Arthur Hohl

After a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer. While attending a conference in Quebec City, Sherlock Holmes and his good friend, Dr. Watson, are drawn into a murder investigation in the nearby village of La Mort Rouge. Holmes had received a letter from Lady Penrose asking for his assistance as she feared for her life. It was too late, however, as she had already been killed by the time he received it. Her throat was torn out and the local villagers are spreading rumors about monsters and evil spirits as being the cause. Holmes doesn't believe any of that and sets out to find the killer. He believes that Lady Penrose's past as an actress may have something to with her death. As others in the village are attacked, Holmes believes the killer is among them, impersonating a local villager as he goes about his business. —garykmcd A village in Canada has an old legend about a phantom that years ago killed three villagers. Many residents are afraid that the monster has come back because some of them have seen strange luminous shapes and some sheep were found with their throats slashed. Their worst fears seem to be confirmed when Lady Penrose is found killed in the same way. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are in Quebec attending a meeting of the Royal Canadian Occult Society where they are involved in a sharp debate with Lord Penrose about his village's legend. Not long after Lord Penrose receives word of his wife's death, Holmes receives a letter that the dead woman had written before she died, begging for his help and protection. When Holmes goes to the village to investigate, he finds himself hunting a determined murderer who is also a master of disguise. —Snow Leopard

Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider. Sherlock Holmes takes on a case that the press has dubbed the pajama suicides. Eminent men are going to bed in the safety of their own homes, with everything seemingly being normal, only to commit suicide in the night. Holmes fakes his own death in the hopes of giving him a freer hand in the investigation and is convinced that a woman, a female Moriarty as he describes her, is behind the deaths. The dead men were all eminent and very wealthy. He impersonates a wealthy retired Indian military officer in the hope of drawing out the woman and he soon meets Adrea Spedding but she quickly sees through his disguise and proves herself to be the challenge Holmes predicted she would be. She is a worthy adversary and soon traps him setting him up in a carnival shooting gallery that seems to assure his death. —garykmcd Alarmed by a series of baffling suicides of prominent gamblers popularly dubbed "The Pyjama Murders" by the newspapers, Holmes fakes his own death and assumes the identity of Rajni Singh, a retired Indian military man with a paralyzed arm. After losing a large sum in a casino and writing a bad check to cover his losses, he appears to try to take his own life. He is prevented by the mysterious and sophisticated Adrea Spedding with an offer of a loan with his life insurance policy as collateral. Shortly thereafter, there is an attempt on his life with a rare but deadly spider with the only other clue a child's footprint. A resurfaced Holmes consults experts on spiders in an effort to solve the mystery. —Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)

The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century. When Sherlock Holmes arrives in court moments too late to give evidence against Professor Moriarty, the professor is acquitted. Soon afterward, he develops a scheme for stealing the crown jewels from the Tower of London. In order to get Holmes involved, he persuades a gaucho flute player to murder a girl. —Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>