Inside London's oldest gaol, preparations are afoot to hang Victorian England's deadliest assassin, a man wanted for two decades' worth of murders. Cold-blooded killer Simeon Lynch has lived a brutal and glorious life in the employ of the House of Moriarty - the most feared criminal enterprise in the world. Now, as he faces the noose, Simeon learns dark truths about his master, about Sherlock Holmes and about his own past. Truths that make him determined to escape and kill again... Follow Simeon's bloody footsteps through the capital's cobbled alleyways, wretched workhouses and flash taverns as he crosses swords with Sherlock Holmes and the villainous characters of Victorian London.

    These new adventures are the only ones to be specially authorised by Dame Jean Conan Doyle, celebrating the centennial of Holmes' first appearance in print.Greeted with unanimous acclaim, the traditionally crafted stories feature dazzling encounters with Holmes rising to new challenges and revealing new feats of brilliant, deductive logic ... culminating in a mental duel of frightening intensity with the master criminal Moriarty. And Watson - God bless him - has his share of the spotlight too.

    This anthology of stories featuring the character of Sherlock Holmes follows on from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories which ended with Holmes at Reichenbach Falls.

    These gripping tales of mystery, suspense and clever puzzles are wonderfully entertaining and in them you will meet The Crime Doctor, Professor Augustus S.F.X.Van Dusen - The Thinking Machine, Max Carrados - the incredible blind detective, the repulsive but brilliant Skin o' My Teeth, and the natty, ingenious French sleuth Eugene Valmont. On the other side of the law, there are gentleman crooks Raffles and Simon Carn - the Prince of Swindlers. The stories include: ''The Purloined Letter' by Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Stolen Cigar Case' by Bret Harte, 'The Swedish Match' by Anton Chekhov, 'Nine Points of the Law' by E.W. Hornung, 'The Ghost at Massingham Mansions' by Ernest Bramah and 'The Great Pearl Mystery' by Baroness Orczy.