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Donald Thomas

"The Case of Peter the Painter" (2009)
Included in: Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; Inspector Lestrade; Mycroft Holmes; (Baker Street Maid (Mary Jane))
Historical Figures: Constable Piper; Sergeant Bentley; Constable Choat; Constable Tucker; Constable Bryant; Constable Woodhams; Peter Piatkoff / Peter the Painter; Winston Churchill; Major Sir Frederick Wodehouse; Captain Nott-Bower; Lieutenant Ross; Sir Philip Gibbs; Chung Ling Soo / William Robinson; Suee Seen / Olive Robinson; (Hawley Harvey Crippen; Belle Elmore; Ethel Le Neve; Max Weil; Weil's Sister; Harris; George Gardstein; Dr John Scanlon; Luba (Sara) Millstein; Sara (Rosie) Trassjonsky; Neill Cream; Octave Hamard (Hammard); John Zelin (Fedoroff); Jacob Peters; Yoserka Duboff; Fritz Svaars; William (Yoshka) Sokoloff; Secretary of State for War)
Other Characters: Mrs Hedges; Constable Loosemore; Constables; Cutlers' Arms Spectators; Hansom Passengers; Hansom Driver; Baker Street Neighbours; Baker Street Constable; Sergeant Wiley; Constable Parks; Cabby; Sergeant Atherton; Colonel; Brigadier; Alfred Jenkins; Jenkins' Colleague; Scots Guards Captain; Cabby; Commercial Road Desk Sergeant; Hawkins Street Constable; Sidney Street Police; Martin's Buildings Woman; Rising Sun Landlord; Wodehouse's Aide; Scots Guards; Old Woman; Reporters; Sidney Street Crowds; Police Inspector; Horse Artillery; Firemen; Anna; Salvation Army Matrons; (John Jervis; Louisa Hedges; Foreigners; Harry Hedges; Mr Lenkoff; Mrs Hedge's Sister-in-Law; Council Man; Hedges' Neighbour; Commissioner Spencer; Constable Piper; Black Maria Driver; Martin; Strong; Anarchists; E.M Reilly's Manager; Police Photographer; Gardstein's Landlord; Whitechapel Gunsmith)
Date: December, 1910 - February, 1911
Locations: Regent's Park; 221B, Baker Street; Houndsditch; No. 11, Exchange Buildings; Baker Street; Whitechapel; Mile End Road; Stepney; Jubilee Street; High Holborn; St James's Square; Army & Navy Club; The London Hospital; Commercial Road Police Station; Hawkins Street; Sidney Street; Martin's Buildings; Rising Sun Public House
Story: After making a series of deductions about her as she waits on a bench in Baker Street for their appointment, Holmes receives Mrs Hedges from Houndsditch. She tells him of a Russian neighbour who asked her young daughter to buy him a canary, then on subsequent days a cage and birdseed, even though he appeared to have released the bird. More recently a drainpipe has disappeared from the back of her house. Holmes deduces that the Russians are Anarchists, but when Lestrade raids the house he finds it empty. Their discussion of the Crippen case is interrupted when a constable arrives summoning Lestrade to a safe-robbery in Houndsditch. They arrive to find that the sounds of drilling, sawing, and someone using a crowbar have been heard from No. 11, Exchange Buildings, but as they approach with the police, they find themselves engaged in a shoot-out. One of the Anarchists, Gardstein, dies as a result of wounds sustained in the battle and a painting by the Anarchist Peter "The Painter" Piatkoff is found in his room.

Piatkoff taunts Holmes from the street. Watson, who had seen him, is sent out with two police officers to try to identify him. Holmes and Lestrade liaise with Mycroft, Holmes engages in a project which seems to involve soldering, and makes contact with the magician Chung Ling Soo. Arrests are made and suspects released. Mycroft, Churchill and Wodehouse visit Baker Street with news that a mass assassination plot is being fomented, and Watson follows them to Sidney Street, where no 100 is surrounded by armed police. With the house under siege, a gun battle begins between the anarchists and the police, with a Scots Guards regiment brought in as reinforcements. Holmes enters the besieged building to rescue a girl. The siege ends in a fire. It is only some time later that Holmes reveals his full role in the events to Watson.

"The Case of the Greek Key (2007)
Included in: The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; Baker Street Maid; Inspector Lestrade; Tobias Gregson; Baker Street Irregulars; (Mycroft Holmes)
Fictional Characters: Alfred Swain
Historical Figures: Admiral Sir John Fisher; Viscount Esher; James Leigh Strachan-Davidson; (Edward VII; Lewis Carroll; Superintendent William Melville; Admiral Von Tirpitz)
Other Characters: Naval Officers; Whitehall Dignitaries; Coachman; Annie Constantine; Paddington Crowds; Charles Henshaw / Karl Henschel; Ashmolean Visitors; Dr Gross; Mitre Page Boy; Mitre Concierge; Billy; (Mr Lethbridge; Constantine's Maid; Preston; Draftsmen; German Intelligence Officer)
Date: October, 1908 / October - November, ? / 1914
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Dorset, St Alban's Head; Diogenes Club; Paddington Station; A Train; Oxford; Beaumont Street; Ashmolean Museum; Mitre Inn; Balliol College; Charing Cross Hotel; Scotland Yard
Story: Holmes and Watson attend a demonstration of a newly built Dreadnought battleship. Some time later they are visited by Fisher and Esher who ask him to break a German code being used by a spy in the Admiralty. Each time he cracks the code, it is changed. Lestrade brings Annie Constantine to 221B, who tells them of an explosion that caused no damage in her lodger's room. This leads Holmes and Watson to the Ashmolean Museum and a collection of Linear B tablets from the Minoan Palace on Crete, about which he consults the scholar, Strachan-Davidson. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Holmes is consulted by Superintendent Swain of Special Branch over the still unidentified Admiralty spy to identify the lines of communication between him and those already identified as his confederates and use them against the Germans.

NOTE: Alfred Swain is a character in a series of books by Donald Thomas.
"The Case of the King's Evil" (2009)
Included in: Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; (Inspector Lestrade; Mycroft Holmes)
Historical Figures: (King John)
Other Characters: Alice Chastelnau; Reverend Roderick Gilmore; Inspector Albert Wainwright; Wainwright's Constable; Roland Chastelnau; Dr Rixon; Corpse Carriers; Freiston Shore Relief Beacon Keeper; Gilmore's Maid; Bridge Hotel Waiter; Openshaw Maid; Abraham Chastelnau; (John Chastelnau; Alice's Mother; Alice's Step-Mother; Miss Openshaw; Sutton Cross Sexton; Mrs Armitage; Replacement Keepers; Collier Skipper; Tinker)
Date: October, 1884
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Lincolnshire; Sutton Cross; Old Light Beacon; St Clement's Church; A Train; Cambridge; Ely; Norfolk; King's Lynn; Sutton Cross Station; Bridge Hotel; Sutton Cross Rectory; The Mud Flats; Mablethorpe; Book-in-Hand Inn; Openshaw Academy for Young Ladies
Story: Watson is called on by schoolteacher Alice Chastelnau, whose brothers have disappeared, leaving only a letter addressed to an unnamed doctor in which Abraham writes of an evil affliction, and a pebble wrapped in paper. The brothers are keepers of the lighthouse beacon on the river estuary at Sutton Cross on the Wash. Their disappearance was discovered when the light failed. The Rector and Sexton of Sutton Cross had noticed two men figting on the mud-flats as the tide was coming in. Holmes examines the pebble, waking the house with the screams of his grinding wheel, and identifies it as a sapphire. They travel to Lincolnshire and interview the rector, a university contemporary of Mycroft's. Holmes makes a connection between the events in Lincolnshire and those in a play by Shakespeare. They examine the beacon, and witness the discovery of the body of one of the brothers. In the evening they venture onto the mud-flats to view the site of the brothers' argument, and their lives are put in danger by the incoming tide, a danger that helps them deduce the fate of the other brother, and locate the source of the argument. Holmes again interviews the rector, to learn more about local history. They visit Miss Chastelnau, and Holmes disproves Watson's theory and reveals the truth, and the nature of the "King's Evil" that afflicted Abraham Chastelnau.
"The Case of the Peasenhall Murder" (2007)
Included in: The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; Inspector Lestrade
Historical Figures: Constable Eli Nunn; Rose Harsent; Dr Charles Lay; Sir Ernest Wild; Arthur Leighton; William Gardiner; William Crisp; Georgeanna Crisp; William (George) Wright; Alfonso Skinner; (Mr Guy; Georgina Gardiner; Henry Rouse; Mr Justice Grantham; Thomas Gurrin; Jury; Sir Charles Gill; Sir Edward Clarke; Mr Justice Lawrence; Sir Edward Carson; Mr Smyth; Rose's Brother; Rosanna Dickenson; Gardiner's Children; Amelia Pepper; Dr Stevenson)
Other Characters: Bell Hotel Landlady; Prison Governor; Prison Guards; (Bank Examiners; Waxworks Proprietor)
Date: June - January, 1904
Locations: Saxmundham, Saxmundham Church; Bell Hotel; Peasenhall; Providence House; Great Yarmouth; 221B, Baker Street; A Train; Ipswich Station; Ipswich Prison; The White Hart; The Doctor's Chapel, Peasenhall
Story: On an archaeological holiday with Holmes in Saxmundham, Watson is called upon to examine the body of a young woman, Rose Harsent, six months pregnant, found dead in nearby Peasenhall. Holmes accompanies him. The girl has been stabbed twice in the neck, and attempts appear to have been made to burn the body. A local chapel official, Gardiner, had been the subject of local gossip in regard to his relationship with the girl, and is charged with the murder. Six months later, Wild, his defence lawyer, consults Holmes, asking him to work with Scotland Yard to prove his client's innocence. Holmes and Lestrade visit Gardiner in prison and question him over his relationship with Harsent. Holmes and Watson return to Peasenhall to test the reliability of his accusers at the local chapel.

"The Case of the Phantom Chambermaid" (2007)
Included in: The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Tobias Gregson; (Mrs Hudson; Baker Street Page)
Historical Figures: Edmund Gurney; (Comte Henri-Gratien Bertrand; Napoleon)
Other Characters: Reverend James Milner; Mrs Deans; Effie Deans; Royal Albion Waiter; Professor Joshua D. Chamberlain; Aquarium Audience; Madame Elvira; Charles Smith; Chamberlain's Assistant; Royal Albion Night Porter; Pageboy; Hotel Manager; Steamer Passengers; Hansom Drivers; Policeman; Library Clerk; Jobson; Hotel Guests; (Hotel Porter; The Todgers; Alf Deans)
Date: Midsummer, 1887
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; A Train; Brighton; Royal Albion Hotel; Brighton Aquarium; Chain Pier; Brighton Station; Victoria Station; Haymarket; Messageries Maritimes; Pall Mall; St James's Street Library; Kentish Town; Fortress Road
Story: Holmes bemoans the fact that his only case in hand is of little interest, until he hears its full details: A chambermaid, Effie Deans has been dismissed from her job at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton, after reportedly being seen entering Edmund Gurney's room during the night. Her mother claims that on the night in question, Effie was at home. Gurney had been investigating a pair of spiritualists, Chamberlain and Elvira, performing at the aquarium. Holmes and Watson take rooms at the Royal Albion, and attend Chamberlain's demonstration of mesmerism and mind-reading. Holmes takes an interest in the pair's imminent departure in the middle of a successful run. He uses Gurney's chloroform addiction as a ruse to enter his hotel room. A search reveals a letter from Chamberlain that may not be all it seems. A pursuit to London becomes a race to save Gurney's life.

"The Case of the Portuguese Sonnets" (2009)
Included in: Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Tobias Gregson; The Boy in Buttons; (Mrs Hudson)
Fictional Characters: (Jeffrey Aspern; Juanita Bordereau; Tina Bordereau)
Historical Figures: Robert Wiedemann Penini Browning; Fannie Cornforth Browning; (Charles Augustus Howell; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Rosa Corder; Howell's Landlord; Algernon Swinburne; Admiral Sir John Swinburne; Lady Jane Swinburne; Pawnbroker; Sydney Morse; James McNeill Whistler; William Alexander Chapman; L.H. Myers; Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Robert Browning; Isa Blagden; Julia Wedgwood; Lord Byron; William Beckford; Margherita Fiori)
Other Characters: Venice Station Porters; Fever Hospital Officials; Angelo Fiori; Gondolier; Tina's Housekeeper; Florian's Waiter; (Home Hospital Duty Constable; Juanita's Scouts)
Date: 24 April - 8-? May, 1890
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Italy; Venice; Railway Station; Danieli's Hotel; Grand Canal; Casa Aspern; St Mark's Square; Florian's
Story: Gregson Brings news that the blackmailer Howell has been found murdered in a gutter. Holmes tells him of Howells exploits, and his previous "deaths". Gregson tells them that a copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets was found in Howell's pockets, and that the last words he uttered were "leaves of grass". Some time later they are called upon by the son and daughter-in-law of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Browning tells them that he had been in negotiation with Howell to buy back papers of his parents, and goes on to tell them of the manuscripts, rare editions and private documents kept by the late poet, Jeffrey Aspern, and said still to be in his Venetian residence. Among the Aspern papers are compromising documents relating to his parents. Howell had been acting as agent of Tina Bordereau, who had possession of the papers after her sister's death.

Holmes and Watson accompany the Brownings back to Venice, where the lawyer, Fiori, arranges for them to examine the remaining papers. He closely examines the handwriting of a Byron manuscript and declares it genuine, but endeavours to find proof that a manuscript of Don Juan in the New World is a forgery by Howell. In order to do so he sends a telegram to a vacuum cleaner company. He next sets about establishing the provenance of papers supposedly written by Browning. An examination of the rare editions in the collection provides him with much of his evidence. He also reveals the true facts of Howell's death.

"The Case of the Tell-Tale Hands" (2009)
Included in: Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; (Inspector Lestrade)
Fictional Characters: Jane Percy's Father (The Venerable Doctor Josephus Percy); Lord Arthur Savile; Septimus R. Podgers; (Lady Clementina Beauchamp; Lord Surbiton (Blagdon's Wife's Brother); Duchess of Paisley; Sir Mathew Reid; Herr Winckelkopf (Dealer in Greek Street); Parker; Savile's Valet (Crayshaw))
Other Characters: Raymond Ashley Savile, 3rd Earl of Blagdon; Mrs Rowley; Palace Yard Policeman; Parliament Officials; MPs; Spectators; Speaker; Joseph Keighley; Home Office Junior Minister; Tellers; (Blagdon's Valet; Lady Blagdon; Blagdon's Close Friend; Lady Clementina's Nurse; Blagdon's Servants; Percy's Housekeeper; Chichester Inspector & Constables; Beauchamp's Maid; Savile's Friend; Door-Keeper; Clinic Attendant)
Date: May & August-September, 1901
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Berkshire; Priorsfield Halt; Priorsfield House; Chichester; The Deanery; Lancaster House; The House of Commons
Story: The Earl of Blagdon consults Holmes over his cousin, Lord Arthur Savile's inclination to "collecting oddities", and of a recent incident where Savile had burgled the Earl's own home, Priorsfield, but stealing nothing. He has also recently taken to wearing gloves for the majority of the time. Holmes and Watson travel to Priorsfield where Holmes examines fingerprints on the piano keyboard and a bonbon dish he believes contained poison. He learns of Savile's trip to Venice with Lord Surbiton, and Lady Clementina Beauchamp's death, but an autopsy reveals no trace of the poison in her body.

A few months later they are visited by archdeacon Percy, who has been sent an exploding clock. Blagdon arrives shortly after and asks them to take up the Savile case again. Holmes believes that Savile is involved in cheiromancy. Blagdon tells him of a party given by the Duchess of Paisley at which Savile had his palms read by Septimus Podgers. Holmes and Watson attend Parliament where Savile is due to speak on an act targeted at fortune tellers. They resolve to keep watch on Savile, but another death occurs to end the case.
"The Case of the Zimmermann Telegram" (2009)
Included in: Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Mrs Hudson; ((Chief) Inspector Lestrade)
Historical Figures: Sir John Fisher; Edward VIII; Queen Mary; George V; Count Alexander Benckendorff; Lord William Cecil; Sir Reginald Hall; Edward Bell; Sir Henry Jones; (Arthur Zimmermann; Count Bernstotff; Von Tirpitz; Wilhelm Wassmuss (German Vice-Consul in Persia); Admiral Beatty; Woodrow Wilson; Bethmann-Hollweg; Kaiser Wilhelm II; General John H. Pershing; Pancho Villa; Venustiano Carranza; Robert Lansing; James Gerard; Arthur Balfour; Heinrich von Eckhardt; Captain Guy Gaunt; Dr Page; Obidiah Jones)
Other Characters: Watson's Spinster Cousins; Ball Guests; Footmen; Stout Young Man; Cyclist; Plain Clothes Sergeant; Watchers; Readers; Cab Driver; Rotterdam Hotel Hall-Porter; Rotterdam Cab Driver; Admiralty Staff; Mr Varney; Miss Varney; (Swiss Watch-Repairer; Swedish Bank Courier; Spanish Restaurateur; Tobacco Importer; Neutrals with German Sympathies; Daily Mail Editor; Coldstreams Officer; Danish Captain; Naval Attaché; Mexican Ambassador; British Minister in Mexico; Mexican Telegraph Functionary)
Date: 1914-1917
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Buckingham Palace; Baker Street; St James's Library; Piccadilly; Old Admiralty Yard; The Admiralty; Room 40; Holland; Rotterdam; Hotel; Quayside Brasserie; Restaurant; Naval and Military Club; Mexico City
Story: Fisher uses a court ball as a cover to recruit Holmes and Watson into war work breaking German codes. They soon realise they are being followed as Holmes maintains the imposture of continuing his work on Lassus. Holmes arranges for Watson to be the main player in a plan to let Germany steal British ciphers from his hotel in Rotterdam. Holmes's task becomes more complex as the United States and Mexico become increasingly embroiled in Germany's plans for its U-boat fleet. A past case involving a printer, Varney, and counterfeit Mexican currency, gives Holmes an agent in Mexico. It is through Varney that the Zimmermann telegram comes into British hands. Holmes sets to decoding the encrypted message. His work leads to America entering the war. Holmes assists Sir Henry Jones in the matter of a mysterious postcard.
"The Execution of Sherlock Holmes" (2007)
Included in: The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Charles Augustus Milverton; Milverton's Murderess; Inspector Lestrade; Tobias Gregson; Captain James Calhoun; Jabez Wilson; (Lady Eva Brackwell; The Earl Of Dovercourt; Colonel (Captain Alexander) Dorking; The Hon. Miss (Clementina) Miles; Countess d'Albert; Mrs Hudson; Hugo Oberstein; Giuseppe Gorgiano; Mycroft Holmes; Colonel James Moriarty; Harold Latimer; Wilson Kemp; Baker Street Irregulars; Billy)
Historical Figures: (Henry Williams; Dr John Tyndall)
Other Characters: Henry Caius Milverton; Petty Officer Alker; Crellin; McIver; Carters; Costermongers; Fothergill; Organ Grinder; Constable; Pall Mall Beggars; Diogenes Club Porter; Pall Mall Watcher; Eagle Customers; Flower Girl & Sister; Post Office Clerk; Post Office Customers; Refreshment Stall Customers; Lounger; City Road Crowd; Underground Passengers; (American Treasury Agent)
Date: January, 1899 / Spring - mid-April, 1902
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; Hampstead; Appledore Towers; Hampstead Heath; Newgate Prison; Newgate Street; Trafalgar Square; Pall Mall; Diogenes Club; The East India Club; The City Road; Denmark Square; Shepherdess Walk; The Eagle Tavern; Oculist's Shop; Baker Street; Post Office; Refreshment Stall; Kensington Station; Hyde Park; Rotten Row
Story: Three years after Milverton's death, Holmes finds himself a drugged prisoner of the blackmailer's son, who plans to put him "on trial" and execute him before an audience of old adversaries. Watson spends weeks searching for him. Holmes realises he is in Newgate Prison, and begins battling the drugs he is given and planning an escape. After his escape he communicates with Watson through coded messages in the press, and with the aid of Jabez Wilson, to finish off the rest of the gang.
"The Queen of the Night" (2007)
Included in: The Execution of Sherlock Holmes (Donald Thomas)
Story Type: Pastiche
Canonical Characters: Sherlock Holmes; Dr. Watson; Alexander (Lord) Holder; Mycroft Holmes; Inspector Lestrade; Colonel Moriarty; (Arthur Holder; Tobias Gregson; Professor Moriarty; Jabez Wilson; Stationmaster Moriarty; Captain James Calhoun)
Fictional Characters: (Count Fosco)
Historical Figures: Edward VII; Queen Alexandra; George V; Queen Mary; Muzaffar al-Din; (William IV; Major Georges Piquart; The Lord Mayor (Sir Joseph Dimsdale))
Other Characters: Inspector Jago; Jago's Men; Lord Adolphus Longstaffe; Luncheon Guests; Shah of Persia; Dressers; Provost Guards; Captain; Lord Mayor's Chamberlain; City of London Police Superintendent; Constable; Police Driver; Charing Cross Passengers; Ticket Collectors; Telegraph Office Manager; Hotel Lift Boy; (Lord Alfred Longstaffe; Lady Adeline Longstaffe; Raoul Grenier; Major Robert Moriarty; Henrietta Jane Moriarty; Young Girl; Girl's Father; Mary Jeffries; Earl of Dorset; Colonel Lemonnier)
Date: Early 1902
Locations: 221B, Baker Street; The Mansion House; Charing Cross Station; Charing Cross Hotel
Story: Holmes is consulted again by Alexander, now Lord Holder. His client, Lord Adolphus Longstaffe, herald to the Prince of Wales is owner of the ceremonial Queen of the Night diamond, to be worn at the upcoming Coronation. Holder has learned that a copy has been commissioned and fears that a theft is planned. Holmes reveals that he is already aware of this, and later tells Watson of Colonel Moriarty's involvement, and the role of Moriarty family history in the plot. Mycroft and Lestrade call on Holmes to protect the Crown Jewels during the Coronation, but he refuses. Later he condescends to view the route of the Coronation procession, and rooms at the Mansion House where the Lord Mayor's luncheon will be held some days after the main event. Holmes deduces that Moriarty will make his move at the luncheon, and makes arrangements with Jago to prevent the theft, but all does not go according to plan and a chase across London ensues.