Counter-intelligence agent Jacob Welker recruits a number of civilians to help foil a suspected terrorist attack by German spies in New York in 1938. March, 1938. Otto Lehman arrives in New York on the S.S. Osthafen to be immediately confronted by two men with FBI badges . . . only, that isn't his real name and the men aren't with the FBI. The next day Lehman is found tied to a chair, beaten to death and naked, in an abandoned Brooklyn warehouse. The sole witness to the crime, Andrew Blake, a homeless man struggling through the Great Depression, claims those responsible were speaking German. With the threat of the perpetrators being Nazis, President Roosevelt's own covert counter-intelligence agent Jacob Welker is brought in to investigate. Welker recruits Blake along with Lord Geoffrey Saboy, a British 'cultural attache', and his wife Lady Patricia, to help him to thwart a Nazi terrorist attack. But who exactly are the Nazis, what is their target and when will...

“Kurland has made Moriarty more interesting than Doyle ever made Holmes." Isaac Asimov London, 1887, and a vicious killer stalks the gas-lit streets of the capital. With a particular penchant for the blue-blooded aristocracy, he is leaving lordly corpses behind locked doors, and high society is in uproar. Scotland Yard call in the great Sherlock Holmes to hunt down the murderer, but even he is unable to bring the monster to justice. Several more noble throats are slit before the Yard turn to the one man who might be able to solve the bloody crimes: the Napoleon of Crime, Professor James Moriarty, ably assisted by American journalist Benjamin Barker, and the redoubtable Miss Cecily Perrine. However, Moriarty has his own unique methods of fighting evil, and he and Sherlock Holmes make for the most reluctant of allies... PRAISE FOR THE MORIARTY NOVELS “A deliciously complex and abundantly rewarding novel... Uncommon are the pleasures such writing affords." Publishers...

For over a century, readers have thrilled to the exploits of Sherlock Holmes through the tales narrated by his sidekick and official chronicler, Dr. John Watson. But do Dr. Watson's tales really tell the true story of the great detective? In this collection of thirteen original tales, each told by a side character in the original canon, ranging from the famous (Irene Adler, Professor James Moriarty, and Mycroft Holmes) to the decidedy minor (Billy the page boy, Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars, and both Mrs. Watsons), readers finally get to hear another side of the legend.From what Inspector Lestrade really thought of Holmes to the untold tale of his encounter with Dr. Fu Manchu, from the bitter reminiscences of him by C. Auguste Dupin to the thoughts of his longtime landlady Mrs. Hudson, the totality of the veil of mystery over the legend that is Sherlock Holmes is at last removed. With stories from Barbara Hambly, Cara Black, Peter Tremayne, and Michael...

VICTORIAN VILLAINY: A Collection of Moriarty Stories, by Michael Kurland. Among the world's great fictional villains, Prof. James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes's chief nemesis, stands alone. But how evil was he? These four stories suggest that Moriarty wasn't evil at all--and the reason for Holmes's characterization of him as "The Napoleon of Crime" was quite simple: Moriarty was the smarter of the two, and Holmes just couldn't stand it!“Years Ago and in a Different Place” first appeared in My Sherlock Holmes, ed. by Michael Kurland, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2003. Copyright © 2003, 2011 by Michael Kurland. “Reichenbach” first appeared in Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Years, ed. by Michael Kurland, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2006. Copyright © 2006, 2011 by Michael Kurland.“The Paradol Paradox” first appeared in The Infernal Device and Others, by Michael Kurland, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2001. Copyright © 2001, 2011 by Michael Kurland.“The Picture of Oscar Wilde” first appeared in The Strand Magazine, issue #XXV, June-Sept., 2008. Copyright © 2008, 2011 by Michael Kurland.

In 1891, Sherlock Holmes, in a death struggle with his archenemy Professor Moriarty, disappeared over Reichenbach Falls and was presumed dead. Until, that is, he reappeared in London in 1894. Holmes remained mostly quiet on the events of those years and for over a century speculation has run riot about what really happened during the 'hidden years.' Now in this original collection, the truth is finally revealed.  Including stories by Peter Beagle, Rhys Bowen, Bill Pronzini, Carolyn Wheat, Gary Lovisi, and others, Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Years is a must-have book for every fan who has ever wondered what really happened to the world's most famous consulting detective during his mysterious missing years.From Publishers WeeklyKurland (My Sherlock Holmes) scores again in this lively all-original anthology chronicling the "Great Hiatus," that period when Sherlock Holmes was believed dead following a tumble into Reichenbach Falls with archfiend Professor Moriarty. In Peter Beagle's engaging "Mr. Sigerson," the best of several tales featuring Holmes under his Sigerson alias, Holmes investigates a case of marital infidelity and fraud. An amnesiac Holmes finds himself in the midst of European high society in Rhys Bowen's "The Case of the Lugubrious Manservant," an appealing tale marred only by a surfeit of characters including Sigmund Freud and the Prince of Wales. Holmes is a bystander throughout most of Bill Pronzini's delightful novella "The Bughouse Caper," in which rival Victorian detective John Quincannon searches San Francisco for a serial burglar, only to be upstaged in the end by "the bloody Englishman." In Kurland's own contribution, "Reichenbach," the "Napoleon of Crime," Moriarty, narrates an imagination-stretching version of the duo's mock deaths as part of a counterplot to foil a "dastardly scheme" to discredit Britain's navy. Stories by Baker Street veterans Gary Lovisi, Carolyn Wheat and Richard Lupoff, plus others newer to the world of Holmes pastiche, round out this enjoyable volume. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the AuthorMichael Kurland is the author and editor of numerous books, most recently the thrilling Holmes/Moriarty novel The Empress of India. Twice a finalist for the Edgar Award, he lives in Petaluma, California.

Fine and Dandy chorine Lydia Laurent's strangled, nude body, accompanied by two complete suits of clothing, has been found in Central Park, and now Two-Headed Mary and Billie Trask are missing too. Since the police are as helpless as they always are in 1935, it falls to New York World columnist Alexander Brass and his cheerfully wide-eyed sidekick Morgan DeWitt to dig up the truth.

A compelling volume of original tales concerning Sherlock Holmes’ legendary time in America With an introduction by Leslie S. Klinger, editor and compiler of all three volumes of the Annotated Sherlock Holmes, this collection of ten original stories brings light to one of the least examined periods in the life of the great detective—his time in the former colonies, the United States. This Holmes is a youthful one—a young man not yet set upon his course in life and in his famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street. In Richard Lupoff ’s “Inga Sigerson Weds,” he’s come to America to represent the family at his sister’s wedding. In “My Silk Umbrella,” Mark Twain narrates his fateful encounter with Holmes at a baseball game in Hartford, Connecticut; Steve Hockensmith narrates the meeting of the young William Gillette and the object of his later, most famous turn upon the stage; and Peter Tremayne reveals the intersection of Holmes and the Irish in the 19th century American midwestern landscape. With further stories by Marta Randall, Rhys Bowen, Peter Beagle, and others, the legend, the mythology and even the history of the world’s greatest detective is further enhanced by these charming, clever and mystifying tales.From Publishers WeeklyThe 10 all-original tales in Edgar-finalist Kurland's lively third Sherlock Holmes anthology (after 2004's Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Years) chronicle the exploits of the fledgling sleuth in America, before he settled in Baker Street. Richard A. Lupoff gets the volume off to a strong start with Inga Sigerson Weds, in which the adolescent Sherlock's cash-strapped parents send him and his jealous sister across the Atlantic to a distant cousin's New York City wedding. In Darryl Brock's witty My Silk Umbrella, Holmes encounters Mark Twain at a Hartford base ball match. The detective meets another Connecticut luminary, P.T. Barnum, in Michael Mallory's droll The Sacred White Elephant of Mandalay. Dr. Watson appears once, in a postscript to Gary Lovisi's improbable The American Adventure, in which the normally emotionless Holmes falls hard for a beautiful stage actress. Other contributors include Steve Hockensmith, Peter Tremayne, and Rhys Bowen. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistNot to be confused with the recent Sherlock Holmes in America (2009), this is also a collection of short stories about the world’s first consulting detective, but these explore the life of the great sleuth before he met Dr. Watson, even before he became a consulting detective. Holmes is a young man, raw and inexperienced, eager to learn, and—let’s be blunt—annoyingly precocious (his sister, in particular, finds him “execrable” and a “bothersome stringbean”). The crimes range from the distinctly minor (a stolen umbrella, for example) to more typically serious (murder and robbery), but Holmes fans will enjoy seeing a younger, less-accomplished version of their hero in an unusual setting: America, roughly from 1875 to 1880. Fans will also enjoy the way the authors of these stories incorporate real people into their fictions: three of the stories, for example, are narrated by Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes). Consider this one a companion to the earlier Holmes-in-America anthology. --David Pitt

From BooklistSherlock Holmes as a bit player? The great detective as a somewhat bumbling doper? The reluctance of authors to let go of Conan Doyle's fog-enshrouded London has led to a new subgenre of mystery: Holmes stories in which Holmes himself has largely faded from view. This example of the new breed get the feel of Victorian London just right, while offering innovative perspectives on the character and the era.Kurland, whose four previous Professor Moriarty novels have been acclaimed for their historical accuracy and adept plotting, returns with The Great Game , which is every bit as successful as its predecessors at bringing fin de siecle Europe to brilliant life and presenting the reader with a wild alternative--that Moriarty may actually be a force for good. The action starts at 221-Baker Street, with an encounter between Holmes and Moriarty designed to bring Holmes into a case that involves both the British and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. But the center of the action remains 64 Russell Square, Moriarty's book-lined lair. The professor, helped by Holmes, works feverishly to circumvent assassination plots on Queen Victoria and Emperor Franz Josef. With the pair moving from European capital to capital, the action veers and twists like that in a contemporary spy thriller. Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedProduct DescriptionLabeled the "Napoleon of Crime" by an obsessed Sherlock Holmes, Professor James Moriarty is a prominent scientist, a keen analytical mind, and a dabbler in less than savory doings. Two friends and former associates of Moriarty - Benjamin Barnett and his wife, the former Cecily Perrine - are travelling in Europe in early 1891 when they realize that they have become objects of scrutiny from persons unknown. Things turn deadly when they find themselves in the midst of an attempted assassination of a German prince. Meanwhile in Vienna, the younger son of a British nobleman - indulging in what was then known as "The Great Game" of amateur spying - finds himself framed for the murder of his paramour and the assassination of an Austrian Duke. In London, an unknown caller arrives at Moriarty's door on a matter of great urgency. But before Moriarty can be summoned to speak with him, the stranger is shot by a crossbow bolt loosed by unseen hands. While a lesser man might be daunted, Moriarty is merely intrigued and begins to investigate. What Moriarty uncovers is a cabal that seems to be using assassination to destabilize the rule of the crowned heads of Europe. But he also senses that there is something even bigger than this operating - a conspiracy behind the conspiracy - and detects the workings of a mind quite possibly as clever as his own. Using his contacts, friends, and the not-so-desired help of his often nemesis Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty must save his friends and outwit his most cunning opponent while the fate of history hangs in the balance.

In Doyle's original stories, Professor Moriarty is the bete noire of Sherlock Holmes, who deems the professor his mental equivalent and ethical opposite, declares him "the Napoleon of Crime, " and wrestles him seemingly to their mutual deaths at Reichenbach Falls. But indeed there are two sides to every story, and while Moriarty may not always tread strictly on the side of the law, he is also, in these novels, not quite about the person that Holmes and Watson made him out to be. The Infernal Device -A dangerous adversary seeking to topple the British monarchy places Moriarty in mortal jeopardy, forcing him to collaborate with his nemesis Sherlock Holmes. Death by Gaslight- -A serial killer is stalking the cream of England's aristocracy, baffling both the police and Sherlock Holmes and leaving the powers in charge to play one last desperate card: Professor Moriarty. The Paradol Paradox -The first new Moriarty story in almost twenty years, it has never before appeared in print.

Lord Darcy and Master Wizard Sean O Lauchlainn return in this authorized sequel to the stories of Randall Garrett. In 1988, in an alternate universe in which the Plantagenets still rule Britain, France, and the New World, and where magic has displaced science, King John IV's chief detectives are called in to investigate a series of impossible murders of accomplished sorcerers. As the bodies pile up, and the monarch himself is threatened, Darcy and Sean must race against the clock to find the killer before the political balance of Europe is upset.

In an alternate history in which the Plantagenets still rule in England, France, and the New World, and where the science of magic has displaced the magic of science, Lord Darcy is the official representative of King John IV to investigate murders and other bizarre crimes, and Master Sean O Lochlainn his forensic magician sidekick.

Set in an alternative reality where "All the President's men" do not get caught at Watergate, this "shockingly believable" novel presents the frightening scenario of what could happen if a powerful but paranoid American chief executive goes out of control. "—The dirty tricks have just begun; rape, murder, plot and counterplot...are nothing to this imperial President..."—Publishers Weekly "The authors have brought a chilling sense of reality to their fast-paced, smoothly-written thriller. It may be fiction, but it is close enough to fact to be genuinely terrifying."—The Miami Herald.