It was the time of Queen Victoria's "Little Wars" and the "War to End All Wars." It was also the time of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson. Watson, the man, would be formed by his experiences in the British "Second Afghan War," before he ever met Sherlock Holmes in an adventure, he would record this experience as Watson's Afghan Adventure, a tale of war and mystery. Later, Holmes and Watson would go on to not only share the problems of crime solving, Watson's three marriages, a purported tragedy at Reichenbach, and Holmes's return from the dead; they would also share two more wartime experiences. In Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Boer Wagon, they are called on by Mycroft Holmes and the British government to go to the battleground of South Africa. Their mission is to stop the flow of army secrets to the Boers and try to recover a King's ransom in gold. By the time of their third great wartime adventure the two friends are retired, but Mycroft, and the government, need them once more as they are called on in Sherlock Holmes and the Irish Rebels. Holmes and Watson had already foiled the plans of a German espionage ring at the start of the Great War in the tale Watson called "His Last Bow." But it was not, in reality, Holmes's last bow. Holmes and Watson are sent now to the little war within a war, the killing fields of Dublin in 1916 and the Irish Rebellion. Can they stop it? And can they stop the plans of a renegade member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police? . A special hardback edition including all three bestselling Sherlock Holmes novels from Kieran McMullen.

It was an incredible year, the start of a new century. Queen Victoria was still on the throne, the Paris Exposition was the talk of Europe and Count Zeppelin was conquering the air. The Tsar had completed the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Boxer Rebellion surged through China, in South Africa the Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State defied the British Empire, and at home Sherlock Holmes was at the peak of his powers. It was not a case of when the great detective's powers were needed but where. Mycroft sends for both his brother Sherlock and Dr Watson to help solve the mystery of lost secret plans and of missing gold in the fight that will become the Second Boer War. Watson accompanies his friend Dr Arthur Conan Doyle and Langman's Hospital to the battlefields of the Boer Republics as Holmes tries to stop the leak of information and recover a king's ransom. The biggest question is who to trust in a land ravaged by war and with countless conflicting loyalties. Will Holmes and Watson stop the leak before Lord Roberts tries to take Pretoria?

There is always a healthy interest in the actors who have played the role of the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also created the world's best known sidekick, Dr. John H. Watson. The men and women who played the role of stalwart ally is quite an eclectic gathering. Here is compiled a listing and discussion of some of the best known people who have played the part of Watson from the earliest days of silent film to the action heroes of the 21st century. All royalties from this book go towards the Undershaw Preservation Trust. Please visit facebook.com/saveundershaw and -like- to show your support.

In the year 1908 Holmes believed himself to be in retirement. Watson was once again in private practice and unwed. Mrs. Hudson had gone to Sussex to act as Holmes's housekeeper. But the fates had agreed that Martha Hudson and John Watson should be together. Or had they? When Dr. Watson proposes to Martha Hudson it sets off a series of events that only Sherlock Holmes can deal with. Watson has already had three wives, all have died under unfortunate circumstances. Colm Campbell, Martha Hudson's nephew, thinks there is more here than meets the eye. Is Watson just unlucky or are the deaths suspicious? Holmes must come to his best friends defence.

London, 1922: Two years after helping Sherlock Holmes solve the Hangman Murders, American journalist Enoch Hale becomes even more intimately involved in another puzzling mystery. Langdale Pike, veteran purveyor of gossip to the trash newspapers, is poisoned while sipping tea with Hale - and apparently just as he is about to spill a secret more important than social gossip. With the unrequested aid of advertising copywriter Dorothy Sayers, Hale pursues a number of leads based on notes in Pike's pocket diary - including an interview with the formidable G.K. Chesterton. His attempts to uncover the identity of one of Pike's fellow club members bring Hale the unwanted attention of Mycroft Holmes, head of His Majesty's Secret Service, and of his younger brother. Once again Enoch Hale and the theoretically retired but far from retiring Sherlock Holmes join forces to solve a crime that may have international complications. And this time Hale himself almost becomes a victim when he gets too close to the solution. This fast-moving tale is sure to please the many fans of the first Enoch Hale - Sherlock Holmes adventure, The Amateur Executioner.

London, 1920: Boston-bred Enoch Hale, working as a reporter for the Central News Syndicate, arrives on the scene shortly after a music hall escape artist is found hanging from the ceiling in his dressing room. What at first appears to be a suicide turns out to be murder ...the first of several using the same modus operandi. What's the connecting factor among all the victims? Or isn't there one? That's what the dogged journalist Hale aims to find out. Covering the Hangman Murders brings him into contact with a diverse cast of witnesses and interview subjects that include Winston Churchill, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Hitchcock, and Ezra Pound. Hale, whose best friend in London is the chain-smoking poet and banker T.S. (Tom) Eliot even makes a pilgrimage to the Sussex Downs to get an opinion on the case from the great detective Sherlock Holmes. The trip is in vain, but he eventually does meet Holmes in a most surprising encounter. Through it all there is another mystery, which perhaps goes to the mystery of the human heart. What is the lovely music hall singer Sadie Briggs concealing from Hale - just her past or also her present?

It is early 1916 and the world is at war. Sherlock Holmes is well into his spy persona as Altamont following the capture of the German spy Von Bork at the opening of the Great War. Watson is called to London by Mycroft Holmes and is asked to join Sherlock, who has infiltrated the Irish Volunteers. War within the United Kingdom could deal a decisive blow to the war effort and Holmes must find out the rebels' plans, and if possible, stop the rebellion which appears imminent. He has need of Watson once again.

In Watson's Afghan Adventure the good doctor explains to Sherlock Holmes how he chose to become an army doctor, served with the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers and how a treasure map brought him to the battle of Maiwand and on to 221B Baker Street.