The fourth and last Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson novel. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

A Sherlock Holmes adventure by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This novel is based very loosely on the activities of the Molly Maguires and of Pinkerton agent James McParland.

We find Holmes and Watson in Baker Street where Holmes is occupied with a note he has received in cipher. Two of the words that appear in the message are Douglas and Birlstone. The message becomes much more sinister when Holmes learns from Inspector MacDonald that a Mr Douglas of Birlstone Manor House had been horribly murdered that morning.

This novel consists of two parts. The first takes place in England and centres around the murder of Mr Douglas and the hunt for his killer or killers. While the police are hunting for the mysterious owner of a bicycle found on the property of Birlstone Manor House, Holmes tries to solve the murder by other means. As usual Sherlock provides the answers and the outcome is most surprising.

The second part of the novel takes us to the United States of America. We are introduced to The Scowrers, a lodge in Vermissa. We get to know more about the criminal acts of this body of men and the doings of Jack McMurdo, Councillor McGinty, Mr Baldwin and others. This section of the novel serves to explain the background to the murder of Mr Douglas and it is exciting enough to be a story on its own.

I really enjoyed this Sherlock Holmes novel and rate it 8/10.