CASE OF ROYAL BLACKMAIL

As ever with historical detail that transports you back to Victorian London and an intriguing plot, 24 year old Sherlock Holmes recounts how he untangled the web of blackmail and deceit surrounding the 'complex romantic endeavours' of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and those of Lillie Langtry and her various suitors, and the morass of 'scandal sheets' and libel cases surrounding the Prince's court of the time. Set in July 1879, 18 months before he met Dr Watson, taken from his own case notes, Holmes also reveals the full story behind two previously unsolved cases: Vamberry and the Wine Merchant and Ricoletti of the Club-foot and the Abominable Wife, and a new discovery, The Curious Case of Oscar Wilde's Amethyst Tie-pin published in collaboration with the Conan Doyle Estate. The letters are in shaded text boxes with nice fonts. 256pp, paperback.