After a mysterious woman arranges an appointment at Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes finds himself thrust into an inquiry with far-reaching implications. What begins as a simple investigation into a missing person soon morphs into a mystery that threatens to have unprecedented turmoil for both the British Empire and perhaps the rest of the world. As a result, Holmes and Watson soon find themselves racing to uncover the fiendish plot that might well spell death for hundreds of thousands and untold suffering for millions more.
Taxed to the limit, the Great Detective and his Boswell follow the slightest of clues as they journey to Manchester and then back to the London docks and a stately townhouse in St. James. With danger seemingly lurking at each stop along the way, Holmes soon discovers that every thread he is following has been carefully cut by his unseen adversary.
With time running out and the fate of England hanging in the balance, Holmes is forced to surround himself with a ragtag assortment of reinforcements as he prepares for a showdown with a nemesis who has shown himself to be both cunning and unscrupulous.
After a mysterious woman arranges an appointment at Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes finds himself thrust into an inquiry with far-reaching implications. What begins as a simple investigation into a missing person soon morphs into a mystery that threatens to have unprecedented turmoil for both the British Empire and perhaps the rest of the world. As a result, Holmes and Watson soon find themselves racing to uncover the fiendish plot that might well spell death for hundreds of thousands and untold suffering for millions more.
Taxed to the limit, the Great Detective and his Boswell follow the slightest of clues as they journey to Manchester and then back to the London docks and a stately townhouse in St. James. With danger seemingly lurking at each stop along the way, Holmes soon discovers that every thread he is following has been carefully cut by his unseen adversary.
With time running out and the fate of England hanging in the balance, Holmes is forced to surround himself with a ragtag assortment of reinforcements as he prepares for a showdown with a nemesis who has shown himself to be both cunning and unscrupulous.
Several years ago, while I was visiting my brother in Scotland, I placed what turned out to be the winning bid on a locked chest at an estate auction in the town of St. Andrews. I had no idea what the contents might be, so I truly was buying a pig in a poke.
Readers familiar with my work since then are aware that inside the chest I discovered a battered tin dispatch box filled with unpublished manuscripts written by Dr. John Watson, whose name had been stenciled on the outside.
To this day, I still have no idea whether the tin box I acquired is the one mentioned by Watson in “The Problem of Thor Bridge” and other stories in the Canon or another one entirely. As fans of the Great Detective are well aware, Watson was under the impression that his box was locked away safe inside the vault of Cox & Co. in Charing Cross.
Given everything I have extracted from the box in my possession and read thus far, I’m inclined to think Dr. Watson must have secreted at least two boxes of untold or unpublished tales and possibly more. One reason I say this is because I have to date encountered only one of the more than one hundred untold tales to which the good doctor alludes throughout the Canon in the box in my possession. Then again, I still have a large number of manuscripts clamoring for my attention.
As I have indicated in the past, some tales appear to have been held back for political reasons; others were not published out of a sense of Victorian propriety; still others failed to see the light of day because of explicit instructions issued by one or both of the Holmes brothers. Finally, I have come to believe that two or three additional cases wounded Holmes’s vanity in some way and thus were destined for eternal obscurity.
After you have read this particular adventure, I think you will see that it failed to find its way to a publisher’s desk for several different reasons – one or two of which you might not expect.
I also believe this particular tale also illustrates an aspect of Holmes’s personality with which we are familiar – I’ll leave it to you to figure out what that is – but in this instance we are afforded a particularly nuanced version of the Great Detective. In all honesty, after my first reading of this manuscript, I had some qualms about bringing it to print. I struggled with myself, playing devil’s advocate as I argued back and forth, until I finally determined that the public deserved to see this tale and decide for themselves. I feel enough time has passed, and sensibilities have changed.
Fans of Holmes can certainly make up their own minds.
Therefore, although I still harbor more than a few misgivings, I will let the readers decide for themselves.
So, gentle reader, I have attempted, admittedly in a rather vague fashion, to give you fair warning. To underscore that point, I should like to quote no less a personage than Geoffrey Chaucer, who is often hailed as the father of English literature.
Chaucer looked at life and detailed what he saw – warts and all. However, he also went to great pains to take his readers’ tastes and sensibilities into account. At the beginning of “The Miller’s Tale,” a fairly ribald story, he maintains that he must use truth as his guide. In other words, Chaucer felt compelled to tell it like it is.
With regard to this particular adventure, I am of a like mind. So like Chaucer, I would humbly suggest that if you feel this tale is going to offend you, stop right here, replace the book on the shelf, and to use Chaucer’s words:
Turne over the leef and chese another tale.
– Richard T. Ryan
March, 14, 2025
MX Publishing is back with another thrilling Sherlock Holmes novel in The Other Woman. After taking on a missing person case, Holmes and Watson are thrust into a dangerous mystery that could have the potential to ruin the entire British Empire. Wheat crops are succumbing to a strange blight, and the sporadic appearance of it on farms hundreds of miles apart in England and across the France, Germany, and even Italy seems suspicious. But, how could their missing person possibly be connected? As Holmes and Watson race to solve the case and stop the blight from ruining the wheat crop of all of England, they must thwart danger at every step. They suspect someone on the inside has a hand in the mess, as every clue they connect seems to be disrupted and his threads cut by some unknown foe. To save England, Holmes will have to rely on some unconventional allies in order to defeat a particularly clever nemesis.
The Other Woman kicks off with an immediate hook as the sister of one of Holmes’ most famous former adversaries comes to him with a problem: Irene Adler and her husband have gone missing and may be dead. Any fans of Holmes and Watson will immediately be hooked by the idea of a new adventure somehow connected with the formidable female antagonist who has gained Holmes’ respect. The book’s quick, urgent pace and relatable crisis will leave readers racing to learn the truth behind not only Irene’s disappearance, but this devastating blight that threatens the well-being of an entire nation. Taking place a mere fifty years after the catastrophic Irish Potato Famine, the threat of England’s most precious food and trade source being wiped out opens a window into Holmes’ rare vulnerable side as he races to stop the ruthless inventors of the blight from bringing ruin to people across the nation. Lives are in the balance – millions of lives, and while Sherlock Holmes may not be one for small talk and seeking out socialization, it is evident that he feels a responsibility to keep his community safe through the vigor with which he pursues his cases and the tender moments of friendship he shares with Watson along the way.
MX Publishing yet again has managed to maintain the classic feel of an original Sherlock Holmes story while imbuing Holmes’ world with fresh new characters, ideas and detail. The Other Woman will be a hit for Sherlock Holmes fans across the globe.