Sherlock Holmes and the Eye of Heka

David Marcum

Description

January 1888: Dr. John H. Watson has returned to 221b Baker Street, just weeks after a personal tragedy has left him bereaved and bereft. Feeling like a broken man, his plans and dreams lying in ruin, he slowly tries to make his way forward, with the help of Sherlock Holmes and Mrs. Hudson. Unexpectedly, he finds himself standing in the path of a madman - who suddenly and irrationally blames Watson for his apparent defeat.Meanwhile, Holmes has tried to distract his grief-stricken friend by telling stories of his past cases, including how, a decade before, he recovered a mysterious relic - The Eye of Heka - stolen from the British Museum. But Holmes's plan to show Watson this unique and ancient idol goes suddenly and terribly wrong as both are swept into a series of events, one tumbling rapidly upon another, that lead to thefts, murders, and possibly a war that might quickly escalate to draw in nations from most of the world. And always there is the madman in the shadows - waiting for his next chance to attack . . . .From The Notebooks of Dr. John H. Watson comes another story by Sherlockian David Marcum, author of over eighty traditional Holmes pastiches, including those collected in The Papers of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and A Quantity of Debt, and Sherlock Holmes - Tangled Skeins.Join us as we return to Baker Street and discover more authentic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the man described by the estimable Dr. Watson as "the best and wisest . . . whom I have ever known." The game is afoot!

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781787058347
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sherlock Holmes and the Eye of Heka
David Marcum




Published in 2021 by
MX Publishing
www.mxpublishing.com
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2021 David Marcum
The right of David Marcum to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Internal illustrations by Sidney Paget
David Marcum can be reached at:
[e-mail]
Cover design by Brian Belanger
www.belangerbooks.com




As always, this is for Rebecca and Dan, with all my love



Acknowledgements
Special thanks (in alphabetical order) to Brian Belanger, Derrick Belanger, Steve Emecz, Roger Johnson, Mark Mower, Denis Smith, Tom Turley, Dan Victor and Marcia Wilson
...and thanks to the men who told the truth: Dr. John H. Watson, Dr. Lyndon Parker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, August Derleth and William S. Baring-Gould





Editor’s Introduction
As related elsewhere, I’ve been reading and collecting the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson since I was ten years old in the mid-1970’s. During all those years, I’ve accumulated literally thousands of narratives detailing the activities of Our Heroes, and in 2008, that collection increased when I found one of Watson’s “lost” notebooks, consisting of nine previously undiscovered adventures. These were eventually edited and published as The Papers of Sherlock Holmes (2011, 2013).
I was obviously thrilled, but that feeling managed to keep growing when I was contacted by an individual who wished to remain anonymous. This person, having seen the first publication, revealed a manuscript that he or she wished to see published, for various personal reasons. It eventually appeared under the title Sherlock Holmes and A Quantity of Debt (2013). I was soon to learn that each lost Holmes manuscript leads to the next.
In September 2013, I was in England for my first (of three, and I hope more!) extensive Holmes pilgrimage, wherein my ever-present deerstalker and I spent several weeks visiting Holmes-related sites. (If it wasn’t about Holmes, I pretty much didn’t do it.) I’ve told elsewhere, (specifically in the introductions to the three volumes of Sherlock Holmes in Montague Street [2014] and Sherlock Holmes – Tangled Skeins [2015]) how I was met near Leicester Square and given a package containing additional Holmes-related documents, as penned by Watson. These papers have made up the two aforementioned titles, as well as a number of other stand-alone adventures that have been published in other locations. I cannot express how satisfying it was to come across more of Watson’s efforts, but I was also becoming concerned, as the bottom of that box was in sight.
In September and October of 2015, I was back in London for my second Holmes Pilgrimage. Part of that trip was to launch the Holmes collection that I had envisioned and then edited, the massive three-volume The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories. Luckily, during the time that I was there, I had an encounter that gave me access to a massive amount of newly discovered Holmes adventures.
As I did on my first Holmes Pilgrimage, I conducted extensive research of locations to visit, based on more than two-dozen Holmes travel books in my collection. Some locations of importance from the initial trip were obviously revisited, either on purpose or by chance, as many of the sites are very close to one another, and one almost can’t go from A to B in London without running into three other Holmesian places of interest along the way.
One of these sites was Queen Anne Street, where Watson moved in mid-1902 following his third marriage. This isn’t a long walk from Baker Street, and Holmes and Watson stayed in regular contact during this time. I had found Watson’s old house during my 2013 trip, and hadn’t meant specifically to go back there in 2015, but I happened to be walking the route taken by Holmes and Watson during “The Empty House”, and as it passes right across Queen Anne Street, I took a slight detour. And I’m glad that I did.
As I was taking an awkward photograph of my deerstalker and me in front of Watson’s old doorway, I was embarrassed to hear the door itself open behind me. I turned and started to apologize and explain, surprised that this kind of thing hadn’t happened to me before, but the deerstalker on my head apparently told the whole story. Before I knew it, I had been welcomed inside, where I identified myself, and explained my nearly lifelong passion for all things Holmes. Meanwhile, as I talked, I glanced around at the lovely room with its old but very well-kept furniture. I was very conscious that I didn’t want to move too rapidly, possibly damaging the chair that held me.
My host noticed, and laughed, saying, “That was one of his, you know.”
“His?”
“Dr. Watson’s. I’m descended from his third wife’s sister. The doctor had no heirs, so – except for a number of case-related mementos that he bequeathed to Mr. Holmes – he left everything else to his wife’s niece.”
I looked around with much more interest. “He died in 1929,” I said, rather stupidly, searching for something else to say.
My host nodded. “We’ve been here ever since, holding on to the lease.”
“You said that the case-related mementos were left to Mr. Holmes. Did that mean Watson’s notes as well?”
“Oh, no. Many of those are still here.”
That raised an eyebrow. Long ago, before I went back to school to be a civil engineer, I was a federal investigator. As part of that profession, we were given training in interview techniques. I tried to recall everything I had known to make sure that I understood what my host was saying. After much tolerant (on both sides) question-and-answering, I determined that there was indeed quite a large cache of Watson’s writings still located within the house. And then I tentatively asked if I could see them. I was told that I could.
It was explained to me – a fact that I actually already knew – that Watson spent the last years of his life writing up as many adventures as he could, based upon his old notes. A certain number of manuscripts were placed in his old Tin Dispatch Box at Cox and Company. Others he gave away freely to the participants who had been involved in the old cases. Still more were in the house when he unexpectedly died, as he hadn’t had a chance to properly place them.
The upshot of that visit was that I’ve been given permission to release this trove of lost papers. Luckily, the internet was laid on in that house, and I was able to show my incognito host my past work in this field. Some of the manuscripts are complete, while others require a bit more editing. One of the first, as timely today as when it occurred, is the book you hold within your hands. I was interested and pleased to see that it reaffirmed some of the facts relating to Watson’s earlier days, as well as the location of his Kensington practice, and specifically facts about his first wife, Constance – whose existence was hinted at in The Canon, and who came before Mary Watson née Morstan. Other documents, as they are released, will also help to confirm additional details of the lives of our heroes, as well as fill in missing pieces that have been identified by Holmes Scholars over the years.
As always through this process, I wish to thank with all my heart both my wife Rebecca and son Dan, who are so tolerant of my ever-increasing Holmes addiction. You are both everything to me, and the best!
David Marcum
April 5th, 2021
The 127th Anniversary of Sherlock Holmes’s return to London following The Great Hiatus



A Chronological Note: Watson’s First Wife
Two of Watson’s wives are specifically mentioned in The Canon: Mary Watson, née Morstan, Holmes’s client in The Sign of the Four (which occurs in September 1888), and the unnamed lady to whom Holmes refers (in “The Blanched Soldier”, which occurs in January 1903) when he writes: “The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association.”
But in the case of Mary Morstan, there are some troubling chronological questions. If Watson didn’t meet Mary until autumn 1888, then how does one explain some curious references that imply a Watsonian marriage before this date?
For example, at the beginning of “A Scandal in Bohemia”, Watson mentions his recent marriage, and then states:
One night – it was on the twentieth of March, 1888 – I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street.
So he’s married in the spring of 1888, but meets his wife in the fall of 1888… ?
And then there’s “The Five Orange Pips”, which Watson specifically says occurs in ‘87. Soon after he writes:
My wife was on a visit to her mother’s, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.
But Mary Morstan was an orphan – She had no mother to visit! – and this case occurred in autumn 1887 – a full year before Watson would even