MONTAGUE STREET
S.R. Bennett – The Secret Diary of Mycroft Holmes (originally a Fan-Fiction series, and now recently revised and published as a real book), and the following Fan-Fiction Novels, all giving more valuable information about Holmes’s Montague Street days: The Particular Problem of Postern Prison, The Abominable Affair of the Charming Chiromancer, The Mystery of the Tankerville Leopard, The Curious Case of the Prestidigitator’s Python, and The Malicious Malingering of Inspector Lestrade;
“The Gower Street Murder” in Sherlock Holmes – Tangled Skeins – David Marcum;
“The Adventure of the Murdered Spinster”, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part VI: 2016 Annual – Bob Byrne;
Sherlock Holmes in Montague Street – Arthur Morrison, edited by David Marcum (Twenty-five adventures, previously published as Martin Hewitt stories, now revealed to be early Holmes investigations);
Without My Boswell – Hugh Ashton;
Death on a Pale Horse – Donald Thomas;
Sherlock Holmes Uncovered – The Spider Web – Steven Ehrman;
The Bird and the Buddha – Sherry Croyle;
Sherlock Holmes and the Lufton Lady – Marlene R. Aig;
The Stalwart Companions – H. Paul Jeffers;
Sherlock Holmes: The American Years – Edited by Michael Kurland (Ten of the short stories are pre-1881);
The Elementary Cases of Sherlock Holmes – Ian Charnock (Six of the short stories are set prior to January 1881, most in Montague Street);
(Numerous others, including Fan Fictions);
In addition to pre-Baker Street information about Holmes, one can find further details about Watson’s before-1881 adventures in:
The Isle of Devils – Craig Janacek;
The Private Life of Dr. Watson – Michael Hardwick;
Watson’s Afghan Adventure – Kieran McMullen;
Doctor Watson’s War – Patrick Mercer;
On Afghanistan’s Plains – Pompey (Fan-Fiction Novel);
(Numerous others, including Fan Fictions);
. . . and about Mycroft Holmes (with some appearances by his brother Sherlock) in:
Enter The Lion – Michael P. Hodel and Sean M. Wright;
The Dorking Gap Affair and The Monstrous Regiment – Glen Petrie;
Mycroft Holmes – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar;
(Numerous others, including Fan Fictions);
In Holmes Away From Home, a collection dealing with Our Hero’s adventures while traveling the world during The Great Hiatus from 1891 to 1894, I asked “do we need more stories about a period which has already been addressed?” As I affirmed in that introduction, We do! Mostly because there can never be enough traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures, and also because there are many gaps that still need to be filled throughout his life – including that wonderful period from his birth to the first meeting with his Boswell and friend, Dr. John H. Watson.
This collection serves that purpose with great satisfaction. We see Holmes as a boy, solving one of his first cases while also observing Mycroft managing a tense affair. We find Holmes setting up his first consulting practice, as described in “The Musgrave Ritual”:
When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling in my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches of science which might make me more efficient. Now and again cases came in my way
. . . .
Finally, included in this volume are the aforementioned Musgrave affair and “The Gloria Scott”, the only two Canonical cases that are set in those early Holmesian days before Holmes moved that famous residence, 221b Baker Street.
Often at the start of a new Holmes adventure, the reader is invited to return to that Baker Street residence. But this time, let us journey a bit further, back to those earlier days Before Baker Street…
With Thanks . . . .
As always, I want to thank my wife Rebecca and son, Dan, for literally everything, including being so supportive through all of this Holmesian activity.
Next, big thanks to Derrick and Brian Belanger for letting me once again edit a new Holmes collection. Additional thanks go to Derrick for digging into the Dispatch Box and finding another story as a reward to the diligent and generous Kickstarter participants who so handily helped us past one of our goals.
Also, many thanks (in alphabetical order) to that wonderful group that is always so supportive: Bob Byrne, Steve Emecz, Roger Johnson, Mark Mower, Denis Smith, Tom Turley, Dan Victor, and Marcia Wilson. Finally, I’m so grateful to the authors who have contributed to this book for once again pulling such great tales out of Watson’s Tin Dispatch Box, and to Steve Rothman for writing such an insightful Foreword.
I first read most of these stories in the summer of 2016 – many of them began to appear in my in-box at about the same time as those in a previous collection, Holmes Away From Home – and that’s a long time for me to be hoarding such wonderful glimpses of Sherlock Holmes Before Baker Street. Now it’s time for all of you to enjoy them too!
David Marcum
March 4, 2017
The 136th Anniversary of the day
that Holmes explained
to Watson that he was
a “Consulting Detective”
in A Study in Scarlet
Questions or comments may be addressed to David Marcum at
Foreword
by Steven Rothman
Sherlock Holmes comes to us fully grown, like Athena leaping from the brow of Zeus. He has created his profession of consulting detective before Watson meets him in A Study in Scarlet. He has already mastered many fields of knowledge, as Watson’s famous list tells us. He even has already located the rooms in Baker Street. So though Holmes comes into greater focus as the Canon progresses, Holmes the man remains unchanged in the most important ways.
So much of the Sherlock Holmes we come to know in A Study in Scarlet and most of the following fifty-nine stories is what we see through Watson’s eyes. We could hardly ask for a better narrator than John Watson – reliable, honest, and wonderfully human. We
