Tales from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD: Three Untold Tales of Sherlock Holmes - Softcover

Ashton, Hugh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469950359 ISBN 13: 9781469950358

Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub, 2012

Synopsis

Three previously unknown accounts in the case files of Sherlock Holmes, discovered and transcribed by Hugh Ashton: The Odessa Business, the Case of the Missing Matchbox and The Case of the Cormorant.

• The Odessa Business, where Holmes' wits are put to the test in a battle for diplomatic secrets, and a previously unknown member of the Holmes family is introduced.
• The Case of the Missing Matchbox describes a bizarre crime of passion, and chronicles "Isadora Persano, the well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science" (Thor Bridge).
• And The Case of the Cormorant, where the the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the public for the first time, as threatened by Dr Watson in The Veiled Lodger.

These adventures of Sherlock Holmes are approved by The Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.

About this title

From the Author:

It was with great excitement that I first learned of a deed box that had been deposited in the vaults of one of our great London banks nearly one hundred years ago, and somehow left untouched and forgotten for most of that time. My friend at the bank told me that this box had on stencilled on it in white paint the words "JOHN H. WATSON MD" on the top, with the initials "JHW" and the legend "To be left until called for" on the side.Though Watson is a common name, and John even more so, any medical doctor of that era bearing that evocative name surely must recall an association with that most famous of detectives, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was at the height of his career in the decades immediately preceding the depositing of this box in the bank's vaults. The legal proceedings by which I eventually gained custody of the box are technical, and a very little interest to anyone except a lawyer (and it seems to me that even the most dedicated lawyer would find little of interest!).On my opening of the box, I discovered a treasure trove - treasure, that is, for all who have followed the exploits of Sherlock Holmes and have been tantalised by the hints dropped by Watson concerning the cases about which he had written, but had never published. Two of these cases, Sherlock Holmes And The Case of the Missing Matchbox and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Cormorant fall into this category. The hints dropped by Watson about these hitherto undescribed cases in his other accounts have long intrigued Holmes scholars.When reading through the manuscripts in the deed box, it proved difficult to make a decision as to which tales to include and which to exclude. I have chosen here to include three tales which show hitherto unsuspected aspects of Holmes, some of which have been hinted at earlier by Watson.

About the Author:

Having lived in Japan since 1988, Hugh Ashton was surprised recently to receive an e-mail message from an old college friend working in a London bank informing him that a metal deed box which had lain undisturbed in the banks vaults for nearly 100 years was due to be thrown out, since the bank was moving to new premises. Given his knowledge of Hugh's interest in Sherlock Holmes, the friend felt that the deed box, marked clearly on the outside with the name of Dr John Watson, Holmes's friend and biographer, could prove of interest. After various legal battles, Hugh obtained ownership of the box, which was shipped to his home in Kamakura, a little south of Tokyo. On opening the box, Hugh discovered a collection of tales describing the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson which had never previously been published. Three of them are given here, and more are expected as he continues to decipher Dr Watson's almost illegible writing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1469950359
• ISBN 13: 9781469950358
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 140