About this story
Mary Morstan's father vanished ten years ago, and tonight a stranger's carriage waits to take you all to the house where the story begins. Six chapters follow it through a locked room and a dead man's smile, a trail of creosote and a bird-stuffer's ugliest dog, and end at the river with a launch called the Aurora.
How it opens
Sherlock Holmes held a small syringe to the light with unnerving satisfaction.
The needle entered his arm while the clock marked another idle London afternoon.
Cocaine, seven percent. Would you prefer that I chose morphine?
I would prefer that you chose neither.
The body objects; the mind requires escape from stagnation.
Choose
Your mind is not the only organ at risk.
Find a case instead of manufacturing danger.
I have seen strong men ruined by less.