AustLit

'James Innes Watson, the great-great-grandson of Dr. John H. Watson, has inherited all the manuscripts of his forebear. These include stories that, for whatever reason, Watson never came to publish. In this collection, “The Case of Ailsa Craig,” Holmes is summoned by an old university friend to a bleak island off the coast of Scotland. A lighthouse keeper has disappeared in apparent supernatural circumstances. “The Amateur Cracksman,” Scotland Yard approaches Holmes regarding a high society cracksman. It is only when Mycroft Holmes enters the investigation with a robbery of radio inventor Marconi that the case is solved. “Sherlock Holmes in Cumbria,” Holmes and Watson travel to the English Lake District to solve a murder case on the mountains. A second murder on the peak of one of England’s highest mountains, and then a theft from a family from Holmes’s past make up this north-country case.'  (Publication summary)

'James Innes Watson, the great-great-grandson of Dr. John H. Watson has inherited all of the manuscripts of his forebear. These include stories, for whatever reason Watson never published. “The Murdered Professor” and “The Bank Vault” were withheld by Watson himself, “The Assassination Plot” because of its political nature. Conan Doyle advised that Holmes's tales should stay in Europe, and so “Holmes in America” was never published, the final tale “The Haunted Stable” was withheld with respect to Conan Doyle's spiritual beliefs. Now after more than a hundred years these “lost” tales are published. An Appendix is included of the chronology.' (Publication summary)