able to revive him. Holmes concludes that the story of the brothers is a fabrication and that there is only one 'Pinner'; lacking enough men to make their attempt to deceive Pycroft convincing, Pinner had attempted to pose as his brother to make up the numbers in the hope that Pycroft would dismiss the similarities between them as a family resemblance. He further deduces that the whole point of the exercise was to obtain an example of Pycroft's handwriting so that a 'fake' Pycroft may be employed at Mawsons (Hence why they asked him to not officially resign his post). Mawsons was keeping a vast stock of valuable securities, and 'Pycroft' was to be a safebreaker.

From the newspaper, they learn that Mawson & Williams have suffered an attempted robbery, but that the criminal had been captured, although the weekend watchman has been murdered. Beddington, the forger and cracksman, was the miscreant, masquerading as Pycroft, and his brother was masquerading as Pinner. American railway bonds worth nearly £100,000 were taken, together with a large amount of scrip in mines and other companies, but the police recovered them from the would-be thief.

As the police are called to arrest 'Pinner', Holmes observes that "Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson. You see that even a villain and murderer can inspire such affection that his brother turns to suicide when he learns that his neck is forfeited". ("The Stockbroker's Clerk")

In July 1888, Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister, and the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, come to Holmes in the matter of a document stolen from Hope's dispatch box, which he kept at home in Whitehall Terrace when not at work. If divulged, this document could bring about very dire consequences for all Europe, even war. They are loath to tell Holmes at first the exact nature of the document's contents, but when Holmes declines to take on their case, they tell him that it was a rather injudicious letter from a foreign potentate. It disappeared from the dispatch box one evening when Hope's wife was out at the theatre for four hours. No-one in the house knew about the document, not even the Secretary's wife. None of the servants could have guessed what was in the box.

Holmes decides to begin with some spies known to him, and is then astonished to hear from Dr. Watson that one of those that he names, called Eduardo Lucas, has been murdered. Before Holmes has a chance to act, Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope, the European Secretary's wife, arrives unexpectedly at 221B Baker Street. She asks Holmes insistently about the stolen document's contents, but Holmes only reveals to her that there would be very unfortunate consequences if the document were not found. Lady Hilda also begs Holmes to tell her husband nothing of her visit.

Holmes's spy hunt does not go well. Four days after the murder, French police arrest the probable culprit of it, a woman whom Lucas has married in Paris, under the alias of "Henri Fournaye". She was seen in London near Eduardo Lucas' house the night of the crime, but she is now useless as a witness because she has gone insane.

Inspector Lestrade calls Holmes to the murder scene to examine something odd. Lucas bled over a drugget, and the blood soaked through it, but curiously, there is no bloodstain on the floor under the drugget. However, there is one under the opposite edge of the carpet. It can only mean that the constable guarding the crime scene has been foolish enough to let someone in, and leave them alone while they moved things in the room, including the carpet. Holmes tells Lestrade to take the constable to a back room and obtain a confession, which he does, vigorously.

While Lestrade is remonstrating with his wayward constable, Holmes pulls the unfastened carpet aside and quickly finds a hiding place in the floor, but it is empty. Lestrade and the constable come back, and the latter tells Holmes that the unauthorized visitor was a young woman. She apparently fainted at the sight of the blood, and the constable then actually went out to get some brandy to revive her, but she had left before he got back. As Holmes is leaving Lucas's house, he shows the constable a photograph, and he recognizes it as the visitor.

Holmes goes to the Hope household and confronts Lady Hilda, accusing her of the theft. At first, she denies everything, but is forced to admit her wrongdoing under threat of certain scandal. Lucas was blackmailing her with a compromising letter written by Lady Hilda years earlier, and demanded the contents of her husband's dispatch box for the return thereof (an unnamed spy within her husband's own office had made Lucas aware of the document). She went to his house to do the business when, as it happens, his wife from Paris showed up and confronted him about his affair, believing that Lady Hilda was his mistress. Lady Hilda hurriedly left. She returned, however, to fetch the stolen document after her visit to Holmes convinced her that she needed to do this. She hands the document to Holmes. Holmes suggests putting it back in the dispatch box using Lady Hilda's duplicate key.

They do this, and when Hope arrives back home with the Prime Minister, Holmes pretends to believe that the evidence has convinced him that the document must still be in the box. It is soon found, and Hope rejoices that it was only a mistake. In this way, the lost document is restored without Lady Hilda's part in the affair being revealed — though at the possible price of making her husband look a bit stupid. The Prime Minister, however, is no fool. He can see that there is an underlying story, but Holmes simply responds, "We also have our diplomatic secrets."(The Second Stain)

From July 12 to 17, 1888, Holmes investigates the disappearance of the racehorse Silver Blaze, and the murder of his trainer, John Straker. The horse is found and the trainer is revealed to have been fatally kicked by the steed when he attempted to amputate his leg. He was able to solve this case because of the curious incident of “The dog in the night-time” which did not bark because Straker was not murdered and there were no strangers on the property. (Silver Blaze)

From July 30 to August 1, 1888, Watson is contacted by his school friend Percy Phelps, who asks Holmes for assistance in locating a missing Naval Treaty stolen from his office. (The Naval Treaty). Holmes realizes the bell was rung yet no one came up, meaning it was a distraction. The Treaty is found in Phelps’s sick room hidden in the floor because the thief could not get to it due to the limited entrances and exits in the office.

In July 1888, Holmes in involved in the Adventure of the Tired Captain.

In 1888, Holmes receives a snuffbox of old gold with a great amethyst in the center of the lid in gratitude for his assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers.

In addition, Holmes receives a brilliant ring from the reigning family of Holland in thanks for serving them in a matter of supreme delicacy.

Holmes is engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with the Dundas separation case. One of the details concerns the husband winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife.

In the Summer of 1888, Holmes becomes intrigued in a lock door mystery. A Colonel James Barclay was found murdered in a pool of blood and his wife fainted. Holmes is able to convince the servant woman to tell him she saw a crooked man she recognized. With this information Holmes decided that the man in question entered the room, causing the Colonel’s death and his wife to faint.(The Crooked Man)

A popular phrase associated with Holmes is “Elementary, My Dear Watson” while he did say this on occasion, he did not in any of the cases recorded by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The closest to the phrase uttered is in this case with the phrase:

"I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson," said he.

…

"Excellent!" I cried.

"Elementary," said he.

On August 31, 1888, The body of Mary Ann Nichols is discovered in Buck's Row, Whitechapel. Watson is horrified by this but Holmes dismisses it as an isolated incident.

In Early September 1888, Holmes becomes involved in “The Adventure of the Arabian Knight” in which he embarks to recover a stolen document on behalf of his client, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.

On September 8, 1888, The body of Annie Chapman is discovered near a doorway in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, Spitalfields. Inspector Lestrade appeals to Holmes, who now believes the two murders are connected.

In September 1888, Among the ten or twelve cases Holmes is presently engaged in is a rather intricate matter that has been referred to him from Marseilles.

From September 18 to 19 1888, Miss Mary Sutherland consults with Holmes concerning the disappearance of her fiancée, Hosmer Angel. He solves the case quickly but believes Miss Mary Sutherlandd would not be able to handle the truth that her fiancée is a criminal (A Case of Identity).

On September 30th 1888, The body of Elizabeth Stride is discovered in Dutfield's Yard, off Berner Street in Whitechapel.

The body of Catherine Eddowes is discovered in Mitre Square in the City of London.

On October 15th, 1888, Police receive a letter purportedly from Jack the Ripper, along with half of a human kidney. The return address is "From Hell."

*“From hell.*

*Mr Lusk,*

*Sor*

*I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer*

*signed*

*Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk*

## **Sherlock Holmes Hunts Jack the Ripper**

From September to November 1888, Sherlock Holmes solves the Jack the Ripper Slayings. He discovers a government conspiracy to cover up several witnesses to the birth of an illegitimate royal child. Royal surgeon William Gull is tasked with removing the witnesses. Not only were most of the police aware of this but Gull also hired and paid several people to commit similar murders or kill the targets individually. This aided in diverting detectives on the case as most of these hitman and murderers were caught or killed. Holmes and Watson pursue corrupt constable Edward Bennet, who is killed. Mycroft and the Home Secretary convince Lestrade to cover this incident up. Holmes is gifted a rare cigarette case with a question mark insignia as a reward for solving this case.

During a night in october, every few decades when there is a full moon on Halloween the rift to the world of the Old Ones weakens. The forces of Good and Evil meet to do battle. If the Good wins the portal remains closed. If evil wins the portal opens. Holmes was informed of this ritual by the Doctor, who was among those who have fought for good in the past. Holmes and others battle the likes of Jack the Ripper (one of the hired murderers with a dog named Snuff, who is the son of Bill Sykes.), Dracula, Henry Frankenstein and his monster, Lawrence Talbot (The Wolfman), and Rasputin among others.This encounter makes Holmes realize the true killer is still at large.

Holmes resumes his investigations and successfully discovers the Royal conspiracy despite attempts from James Moriarty on behalf of the British Government to frame him for the murders wherein he is briefly arrested before being released by Mycroft and Lestrade. He is reluctantly forced to keep the conspiracy a secret after Gull is arrested.

Unknown to Holmes and many others, Gull has been slipping into insanity as a result of multiple entities such as RedJac possessing his body as well as several time travel incidents which have left him with brain damage. His consciousness survives as an entity responsible for various crimes throughout history, even possessing the immortal Vandal Savage. (Dust and Shadow/The Last Sherlock Holmes Story/A Study in Terror/Murder by Decree).

Late November to December 25th 1888, Holmes and Watson meet with Dr. Abraham van Helsing. Van Helsing enlists their aid in tracking down Dracula, who was still in England following the Ritual. Stapleton, the villain who will terrorize Sir Henry Baskerville, also aides Dracula. (The Tangled Skein).

In 1889, Watson brings a case to Holmes. Sherlock Holmes receives the Maltese Falcon as a gift for successfully concluding this case. The Maltese Falcon will become the object of great pursuit in forty years, embroiling San Francisco detective Sam Spade (and his son) in much intrigue, ironically against a former member of Moriarty´s firm.(The Madness of Colonel Warburton).

June 8 - 9, 1889 "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"

Holmes investigates the death of Mr. Charles McCarthy.

June 14 - 15, 1889 "The Man With The Twisted Lip"

Holmes investigates the disappearance of Neville St. Clair and his mysterious connection with the beggar Hugh Boone.

Summer 1889 "The Engineer's Thumb"

Watson brings Holmes' attention to the matter of Mr. Victor Hatherley, who loses a thumb when he runs afoul of counterfeiter Col. Lysander Stark.

From September to October 1889, One of the most revered names in England is besmirched by a blackmailer, and only Holmes can stop a disastrous scandal.

## **The Hound of Baskerville**

In October 1st of 1889, Dr. James Mortimer asked Holmes Sherlock Holmes for help following the death of his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville, whom was found dead on the grounds of his Devonshire estate, Baskerville Hall. The death was attributed to a heart attack, but Mortimer is suspicious, because Sir Charles died with an expression of horror on his face, and Mortimer noticed "the footprints of a gigantic hound" nearby.

Mortimer explained that the Baskerville family had supposedly been under a curse due to Hugo Baskerville allegedly offered his soul to the devil and then being killed by a giant spectral hound. Sir Charles believed in the curse and was apparently fleeing from something in fright when he died.

Intrigued, Holmes met with Sir Henry Baskerville, Charles nephew and the sole heir who had newly arrived from Canada. Sir Henry received an anonymous note warning him away from the Baskerville moors, and one of his new boots is inexplicably missing from his London hotel room.

Holmes and Dr Watson follow him from Holmes's Baker Street apartment back to his hotel and notice a bearded man following him in a cab; they pursue the man, but he escapes. Mortimer tells them that John Barrymore, the butler at Baskerville Hall, has a beard like the one on the stranger. Sir Henry's boot reappears, but an older one vanishes.

Holmes sent for the cab driver, who shuttled the bearded man after Sir Henry and is both astounded and amused to learn that the stranger had made a point of giving his name as 'Sherlock Holmes' to the cabbie. The cab driver was John Clayton, former duke of Greystoke (and grandfather of the jungle hero that Burroughs would write about), who had rebelled from his position to turn to socialism. He used the alias of Sydney Dreyfus sometimes. Holmes told Watson to accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall with instructions to send him frequent reports about the house, grounds, and neighbours.

Upon arrival at the grand but austere Baskerville estate, Watson and Sir Henry learn that an escaped murderer named Selden is to be in the area.Barrymore and his wife, who also works at Baskerville Hall, wished to leave the estate soon. Watson hears a woman crying in the night; it is obvious to him that it was Eliza Barrymore, but her husband denies it.

Watson can't find any proof that Barrymore was in Devon on the day of the chase in London. He meets a pair of siblings surnamed Stapleton. When an animal sound is heard, Jack Stapleton is quick to dismiss it as unrelated to the legendary hound. When her brother is out of earshot, Miss Stapleton mistakes Watson for Sir Henry and warns him to leave.

Barrymore aroused the suspicion when Watson and Sir Henry catch him at night with a candle in an empty room. Barrymore refused to answer their questions, but Mrs. Barrymore confessed that Selden is her brother, and her husband was signalling that they have left supplies for him.

Watson and Sir Henry pursued Selden on the moor, but he eluded them, while Watson noticed another man on a nearby tor. After an agreement is reached to allow Selden to flee the country, Barrymore revealed the contents of an incompletely burnt letter asking Sir Charles to be at the gate at the time of his death. It was signed with the initials L.L.; on Mortimer's advice, Watson questions a Laura Lyons, who admits to writing the letter in hopes that Sir Charles would help finance her divorce, but said she did not keep the appointment.

Watson tracks the second man he saw in the area and discovers it to be Holmes, whom had found out independently that the Stapletons were not siblings, but rather a couple, and Mr. Stapleton had promised marriage to Laura Lyons to get her cooperation. They hear a scream and discover the body of Selden, dead from a fall.

At Baskerville Hall, Holmes notices a resemblance between Stapleton and a portrait of Hugo Baskerville. He realises that Stapleton could be an unknown Baskerville family member, seeking to claim the Baskerville wealth by eliminating his relatives. Accompanied by Inspector Lestrade, Holmes and Watson traveled to the Stapleton home and rescued Sir Henry from a hound that Stapleton released.

Shooting the animal dead in the struggle, Sherlock reveals that the hound was painted with phosphorus to give it a hellish appearance. They find Miss Stapleton bound and gagged inside the house, while Stapleton apparently dies in an attempt to reach his hideout in a nearby mine. They also find Sir Henry's boot, which was used to give the hound Sir Henry's scent.

Stapleton was, Rodger Baskerville's son, also named Rodger. His now-widow is a South American woman, Beryl Garcia. He supported himself through crime before learning that he could inherit a fortune by murdering his uncle and cousin. Stapleton had taken Sir Henry's old boot because the new, unworn boot lacked his scent. The hound had pursued Selden to his death because of the scent on Sir Henry's old clothes. Mrs Stapleton had disavowed her husband's plot, so he had imprisoned her to prevent her from interfering. Beryl Garcia later remarried prosecutor Klimt Von Zieks, the person who gifted the hound to Stapleton (he supported his plans due to him believing the Baskervilles among other nobles were corrupt).(Hound of Baskervilles)

November 16, 1889 "The Dying Detective"

Mrs. Hudson summons Watson back to Baker Street to tend to Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare Asian disease called “Tapuli Fever” contracted while he was on a case at Rotherhithe.

Late November, 1889, Sir Henry Baskerville and Dr. Mortimer call upon Holmes and Watson in London, prompting a reminiscence of the Baskerville case.

December 27, 1889 "The Blue Carbuncle"

Watson calls upon Holmes on the second day after Christmas and becomes embroiled in a case concerning a stolen gem discovered in a Christmas goose.

At early January 1890, the master thief Raffles was hired by Stationmaster Moriarty (posing as his brother the Professor for first time) to steal a valuable necklace. But also another pair of crooks is aiming for the same piece. Raffles "convicts" the others of the theft, but the jewelry remains missing. Sherlock Holmes does not doubt for a moment that Raffles is the thief; however, Raffles intercepts his message to the police and asks Moriarty for help to avoid Holmes. After several attempts, Holmes manages to arrest Raffles. In return, Moriarty kidnaps Watson and Holmes' page Billy, to leave Holmes defenseless, but Holmes went towards Moriarty, freeing Watson and Billy, freeing himself from the clutches of criminals and arresting Stationmaster Moriarty. (Sherlock Holmes (1908))

January 4 - 14, 1890 "Charles Augustus Milverton"

Holmes and Watson scheme to rescue their client Lady Eva Blackwell from the mercies of notorious blackmailer Charles Augustus Milverton.

In February 1890, Holmes and Watson prevent the ritual murder of a woman by Lord Henry Blackwood, who has killed five other young women similarly, Blackwood was arrested by Inspector Lestrade.

Early Spring 1890 "The Copper Beeches"

Holmes and Watson rescue Miss Violet Hunter from the nefarious designs of Jephro Rucastle.

At May 1890  Blackwood has been sentenced to death and requests to see Holmes, whom he warns of three more unstoppable deaths that will cause great changes to the world. Blackwood is subsequently hanged.

## **A Game of Shadows**

Holmes is visited by Irene Adler, whom asks him to find a missing man named Luke Reordan. After her departure, Holmes secretly followed her, learning that she was employed by Professor Moriarty. Meanwhile, sightings of a living Blackwood and the discovery of his destroyed tomb lead to belief that Blackwood has risen from the grave. Reordan is found dead inside Blackwood's coffin. Following a series of clues from the body, Holmes and Watson find Reordan's home and discover experiments attempting to merge science with magic.

After they survive a battle with Blackwood's men who attempt to destroy the lab, Holmes is taken to the Temple of the Four Orders. The leaders, Sir Thomas Rotheram (The current Chief Justice on London), U.S. Ambassador Standish, and Home Secretary Lord Coward, whom ask Holmes to stop Blackwood, a former member of the society and Sir Thomas's secret illegitimate son. Thomas Rotheram is later killed by overnatural means, actually a confabulation between Henry Blackwood and Klimt Van Zieks

Holmes escapes and he, Watson, and Adler find Blackwood's men in the sewers guarding a device designed to release cyanide gas into the Parliament chambers and kill all but Blackwood's supporters, whom he has secretly given an antidote. Blackwood comes before Parliament and announces their impending deaths, then attempts to activate the cyanide device by remote control, but it is disabled by Adler.

Blackwood flees Parliament and sees Adler and Holmes in the sewers, and pursues them to the top of the incomplete Tower Bridge. Blackwood fights Holmes, as the latter deduces how all of Blackwood's supposed supernatural feats were the work of science and trickery. Blackwood plummets off the bridge and falls entangled in a noose of chains, killing him when the chain wrapped around his neck hangs him. (Sherlock Holmes, 2009 film)

Following the events from Thomas Rotheram´s death, Hart Vortex became the new Chief Justice of London. Genshin Asōgi, a law student, later found about Klimt Van Zieks´s association with Blackwood. He challenged him on a duel and killed him the 31th of that month. Vortex with the aid of Courtney Simon planted false evidence to blame Asogi as the one who aided Blackwood, not wanting to damage the picture of a fellow british noble working for the law. Due to this, Van Zieks wouldn't be exposed until after 10 years after that incident. (Ace Attorney - Dai Gyakuten Saiban)

On October 11 1890, Holmes would aid police in arresting John Clay, an alias of Paul Finglemore, some people say he is an illegitimate son of the Claytons who was adopted by the Finglemore family. What is known is that he had an ego due to being formerly Professor James Moriarty star pupil, that led him to device a plan on his own due to James Moriarty being busy involved on a scheme of squids and aliens. While it was quite bright, it wouldn't live up to most of the plans of his mentor. (Adventure of the Red Headed League)

At November 1890  as a man by the name of Edmund Carstairs approached Baker Street, he was an art dealer whose paintings had been destroyed by a gang of Irish robbers. After the murder of Carstairs' client, and a failure on the part of a hired detective, he turns to Sherlock Holmes, who employs the aid of the Baker Street Irregulars, and upon locating the hotel where the supposed Keelan O'Donaghue is currently staying, one of the newest recruits of the Irregulars, a boy named Ross, was stationed to wait outside until Holmes, Watson, and Mr. Carstairs arrive. When the group finally arrives, Ross appears inexplicably horror-stricken and is later found brutally murdered by the thugs of the House of Silk.

When Holmes made inroads with the House of Silk case, he was framed for murder and sent to prison. Meanwhile, Watson meets with Professor Moriarty (Watson was unaware of who he was), the latter provides him with a key to free Holmes from prison, before the detective can be assassinated. Professor Moriarty's motives are uncertain, except that he wishes Holmes to rid the world of the House of Silk, whose activities apparently appall even him. When Watson arrived at the prison, he discovers Holmes has escaped of his own accord, disguised as an aide to the prison doctor, whom he had once helped as a client.

Various leads draw them to a travelling funfair, where they are ambushed, before being saved by Lestrade.  The trio made its way to the "House of Silk", a club operated by a pastor and his wife who also govern a boy's orphanage, and rent the boys to wealthy customers. The members are promptly rounded up by Scotland Yard. Despite their arrests, however, the case does not come to trial, due to a royal family member having been purportedly involved. It was eventually revealed that Mrs. Carstairs was the second leader of the Irish gang. This and the case of Blackwood were the cases that John H. Watson didn't took into account when saying that he only had 3 cases with Holmes on 1890, due to how strange they were. (House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz)

On January 4th 1891,  Irene Adler delivered a package to Dr. Hoffmanstahl, payment for a letter he was to deliver, Hoffmanstahl opened the package, triggering a hidden bomb that was prevented from detonating by the intervention of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes takes the letter and puts the package on a sarcophagus, while Adler and Hoffmanstahl escape, even though the latter was assassinated by Colonel Sebastian Moran moments later. Adler explained the events to Moriarty at a restaurant, but the professor, knowing of her infatuation with Holmes and still mad after an incident concerning Ruritania, let her know that he could have her killed whenever he wanted, Moran, disguised as a worker, sounded a bell, all the people in the restaurant leaving. Of course, Moriarty did not actually kill her, he did that to prevent Adler from crossing his path (and hopefully trick Holmes that Irene was actually dead to convince him to back down).

Sherlock later visited Madame Simza Heron, the intended recipient of the letter that he took from Adler in January, sent by her brother Rene Heron, hoping to ask her a few questions. While being there, Holmes noticed that an assassin, possibly a member of the Si-Fan knowing Moriarty´s ties with it, was sent to kill Simza, Sherlock Holmes managed to stop him, but Simza left before the detective could question her. (Sherlock Holmes, Game of Shadows)

At January 23th 1891 Foreign Secretary Lord Redcliff haphazardly receives a document with unknown contents from Queen Victoria; the document is stolen from his safe later that night. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson discussed the case. Deciding to lay low for a while, Holmes informs Watson that he will delegate cases to his nephew, William Sigerson Holmes (born in 1866), whom was the eldest son of the late Sherrinford Holmes (Whom also used the alias of Asneath Pons sometimes).

At a train station, Sherlock passes the message to Scotland Yard records clerk Orville Sacker, a man with auditory eidetic memory, who happens to be a fan of Sigerson's work, whom later found him practicing swordplay. Sigerson was resentful due to being unable to replicate his uncle´s success. A woman supposedly named Bessie Bellwood arrived there, but Sigerson quickly could point out that it was in fact Jenny Hill, whom felt herself blackmailed by Opera Singer Eduardo Gambetti.

Sigerson attends one of Hill's performances and saves her from another assassin by injecting himself into the play. He then saves her again from two thugs. Due to the trauma, Hill wanted to stop cooperating, but Sigerson convinced her to cooperate in the dressing room by seducing her. She reveals that she stole the document from Redcliff's safe and claims that Redcliff is her father. When Sigerson meets with Redcliff, he learns that Redcliff was in fact Jenny Hill´s fiance.

Eventually the trail lead to Gambetti, who had made a deal with Colonel Moriarty (The Professor James Moriarty´s younger brother) to sell him the document, which foreign powers have offered £50,000 to acquire. Moriarty pays, but the distrustful Gambetti proposes that he hand over the document during the debut of his opera so that he has time to safely deposit the money. Sigerson and Sacker infiltrate the opera, which soon devolves into chaos.

Sigerson and Moriarty confront each other backstage and are drawn into a sword fight that corners Sigerson on an outside ledge. Under threat of death, Sigerson agrees to hand over what Moriarty though it was the document, but the stationmaster fell off the ledge and into the water below. The document turned out to be a decoy: Sigerson had left the real document to be found by Sherlock. Sigerson was going to Jenny´s wedding, but she hadn’t gone through the ceremony, its known both of them ended up dating each other. Some accounts detail Sigerson latter solving mysteries on his own with a japanese man as his “Watson”. (The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes´s Smarter Brother)

Its known that Homes inconvenienced Moriarty in February 11th. He was forced to forge an alliance with his most hated enemy. Moriarty’s services were summoned again. Germans were communicating across the world scheming a war, something that would halt one of Moriarty plans. In order to gain more information Moriarty persuaded Benjamin Barnett, as well as his wife, Cecily Perrine-Barnett, to do some traveling in Vienna, using their authority to learn as much related to the Game as possible, ostensibly on a vacation.

At some point while traveling there they were apprehended by a man known as Gottfried Kasper Guttman, whom said to be a journalist that wanted to ask Cecily Perine to write an article about Sherlock Holmes for the Staatlicher Überblicken, he also had a companion, Father Ugarti Cairo, Cecily noticed something odd, noticing that Guttman wasn't a journalist or that Ugarti wasn't a priest, convincing Barnett to leave, the latter also noticed it was odd since his relationship with Holmes wasn't the best considering he was a member of Moriarty´s crime gang. She later found out that Guttman´s men had looked into their belongings. It should be noted that Gottfried´s son, Kaspar Guttman, was formerly a member of Moriarty´s Conduit Street Comanche before getting obsessed with the Maltese Falcon, ironically aided by Cairo´s son, Joel.

It was there that they encountered Charles Summerdane, using the alias Paul Donzhof, whose father was an agent of the British Secret Service stationed in Europe. On their trip, however, they accidentally stumbled right into the thick of a conspiracy involving the assassination of the Prince and Princess of Rumelia. Fortunately, they managed to save his life; unfortunately, this resulted in the capture of the Barnetts by the would-be assassins as well as Summerdane’s apprehension by the police, falsely accused for the murders of both a duke and his beau.

Mycroft Holmes persuaded his brother and his loyal companion, Doctor John Hamish Watson, to head for the continent as well, apparently trying to locate the same secrets Moriarty was endeavouring to learn but secretly there to assist him from behind the scenes. It appears that Moriarty was fooled and fully believed that their shaky alliance formed in Europe was un-planned (The Great Game by Michael Kurland)

Before leaving Viena, Watson introduced Holmes to Sigmund Freud hoping to cure his cocaine addiction, this didn't seemed to work, but Holmes managed to stop german spies that intended to cause a war on Europe. Its unknown if these spies were sent by Moriarty (whom had a weapon factory in Austria) or Mabuse (whom would be involved in the german league). Watson lost the manuscript of this case, which would be later stolen by Moriarty or a member of his firm and edited under the name of Watson. (The Seven Per Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer)

On late March 1891, the French Government hired Holmes to find The Mona Lisa, whom had been stolen from a museum. Holmes had found fingerprints of a man named Mendoza, whom stole it to sell copies of the original painting. Holmes and Watson ambushed Mendoza with the aid of the police, Sherlock realizing the true mastermind behind Mendoza´s plan, Prof. James Moriarty, whose encounter with Holmes would be really close. Its rumored that when the professor found out that Holmes uncovered the true Mona Lisa, he destroyed all the false copies of the painting in rage. This was the moment where Moriarty stopped seeing Sherlock as a lower level threat, and rather as a high level threat.

## **The Final Problem**

On April 23th of 1891, Sherlock was visited by Professor James Moriarty at 221 E Baker Street, quite annoyed that Sherlock Holmes stopped 3 of his plans on that year, warning him that if he didnt stop, Moriarty would find a way to completely destroy him.

On April 24th at evening, Holmes visited Watson looking paler and thinner than usual and with his hand bleeding, explaining that due to recently having tried to stop Moriarty plans, the professor had attempted to get him killed, having warned the detective to back off or get crushed, Holmes knew that Moriarty planned something big, having managed to link deaths that apparently had no connection, but wouldn't learn about the true plans of the astronomical mastermind until later. Watson agreed to go with Holmes until the arrests concluded (this was aided mostly by a fire on Conduit Street that weakened further Moriarty´s firm).

Holmes and Watson go to Paris hoping to meet Simza again, she takes them to a group of anarchists whom she and her brother Rene used to work for, while she had broken ties with them, Rene seemingly hadnt. The leader of the group explained that they were being forced to plant bombs for Moriarty and that Rene worked for the professor.

The trio goes to Paris Opera house, Holmes having deduced that the bombs are placed there. However, Holmes realizes too late that he has been tricked and that the bomb is in a nearby hotel; the bomb kills a number of assembled businessmen. Holmes discovers that the bomb was a cover for the assassination of Alfred Meinhard by Sebastian Moran. Meinhard's death granted Moriarty ownership of Meinhard's arms factory in Germany.

Sherlock had disguised as an italian priest while entering the train, much to Watson´s initial surprise. While the train pulled away, Holmes pointed out Moriarty rushing onto the platform. In order to throw Moriarty off their trail to prevent him from know that they were attempting to stop his plans, Holmes and Watson get out at Canterbury but allow their luggage to progress on its journey and provide Moriarty with something to follow.

Holmes and Watson went to Brussels and then to Strassburg, much to Holmes charging he had to ride a pony on this travel. Sherlock manages to send a telegraph message to Mycroft, but shortly is captured by Moriarty in a factory on Strassburg, while Watson fights Moran. Holmes spells out Moriarty's plot, revealing that the Professor secretly acquired shares in multiple war profiteering companies using various pseudonyms to conceal his identity and intends to instigate a world war to make himself a fortune. Meanwhile, Watson uses the cannon he had been hiding behind to destroy the watchtower in which Moran is concealed. The structure collapses into the warehouse where Moriarty is holding Holmes captive. Watson and an injured Holmes reunite and escape aboard a moving train. Holmes deduces that Moriarty's final target will be a peace summit in Switzerland, creating an international incident.

At the summit, Holmes deduces that Rene is the assassin and that he is disguised as one of the ambassadors, having been given radical reconstructive surgery by Hoffmanstahl. Holmes and Moriarty, who is also in attendance, retreat upon a balcony to discuss their competing plans over a game of chess. Watson and Simza (whom had went to the summit as Mycroft´s companion) find Rene and stop his assassination attempt, but Rene is discreetly killed by Moran.

Despite his war being averted, Moriarty remains confident in his victory, warning Holmes that the nations of Europe will inevitably go to war with one another regardless of Moriarty's manipulations. Holmes then reveals that, while being tortured by Moriarty, he replaced the professor's personal diary that contained all his plans and financing with a duplicate. The original was sent to Mary Watson in London, who decrypted the code using a book that Holmes had noticed in Moriarty's office during their first meeting, before passing the information to Inspector Lestrade, who seizes Moriarty's assets and donates his fortune to anti-war charities.

Before Moriarty could do anything, he is taken out by british intelligence agents for further questioning, while Sherlock was unaware of this, said british intelligence agents actually worked for Moriarty. Holmes later received a telegram, which stated that although Moriarty´s gang have all been secured, Moriarty himself has escaped from the intelligence members that took him away.

Holmes tried to persuade Watson to return to England for his own safety; since Moriarty is now ruined he will devote himself entirely to vengeance against the man who brought destruction upon him, Watson refused to leave his friend's side and the two of them travel to Meiringen to avoid Moriarty´s wrath.

While on Meiringen, they intended to travel to Rosenlaui, but taking a detour to admire the Reichenbach Falls. A swiss boy handled a letter to Watson giving him a note mentioning an ill woman needing a doctor. Watson arranged with Holmes to meet at evening in Rosenlaui, but when he returned to the hotel in Meiringen, he found out that there was no sick woman.

What actually happened is that Sherlock Holmes had encountered Moriarty, both fighting against each other. While Holmes was younger, Moriarty used to be a boxing champion at Cambridge, seemingly equally matched, for some reason, there was a shot...towards Moriarty´s shoulder. Due to the shock, both professor and detective fell down to their presumed deaths. Watson would later find a note left by Holmes. It read:

*My dear Watson,*

 *I write these few lines through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty, who awaits my convenience for the final discussion of those questions which lie between us. He has been giving me a sketch of the methods by which he avoided the English police and kept himself informed of our movements. They certainly confirm the very high opinion which I had formed of his abilities. I am pleased to think that I shall be able to free society from any further effects of his presence, though I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends, and especially, my dear Watson, to you. I have already explained to you, however, that my career had in any case reached its crisis, and that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this. Indeed, if I may make a full confession to you, I was quite convinced that the letter from Meiringen was a hoax, and I allowed you to depart on that errand under the persuasion that some development of this sort would follow. Tell Inspector Patterson that the papers which he needs to convict the gang are in pigeonhole M., done up in a blue envelope and inscribed “Moriarty.” I made every disposition of my property before leaving England, and handed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe me to be, my dear fellow,*

*Very sincerely yours,*

*Sherlock Holmes*

## **The Great Hiatus 1891-1894**

Realizing that Moriarty's henchman Sebastian Moran is still on the loose, Holmes devises a plan to let the world think he is dead. He goes into hiding for the next three years *("The Empty House").*

On May 6, 1891,The death of Sherlock Holmes is reported in the *Journal de Genève,*the daily newspaper of Geneva, Switzerland. It is the first known report of Holmes' death*("The Final Problem").*

On May 7, 1891, A *Reuter's* despatch on Sherlock Holmes' death appears in the English papers*("The Final Problem").*