This quality Holmes pastiche brings the Master of Deduction face-to-face with international criminals operating at the highest levels. Sherlock Holmes is yearning for a challenge when Lady Diana arrives, pleading for his help, holding herself responsible for the accidental death of a blackmailer. Her predicament fascinates Holmes, who knows the blackmailer to be an aide to Count von Runstedt, whom he believes to be the head of a German spy ring. Probing this conspiracy Holmes and Watson are plunged into a series of escapades amidst burglary, treason and murder. As they unravel the many threads of this politically sensitive case, Britain is coming to the end of the Victorian era and fears of foreign spies and international conflict abound. Can Holmes keep a cool head amidst the tumult, and solve the case with ruthless logic? And who are the two women, from opposite ends of the social scale, who have such an impact on events? Part spy thriller, part murder-mystery, Sherlock Homes and the Ciphered List is a superior Holmes pastiche that is bound to please fans of the great detective and new readers alike. Praise for Sherlock Homes and the Ciphered List: ’Many of our favourite and much-loved characters make their appearance in the narrative, and many familiar situations are similarly included, which serve to keep it suitably grounded in our beloved canon. … It is an infinitely more convincing evocation of the period than any other pastiche I have reviewed. All in all, I thoroughly approve of, and heartily recommend, this book.’ – John Sheppard, The Sherlock Holmes Journal