Sherlock Holmes and The Cagliari Affair

By Dick Gillman

The receipt of a letter from the Italian ambassador finds Holmes, Watson and Mycroft together for a crucial meeting at the embassy. An important member of the Italian Royal family, known for flirting with danger in the anarchists clubs of London is in town. Holmes and Watson are retained to try to keep this Royal alive and a bomb plot tests Holmes ingenuity during a royal visit to Greenwich Observatory.

The stakes are raised when the ambassador invites Holmes and Watson to a Venetian Masked Ball to be held at the embassy. Dressed in their costumes and masks, they have to try and locate two anarchists who have infiltrated the Ball. Holmes has to devise an intiguing way to identify them and Watson has to put his trusty service revolver to good use.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dick Gillman
• Release date: Jan 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301145003

Dick Gillman

Dick Gillman is a Yorkshireman in his 70's. He retired from teaching Science in 2005 and moved from the UK to Brittany, France, in 2008 with his wife Alex, Truffle, the Black Labrador and Poppy, the cat. As well as writing, he is an accomplished digital artist and lives near the coast where the rugged landscape and the Atlantic Ocean influence his artwork. He still has strong links with the UK where he visits his two grown up children and his four grandchildren.During his retirement he has written well over thirty Sherlock Holmes short stories, many of which are published here. Successfully publishing both e-books and paperbacks, he has also been selected to contribute many stories to the superb, World Record beating and ongoing MX Sherlock Holmes anthology. His stories appear in several volumes published by MX Publishing and also in the monthly case solving letters entitled 'Dear Mr Holmes' published by Letterjoy. More are to follow in the latest volumes by MX and Letterjoy.Watch out for further Sherlock Holmes short stories throughout 2022 and treat yourself to his very latest seven story collection, 'Julia Moriarty - in memorium' which contains all seven stories in which Holmes crosses swords with the beautiful, but deadly, Julia Moriarty. This is available an e-book and can be found as a paperback at all major online bookstores.

Book preview

Sherlock Holmes

and

The Cagliari Affair

By Dick Gillman

Copyright 2012 Dick Gillman

Published at Smashwords.

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The Cagliari Affair

Second Edition

By Dick Gillman

Cover image courtesy of Stockfreeimages.com

Chapter 1 - A letter from Italy

It was a dark, February evening in 1894 when Holmes returned tired and wet to our rooms in Baker Street. In recent weeks, Holmes had solved the case of The Bishop's Tie Pin. He had also convinced brother Mycroft to exert a little pressure on the government so that the bishop could discretely retire without the threat of a scandal.

Homes threw off his Macintosh and slumped into his favourite chair, drew up his legs and reached for his Meerschaum and the Persian slipper in which he kept his tobacco. I did not disturb him during this time but let him relax. Like all great minds, he needed time to slowly return to the mundane matter of simply living. Perhaps now he would at least have an appetite. Mrs Hudson had taken me to one side on several occasions in recent weeks as Holmes had eaten so little and she was concerned for his health. She had often taken away her serving tray with Holmes's meal untouched.

After several minutes, our sitting room had become somewhat hazy with tobacco smoke and I could see that a calm had settled upon Holmes. So much so that he was now using his pipe stem as a baton to conduct some piece of music which he was playing in his head.

You know Watson, I am forever intrigued by the intricacies of Vivaldi's work. and he began to reach for his beloved Stradivarius. As he reached out, he stopped as his hand passed over the small silver tray upon which Mrs Hudson brought up our mail. Hello, what's this?

On the tray were a couple of letters which had lain untouched since the afternoon post arrived at about 2 p.m. Holmes gathered up the two letters and selected the lower one. His eyes gleamed as he took in every detail of the envelope, turning it over, holding it to his nose and them up towards the flickering gas light by the fireplace. With a twinkle in his eye and a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth he tossed the envelope towards me. What do you make of that Watson?

I was used to Holmes's humour and was not at all offended when he offered me a challenge. I knew it was not him thumbing his nose at me by showing off his superior powers of observation and deduction...although...he did get some pleasure from watching me struggle as I tried to apply his own methods in my amateurish way.

I caught the envelope and examined it in the same way as I had seen Holmes do. I swear that I could hear a slight chuckle coming from his direction. "Well, the envelope seems to be of a quality paper, it has been stamped correctly and franked in Belgravia. The handwriting is well formed, neat and precise and written