Barrie Roberts

"The Mystery of the Addleton Curse" (1997)
Included in: The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures (Mike Ashley)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; (Stamford)
Historical Characters: (Jacques Curie; Henri Becquerel; Pierre Curie; Marie Curie)
Other Characters: Sir Andrew Lewis; Mr. Edgar; County officer of Health; Lantern Operator; Tony Lewis; Sir Andrew's Butler; Lady Cynthia Lewis; Dr. Leary; Mary Cummins; Mr. Swain; (Sir William Creedon; Sir Andrew's Excavators; McSwiney; Georgie the Boot Boy; Mrs. Henty)
Date: October, 1894
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; The Aldridge Institute; Sir Andrew's House; Addleton; Leary's surgery; The Goat & Boots Inn; A Train
Story: Holmes reads of the death of Sir Andrew Lewis, a patient that Stamford had discussed with Watson, from a mysterious illness. From the newspapers he learns of a curse upon a barrow that had been excavated by Lewis, and of the death of Lewis's son from a similar disease, and a number of deaths among the inhabitants of Addleton. He interviews Lewis's former colleague Edgar, who has publicly accused Lewis of removing a valuable item from the barrow. Holmes & Watson travel to Addleton, where Holmes learns that apart from the deaths there have been miraculous cures in the village as well. He finally links the events in the village to researches he carried out during his Great Hiatus.

Sherlock Holmes and the American Angels (2007)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; Stanley Hopkins
Historical Characters: (Benjamin Franklin; Bonnie Prince Charlie; William McKinley; John Burgoyne; Theodore Roosevelt)
Other Characters: Captain Carter; Marylebone Road Sergeant & Constable; Heather Mackenzie; Mrs McBride; Alistair McNair; Bookshop Assistant; Colonel Beaumont Swice; American Treasury Agents; Carriage Driver; Wullie; Mrs Mackintosh; James Czernowski-Stuart; Red Ewan Fergus Breck; Gordon Lachlan "Lacky" Stuart; Tam Chater; Villagers; Minister; Jock Snetton; Seamus Fisher; Jessie; Inspector McBrain; Dr Guthrie; Fisher's Woman; Mrs Herd; Piper; Swice's Messenger; (Police Superintendent; Mrs Forwell; Czernowski-Stuart Brothers; Maggie Drummond; Mary Macfarlane; Doogie Herd; Mungo Breck; Revenuers; Informer; Infantrymen; Laird; Professor Rutledge; Gypsies)
Date: Spring 1902
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Regent's Park; Clarence Gate; Baker Street; Marylebone Road; Kensington; Braemar Hotel; Charing Cross Road; American Bookshop; A Train; Carlisle Station; Scotland; Inverness Station; Scottish Train; Strathcullar; Mrs Mackintosh's Cottage; Jetty; Strathcullar Inn; Inish Mor; Strathcullar Castle; Strathcullar Loch; Inish Beg
Story: Holmes deciphers coded messages in the papers referring to a device and a meeting in Regent's Park. When he and Watson investigate, they find a dead American at the meeting site. The names used in the coded messages lead Holmes to suspect a link to the Jacobite Rebellion and Stuart sympathisers. Hopkins is assigned to the case, and while he is consulting with Holmes, news arrives of a dead Scot at the Braemar Hotel in Kensington. From Swice, the American Presidential Aide, they learn of a plot to recover the lost gold of Bonnie Prince Charlie, which will be used to finance insurgency in the USA, linked to the assassination of McKinley.
Holmes and Watson travel to the village of Strathcullar in Scotland, home of Czernowski-Stuart, who claimed descent from the Stuart dynasty. No sooner have they arrived, than they are shot at on the moors outside the village. The following day, Watson is called to examine the body of an American, resident in the village, who has been pulled out of the loch. They are invited to dinner by the laird in his castle on the loch, have a further attempt made on their lives, and visit a pagan island cemetery. While Holmes is carrying out astronomical research in Edinburgh after carrying out measurements around the loch, Watson is summoned back to the castle, where the local doctor fears that the laird is being poisoned. An American musician arrives in the village and Watson goes ghost-hunting on Inish Beg, and when Holmes reappears, the two of them dig up a dead dog.

Sherlock Holmes and the Crosby Murder (2001)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Inspector Lestrade; (Algernon) Crosby the Banker; Mrs Hudson; (Mary Morstan; Head Lama; Baker Street Page; Baker Street Irregulars)
Historical Characters: (Bat Masterson; Texas John Slaughter; Edward Frederick Knight; Cochise; Micky Free; General George Crook; General George Armstrong Custer; Dr Walker; Don Miguel Peralta; Jacob Weiser; Jacob Waltz; Helena Thomas; Reiney Petrasch; Doc Thorne; Kit Carson; Aaron Mason; Two Ex-Soldiers; Cattleman; Army Patrol; Miner; James Reavis)
Other Characters: Graby; Walters; Beatrice Crosby; Boatman's Arms Landlord; Captain Jim Napley; Napley's Friends; Potboy; Mr Morris; Brian; Pally Usher; Wan Fat; Percy the Rattlesnake; Gordon's Messenger Boy; Gordon's Pageboy; Eskishay; Port; Inspector Hewitt; Augustus Crosby; Algernon Crosby; Crosby's Servants; Hampshire Policemen; Cabby; Lestrade's Men
(Colonel Crosby; Crosby's Mother; Crosby's Friends; Teddy Danziger / Indian Tommy; Gyrfalcon Crew; Billy; Mr Anderson; Mr Spendlove; American Sailor; Wan Fat's Grandson; Percy; Edmund Danziger; Portmadoc Harbour Master; Caernarvonshire Police; Police Surgeon; Camp Grant Doctor; Fort McDowell Surgeon; Dock Workers; George; Bradon Stationmaster; Bevington's Yard Engineman)
Date: May, 1894
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; River Police Mortuary; Graby's Chandlers Shop; Danziger's Room; Public House; Hampshire; Bradon; Bradon Lodge; Eacham; The Boatman's Arms; Morris's Boatyard; Waterloo Station ; Regent's Park; Chinatown; Wan Fat's Emporium; Portmadoc; Aboard the Gyrfalcon; Gordon's Hotel; Concert Hall; Romanov's; Brewers Lane; Bourton's Warehouse
Story: Lestrade brings Holmes a package containing the shrunken head of Crosby, a missing banker. The dead man's yacht, Gyrfalcon, is also missing, having been taken out by its American crewman, Danziger. The rest of Crosby is pulled from the Thames, showing evidence of torture. Holmes and Watson search Danziger's rooms, but are not the first to do so. From Crosby's widow, they learn of his passion for treasure-hunting. Interviewing the yacht's captain, Napley, they learn that the yacht took on extra ballast in Demerara at the same time as Danziger joined the crew, and that the rest of the crew, on the return voyage, were put ashore at Plymouth, while Crosby and Danziger sailed the rest of the way to Southampton alone.

Holmes sets Napley the task of finding the yacht. While they are investigating the boatyard where the yacht was moored, an arrow is fired at Holmes and Watson, and later identified as of Apache origin. Holmes turns his attention to decoding a document intended to have been given to Danziger in the event of Crosby's death. 221B is burgled, and a reptilian visitor introduced. They visit Wan Fat's exotic animal emporium to learn its origins. A telegram from Arizona reveals Danziger's true identity, and the Gyrfalcon is located. When they reach the yacht they find signs of bloodshed, and Scotland Yard receive a second shrunken head. A visitor from America provides clues to the meaning of the Crosby document, and its connection to the Lost Dutchman Mine. Another attack is made on Holmes and Watson, but they recover the missing half of the document. Watson finds himself under siege in the Crosby house, and trapped in a pit full of gila monsters. The final confrontation with the Apache comes on the upper floors of a burned out warehouse.

Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Grail (1995)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Colonel John Vincent Harden; Mrs Hudson; Violet Smith; McMurdo (SIGN); Fred Porlock (Alfred Culbone); Baker Street Irregulars; (Mrs Turner; Professor Moriarty; Moriarty Gang; Colonel Moran)
Historical Characters: Nat Druscovich (Drew); Alfred Watkins; John Meiklejohn (Sergeant Malcolm); (Buddy Bolden; Henry VIII; Jack Horner; Abbot of Glastonbury; Chancellor Cromwell; William of Malmesbury; Nennius; Henry Irving)
Legendary Characters: (King Arthur; Amr)
Other Characters: John Vincent Harden, Jr; Hotel Clerk; Mrs Harden; Miss Harden; Miss Harden; Passer-by; Hotel Diners; Waiters; Assistant Hotel Manager; Laurence G. Crane; Winchester Tobacconist; Hotel Manager; Inspector Stubbington; Sergeant Morgan; Carriage Driver; Winchester Cabby; Kensall's Youths; Waitress; Mrs Kensall; McMurdo's Men; London Cabby; Wells Cathedral Visitors; Glastonbury Passers-by; Glastonbury Hotel Manager; Pageboy; Hotel Staff; Plain-clothes Scotland Yard Officers; Sergeant Turley; Constable Evans; Hereford Library Assistant; Ross Library Assistant; Wormlow Innkeeper; Tacky Boatman; Mr Williams; Mrs Williams
(Mrs Hudson's Relative; Reporter; American Ambassador; Police Chief; Drew's Men; Aunt Mimi; Worshippers; Charlie; Mr Garton; Garton's Son; Young Lord; Culbone; Kensall's Staff; Monk)
Date: Winter 1917-18 / April-June, 1895
Locations: The Strand; Simpson's; Hotel; 221B, Baker Street; Winchester; White Swan Hotel; Wayles Court; Kensall's Catering Company; McMurdo's Gym; post Office; Society of Saint Ophiocus Headquarters; Public House; Wells; Wells Cathedral; Glastonbury; Glastonbury Abbey; Hotel; Harden's London House; Hereford; Hotel; Hereford Public Library; Ross; Ross Library; The Tump at Wormlow; Inn; A Wood; A Train; Haverfordwest; Prescelly Mountains; Welsh Cottage; Bedd Arthur Gors Fawr; Eithbed
Story: 1918 - Watson meets Harden, Jr. in the Strand and is reminded of the occasion on which his father, the tobacco millionaire, consulted Holmes.

1895 - With both Mrs Hudson and Mrs Turner away on family business, Holmes and Watson are staying in a hotel. Their fellow guests include the Harden family. John Vincent is using a new stereoscopic camera to photograph London landmarks. The camera is able to increase the distance between objects, and may be useful in reading worn engravings. Holmes is shot at through the hotel window, but deduces that the real target was Harden. Initially dismissive, Harden calls Holmes to Winchester when his son is abducted outside a theatre, and tells him of a series of spoken threats from people who have not been there when he has turned to look for them. Harden Jr escapes and tells of his capture, and rituals in the house in which he was held. A search of the house reveals their nature, worship of the Great Mother and blackmail, to Holmes, who has recognised the presence of Drew, an associate of Moriarty's, in the case.

Holmes obtains bodyguards for Harden from McMurdo's boxing school, and visits Porlock, from whom he learns that Drew is continuing Moriarty, and Henry VIII's, quest for the "Devil's Grail". An attempt is made to steal Harden's photographic plates in Glastonbury, and Holmes sets to studying them, and decrypts a message hidden there which puts them on the trail of the grave of King Arthur's son in Herefordshire, where Watson and Harden find themselves under armed siege in a wood. Drawing a blank there, Holmes leads them on to the Welsh Mountains. There they uncover the Devil's Grail, come face to face with Drew, and Drew comes face to face with an armour-clad giant.

Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac (1994)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Martha; Mycroft Holmes; Athelney Jones; Von Herling; Von Bork
Historical Characters: Mr. (Richard) Furze; Shunter (Walter) Mullet; Signalman (Alfred) Day; Inspector (Henry) Pile; Postman (Cecil) Cox; Edward VII; Alexander Snelwar; Leon Beron; Peter Piatkow; Steinie Morrison; Peter Hahn; Herbert Asquith; David Lloyd George; Sir Edward Grey; (Driver Robbins; Fireman Gadd; Driver Fleetwood; Fireman Talbot; Grocer (Alfred) Roberts; Sanders)
Other Characters: Bobby; Henry Borrowclere; George Jesson; Radley; Fourth Man; Waterloo Clerk; Plymouth Station Master; Hotel Pageboy; London & South-Western Clerk; Jonathan Y. Samuel; Eileen Neagle; Shipping Clerk; Driver Prust; Fireman Tarrant; Temple Combe Landlady; Salisbury Signalman; Station Workers; Diogenes Commissionaire; Francis Miller; Peterborough Hotel Manager; Commercial Hotel Landlady; Peterborough Station Porter; Boy; Postmen; Aberdeen Hotelier; Quayside Crowds; Fishermen; Danish Seaman; Russian Sailor; Russian Boy; Mr. MacKenzie; Station Master; Tall Seaman; Railway Guard; German Riflemen; Ghillies; Alex; Ian; Balmoral Servants; Grand Duke Alexei; Emily Norton; Louisa; Windsor Porter; Carriage Driver; Windsor Footman; Theobald G. Evans; Prison Warder; Prison Governor; Prisoners; Ticket Collector; Postmen; Telegraph Clerk; Wreck Survivors; Medical Men; Attendant in Mycroft's Department; Mycroft's Clerk; Buckingham Palace Footman; Mycroft's Footman; Howard Hugo; Two Ex-soldiers; Newsboy; Pall Mall Police officer; Police Inspector; Mortimer; Card Players; Watson's Boy; Carol Singers; Telegram Boy; Fulworth Children; Villagers; Political Branch Inspector; Von Bork's Guards; Crowds; News-Vendors; Claridge's Page' Reading Room Assistant; Doorman; Lady in Cab; Cabby; French Waiters; Sandleford Children; Lady on a Bicycle; Edmund Sinclaire; Mycroft's Men; Cottagers; Newspaper Boy; Mycroft's Assistants; Clerk; (Edward's Driver; Pierre; Clifford Broughton; Father James Gallagher; Gordon MacLeod; A. Alvarez; Arthur Kelly; Dr. George Scorfield; Alan Lennox; Priscilla Debenhoe; Manuel Pereira; Nathaniel Bramwell; Reverend Oliver Corlett; Percival Sheldon; Dr. Henry Barton; Captain Lymington-Keith; Anthony Edwardes; James Fuller; Myfanwy Morgan; Arthur Brown; Jack; Mr. Baker; Diogenes Porter; Diogenes Members; Bomber)
Date: Late September, 1906 - August, 1914 (1918-epilogue)
Locations: Holmes's Sussex Villa; The Sussex Downs; A Beach; Waterloo Station; A Train (Hampshire; Wiltshire); Plymouth; Golden Hind Hotel; London & South-Western Railway offices; Shipping Company offices; Temple Combe Station; Village Inn; Train Number 421; Salisbury; A Cab; Duke of Clarence Inn; The Diogenes Club; A London Hotel; Peterborough; A Hotel; A Train; Grantham Station; A Train; Aberdeen; Hotel; Quayside; A Tavern; a Fishing Village; Village Jetty; Village Inn; A Train; A Second Train; Ballater; Balmoral Castle; Watson's Kensington House; A Taxi; A Train; Windsor; Windsor Station; A Carriage; windsor Castle; Euston Station; A Train; Shrewsbury; Shrewsbury Railway Station; Shropshire County Gaol; A Train; Mycroft's office; Buckingham Palace; A Cab; Another Cab; Mycroft's Rooms; Osborne Street; The Warsaw Restaurant; A Public House; Oakley Green; Von Bork's House; Claridge's Hotel; A Cab; Scotland Yard; Horseguard's Parade; The House of Commons; Old Palace Yard; A Cab; Paddington Station; A Train; Reading Station; Another Train; Newbury; A Carriage; Sandleford; Hampshire; Siddenton Manor; A Railway Line; Sandleford Water; An Inn; (Paris; Charlie Brown's)
Story: Holmes is visited in Sussex by four representatives of the railway companies and asked to investigate two recent rail disasters. Traveling to Plymouth to investigate, Holmes & Watson learn of two passengers who appear to have given false names after the second crash. A telegram intended for one of the passengers indicates that Mycroft has some involvement in the events. They travel to Temple Combe to ride the route of the crashed train. There they learn of an astronomer who was in the village some time previously. Their train almost becomes the victim of another disaster. After visiting Mycroft at the Diogenes Club, they continue their investigations in Peterborough and Grantham, and learn of a royal connection in the case, which takes them up to Scotland and into a gun battle with German agents, a meeting with the King, and an old adversary's daughter.

Some time later they receive a summons to Windsor Castle, where Holmes reveals the results of his search for the astronomer. A call to Shrewsbury, however, proves to be a ruse to draw them to the scene of another disaster. Back in London, Holmes reveals that there is a spy in Mycroft's department. The King uses his influence with the German Embassy to bring matters to a halt.

Three years later the King sends a message from his death bed for Holmes to continue the hunt for the railway maniac. While he is doing so the Diogenes Club is bombed. Holmes must go to Russian dissident Beron for help in tracking down the German agent. In 1911 his quest is interrupted when the Prime Minister sets him on the trail of Von Bork. It is from Von Bork that Holmes gets his strongest lead in tracking down the railway maniac, and a chance remark from Watson takes Holmes back to the beginning of the case and the final clue.

NOTE: The Grantham grocer, Roberts, is clearly intended to be Margaret Thatcher's father.