The Uncollected Cases of Sherlock Holmes

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The Uncollected Cases of Sherlock Holmes features eight new stories set in Victorian England, a time of significant advancements in science, transport, and medicine, juxtaposed with urban poverty, prostitution, and imperial pursuits. Each tale engages with this complex backdrop. In ‘The Sicilian Defence,’ Holmes aids a disgraced veteran in love with a Sudanese woman, while ‘The Archaeopterx’ sees him recover a stolen fossil from the Natural History Museum. ‘The Missing Heir’ involves locating a mentally unstable heir to a fortune, and in ‘The Dunwich Ghost,’ he investigates the haunting of Watson's old army colleague by his deceased wife. Throughout these narratives, Holmes exemplifies Watson's description of him as the ‘best and wisest of men.’ His investigations—ranging from a gang of forgers to seeking justice for a murdered prostitute and confronting a Russian spy—reveal his brilliant intellect and strong humanitarian spirit. Despite his quirks, solitary nature, melancholia, and cocaine addiction, he resonates as both a product of his era and a figure relevant to contemporary times. The author, Geoffrey Finch, is an Associate Lecturer in English Language at the Open University and has taught in various countries. He resides in Greater London with his wife and their cat, Humphrey, who appears in the fifth story, ‘The Cathedral Cat.’