Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara

New York: Carroll & Graf. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 2004.. 1st Carroll & Graf Edition. Hardcover. Remainder mark on bottom of text block. Protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. Parchment boards quarterbound in gray and imprinted in red on the spine with title and author. . 318 pages. In a crafty new novel featuring the world’s greatest literary detective, Alan Vanneman extends the boundaries of the Sherlock Holmes canon with a knotty investigation that takes the celebrated sleuth and his cohort, Dr. Watson, far from the cozy Victorian comforts of 221B Baker Street. The mystery begins familiarly enough, in London, in the middle of the night. Holmes and Watson are summoned to a crime scene that, not so familiarly, seems to vanish before their eyes, as they find themselves with neither evidence nor a client. They do not want for opposition, however; not for long, not with the governments of three great empires arrayed against them. As Holmes strives to unmask his most cunning, ruthless, and elusive foe, he is transported into a world of high finance rife with intrigue and crime. With a cast of characters that includes the enchanting lady of fortune Countess D’Espinau and historical greats like Winston Churchill and Cecil Rhodes as well as a poorest-of-the-poor beggar girl whom Watson adopts, Holmes follows a trail that leads ultimately and unpredictably to the fabled and fabulous lost Hapsburg tiara. .