In the year 1903 - the exact moment is now lost to history - Sherlock Holmes proclaimed to the world he was quitting England's Capital to go into retirement on a small, wind-swept farm in the Sussex South Downs. His shocked comrade-in-arms Dr. John H. Watson was later to write, 'The decision took me utterly by surprise. I thought I had become an institution around Holmes, like his Stradivarius, or the old, oily black clay pipe and his index books.' Reluctantly Watson wrote up three recent ...

The Dean of a Swiss university persuades Sherlock Holmes to investigate the background of a would-be lecturer. To Dr. Watson it seems a very humdrum commission - but who is the mysterious 'Lieserl'? How does her existence threaten the ambitions of the technical assistant level III in Room 86 at the Federal Patents Office in Berne by the name of Albert Einstein? The assignment plunges Holmes and Watson into unfathomable Serbia to solve one of the intractable mysteries of the 20th Century. I...

It’s 1898. Kismet brings about a chance reunion at a London club between Dr. Watson and Colonel “Maiwand Mike” Fenlon, former military comrades from their Northwest Frontier days and the desperate Battle of Maiwand. A week later an urgent cable seeking Sherlock Holmes’s help arrives from the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency 30 miles off the coast of Normandy. A retired high-ranking British Indian Army officer who commanded the troops at Maiwand has dropped dead. Colonel Fe...

It's the year 1900. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson receive an urgent commission from the Prince Regnant of Bulgaria to come to Sofia. The Codex Zographensis, the most ancient and most sacred manuscript in the Old Bulgarian language has been stolen. Its disappearance could lead to the outbreak of war between Russia, Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans, three ageing empires disintegrating like great suns on every side of the Balkans. What follows is an extraordinary story of duplicity, murder, v...

Six more tales of Sherlock Holmes... 'The Torso At Highgate Cemetery' I watched as the policeman took out a notebook and read from an open page. He spoke in a whisper. Inspector Lestrade's face turned ashen. He turned towards me, looking grim. 'The Mystery Of the Missing Artefacts' August 1916. A telegram is brought to my fetid prison cell under the magnificent State rooms of Sultan Mehmed V Reşâd's Çırağan Palace. It's from Sherlock Holmes. "My dear Watson," it read, "do you remember the ...

It's the year 1906. Rumours abound that a deadly plot is hatching - not in the fog-ridden back-alleys of London's Limehouse district or the sinister Devon moors of the Hound of the Baskervilles but in faraway Peking. Holmes's task - discover whether such a plot exists and if so, foil it. But are the assassins targeting the young and progressive Ch'ing Emperor or his imperious aunt, the fearsome Empress Dowager Cixi? The murder of either could spark a civil war. The fate of China and the in...

It’s 1906. Far from England, the Ottoman Empire ruled by the despotic Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid 11 is on the verge of imploding. Rival Great Powers, especially Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany, sit watching like crows on a fence, ready to rush in to carve up the vast territories, menacing England’s vital overland routes to her Indian possessions. At his medical practice in London’s Marylebone Watson receives a mystifying telegram. It’s from Holmes. ‘Dear Watson, if you can throw physic to the dogs for a...

Where to See Birds in Victoria features the very best places in Victoria for seeing birds. Despite being Australia's smallest mainland state, its varied landscapes provide habitat for more than 500 bird species. It is without question one of Australia's best-kept birding secrets.Compiled, written and photographed by a dedicated team from Birds Australia (Vic), this guide features over 40 destinations throughout Victoria, including such classic birding spots as Wyperfeld, H...

Child and family social work faces pressing challenges, from high care rates – particularly among marginalised communities – to limited family involvement in decision-making. How can social work evolve to better empower children and families?Rooted in original empirical research, this edited volume argues for collaborative, relationship-based practice. It explores participatory approaches to working with both children and parents/caregivers, innovative advocacy strategies and emerg...

Rudyard Kipling was a prolific British writer and poet. Kipling’s children fiction, specifically The Jungle Books and Just So Stories, are some of the most famous in English literature. This edition of Something of Myself includes a table of contents.

Holmes and Watson are invited by the Chinese Ambassador to the preview of an exhibition of Chinese antiquities. These are to be exhibited at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. The star exhibit is the Zhou bell, a 5th century B.C. bell made specifically for the Zhou king and the only one in existence.It is a priceless artifact and is a personal loan from the Chinese emperor himself. The ambassador is concerned about its safety and trouble looms as the bell is stolen from unde...

A collection of six stories, inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's originals and adapted to feature much-loved Dr John Watson, Sherlock Holmes's long-suffering sidekick.