Before Watson

It is Spring, 1874, and 20-year-old Sherlock Holmes is a lonely, mopey, friendless Oxford student. He attends classes and spends countless solitary hours conducting chemical experiments, reading, and playing his violin. Suddenly, his life changes because of a serendipitous moment on campus. While walking on the grounds of the university and practicing fencing moves with his foil, he encounters Victor Trevor and his sweetheart, Poppy Stamford, younger sister of the man who will one day introduce Sherlock to Dr. John Watson.

It is 1878, and Dr. Poppy Stamford has reluctantly rekindled her relationship with Sherlock Holmes. Though it has been almost four years since they parted on uneasy terms and while he continues to suppress his feelings for her, they are still intrigued and inspired - and frustrated - by each other. When her beloved uncle is arrested in relation to a series of murders near the British Museum, Poppy and the burgeoning detective set out to find the evidence to set him free.

Dr. Poppy Stamford, sister of the man who would introduce John Watson to Sherlock Holmes, teams up once again with Sherlock in a new adventure. One of Sherlock's Baker Street Irregulars, Wiggins, uncovers a dismembered body in a shallow grave. Poppy and Sherlock set out to solve the murder and suddenly discover that it may be linked to the mysterious mutilation of Her Majesty's swans.

In the fourth and final book in the Before Watson series, Sherlock Holmes and his companion and assistant, Dr. Poppy Stamford, embark on their greatest adventure yet. They are charged with solving not just one case, but three.