All Roads Lead to Whitechapel
Page 26
Once the music had finished, I let myself into his rooms, and placed the tea tray on the table. Mr Holmes sat by the window, in the large, battered leather chair he favoured. His jacket lay on the floor, the waistcoat beside it. At his feet lay various newspapers. I could see they contained a report of the attack on Mr Shirley, various reports of some suicides, including Adam Ballant, and the murder of the Whitechapel Lady.
‘I think I see a pattern I did not see before,’ Sherlock Holmes said softly. ‘A story I was not aware of. People I turned away.’
The flaming red light of the sunset outlined his profile, sharp and unforgiving, a man for whom mountains would move because they felt they must.
‘They needed help,’ I said gently, neither needing nor wanting an explanation. He had found some of the truth. ‘They came to you and…’
‘And I said no,’ he added, not turning to look at me. ‘I did not find their problems of sufficient complexity. Or I would not allow them to keep their secrets. Or I could not see the despair behind their seemingly trivial requests. I was wrong,’ he admitted. ‘I am, occasionally. Far more than Watson allows for, or you realize.’
‘You were wrong,’ I agreed. ‘But you will be right next time.’ I had been placing the tea things on the table, and now I took the empty tray. Always unfailingly courteous, he rose to open the door for me.
‘But this time, you were right.’
‘They needed help. They were lost,’ I said to him.
‘And you found them. As you do with lost souls.’ I looked up into shadowed eyes I could not read.
‘Good night, Mrs Hudson. Eggs in the morning, I think,’ he told me.
He walked away to stand before the window, tall and sharp and dark against the glorious turbulent sky.
‘Mrs Hudson,’ he called, as I was almost through the door. I stopped. ‘Will you ever tell me the story of what has happened in the past few days?’
‘Perhaps,’ I said. He did not turn. ‘One day, when we are both very old. But not today.’
‘Why not?’ he asked, turning to me finally.
I thought for a moment, then said to him, ‘Because this was not a Sherlock Holmes story. This was a Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson adventure.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It turns out writing a book is not quite the solitary occupation I always imagined it would be. I had a lot of help, and thanks are due.
First, my agent, Jane, for taking this book on, and helping me shape and expand and improve this story, and generally looking after me.
My editor, Natasha, who has put an enormous amount of work into this book.
Everyone at Pan Macmillan, who have been so enthusiastic about this book, it quite takes my breath away.
To the Shh…girls, just for being lots of fun when I needed to relax, and because all those discussions about books were very useful, and especially Shyama—it’s so good to have another writer to talk to. Only writers understand writers!
Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Without his wonderful stories, I wouldn’t have written this book.
And finally all the librarians and English teachers and booksellers who fostered a love of books in me, encouraged me, and always found the exact book I needed, even when I didn’t know I needed it.
RESEARCH MATERIALS
This novel involved a lot of research, and any mistakes are my own, not those of any of the authors below.
There are a number of excellent books on Victorian life. I relied on Judith Flanders’ books The Invention of Murder, The Victorian City and The Victorian House to find out exactly what life was like for a woman in Victorian London. I also found Ruth Goodman’s How To Be a Victorian and Lucy Worsley’s If Walls Could Talk very useful when researching what it took to look after a Victorian home. Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor had a lot of fascinating information about life on Victorian London’s streets and John Christopher’s The London of Sherlock Holmes helped me navigate the streets of Holmes’ London (and I’d like to thank the Waterstones shop assistant who, when I asked vaguely for a book about what London was like in Victorian times, pointed me immediately to this title).
Lee Jackson’s website www.victorianlondon.org was utterly invaluable for finding maps and newspaper articles and all kinds of information.
The timeline for the Sherlock Holmes stories is often in dispute. I used the one at www.sherlockpedia.net/sherlocktimeline.html. It’s very well researched, and fitted my ideas of the timeline.
The Sherlock Holmes exhibition at the Museum of London was fascinating, and gave me a chance to see lots of the typical Holmes items in real life (and a glimpse at an actual manuscript for A Study in Scarlet!).
The online newspaper archive at my local library was very useful. It gave me access to newspapers of the time, including the wonderful advertisements.
And finally—I am indebted to the wonderful stories of Arthur Conan Doyle himself, without whom there’d be no Sherlock Holmes, no Dr Watson, and no Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson to tell stories about.
For more “Historical” mysteries
from Felony & Mayhem Press,
including titles by Kenneth Cameron and Laura Wilson,
please visit our website:
FelonyAndMayhem.com
All the characters and events portrayed in this work are fictitious.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO WHITECHAPEL:
A BAKER STREET INQUIRY
A Felony & Mayhem mystery
PUBLISHING HISTORY
First UK edition (Pan MacMillan, as The House at Baker Street): 2016
Felony & Mayhem edition (first US edition): 2019
Copyright © 2016 by Michelle Birkby
All rights reserved
® and BAKER STREET INQUIRY are trademarks of the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.
The Baker Street Inquiries are based on copyrighted works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, used by permission of the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.®
www.conandoyleestate.com
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63194-221-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Birkby, Michelle, author.
Title: All roads lead to Whitechapel / Michelle Birkby.
Other titles: House at Baker Street
Description: First US edition. | New York : Felony & Mayhem Press, 2019. |
Series: Baker street inquiries; 1 | A Felony & Mayhem mystery | Summary:
“The women in Sherlock Holmes’s circle-Mrs. Hudson and Mary Watson-step
in when Holmes himself declines to help a terrified young bride”--
Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019038754 | ISBN 9781631942242 (hardback) | ISBN
9781631942204 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781631942211 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Hudson, Mrs. (Martha)--Fiction. | Holmes, Sherlock--Fiction
| GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PR6102.I75 H68 2019 | DDC 823/.92--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038754