The Game is Afoot

I’m honoured to have a story in the latest set of new Sherlock Holmes stories from MX publishing.

My tale – The Body in Question takes place in the early months of Watson and Holmes’ flat share at Baker Street. Watson has not yet started his private practice and is working in the mortuary at Bart’s Hospital when an unknown body turns up in place of the one expected. As well as exploring the world of Holmes, it gave me the opportunity to look at some of the female pioneers of medicine in a time when they were only supposed to work as nurses not doctors.

There is a kickstarter for the anthology here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mxpublishing/the-mx-book-of-new-sherlock-holmes-stories-xxxiv-to-xxxvi?fbclid=IwAR2CYAdfBot2tEOaM-m42NCbWHDjkCQD5lRfXfc6QhTvySHeGT7-paneO-k. This is not to determine if it will appear, but how much money they will raise for the school for children with special educational needs which is based in Conan Doyle’s old house.

The books are, of course, part of The Game which supposes Holmes and Watson were real people and Conan Doyle simply Watson’s literary agent. Thousands of dedicated fans over the world are members of clubs and many have published scholarly articles explaining seeming discrepancies in the stories. Holmes and Watson are such classic characters that lots of famous authors have tried their hands at pastiches – many of which are published in this series. I have a copy of The Alternative Sherlock Holmes which lists hundreds and there are more in the four volumes of Crossovers by Win Scott Eckert and Sean Lee Levin with many more being published since those volumes were printed.