Sherlock Holmes: A Seasonal Tale

By Orlando Pearson

Giallo - novelette (35 pagine) - A Sherlock Holmes story with many contemporary resonances

“Is this the ending of days?” gasps Watson in this ground-breaking story of religion and the climate change.

Holmes is petitioned by the groom of the Bedlam lunatic asylum to investigate a mysterious birth that has taken place there.

And after the notorious winter of 1894/5, an inscrutable politician, gives Holmes a commission to investigate whether the climate is changing and whether industrialisation is the cause.

Holmes’s investigation into both cases has ambiguous results and Holmes is left to philosophise on the parallels between the two.

A Sherlock Holmes story with many contemporary resonances.

Orlando Pearson, creator of the well-known Redacted Sherlock Holmes series, commutes into London during the day and communes with the spirits of Baker Street by night.

An international businessman, his interests include classical music, history, literature, current affairs, sport and economics. All these themes find their way into his stories which are being translated into German and Italian.

Mr Pearson is married with two children and lives near Wisteria Lodge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Delos Digital
• Release date: Dec 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9788825418583

Book preview

A Seasonal Tale

My reader will need no reminding of the extreme cold of the early months of 1895. The winter of 1894/1895 brought only two cases to add to my annals – one in late December 1894, immediately preceding the advent of polar conditions across the country, and one that came our way at the end of March 1895 just as the last frosts were clearing. Holmes was able to resolve neither case to his full satisfaction, but both threw up similar, profoundly existential questions of a type Holmes and I never explored at any other time. Furthermore, these two cases occurred next to one another in the list of cases we investigated and, although their main events took place several months apart, they reached their conclusion within minutes of each other. Accordingly, it makes sense to treat both under one narrative.

The 25th of December 1894 dawned gloomily. Holmes looked out of our window onto the street below and then up at the sky as it at last became light just after breakfast.

"That the Romans felt the need at this time of year for a celebration of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun, should not surprise us, he commented sombrely. The Stygian darkness in these last days of December is all but unending, and the human desire to seek a pattern in events that are either random or beyond our control almost irresistible. On our first acquaintance, good doctor, I said to you that I get a bit in the dumps sometimes but that I soon get right. This unending dreariness allied to an absence of any stimulating work is just the sort of thing to precipitate such a mood and it is but a paltry comfort that the winter solstice is now behind us."

The sky was indeed a leaden grey and, as I pointed out to Holmes, although he gave no sign that he had heard my remark, the most colourful thing to be seen from our window was the dun brickwork of the buildings opposite us. It was soon after this exchange that, to my great relief, our sitting room played host to a new petitioner, although the man who interrupted our gloomy observations was the most down-at-heel client we had ever received. Holmes had previously remarked that his most interesting cases tended to come from the needier classes of society, but when I looked at the ragged and aged figure in front of us on that early morning, I confess that I had the lowliest expectations.

My name is Michael, he said after much prevarication and obfuscation, which I abbreviate for the sake of clarity, and I am a groom at the stables of the great lunatic asylum in St George’s Fields in Southwark. There have been some very strange goings-on over the last two days and I thought I should discuss them with someone, but I had no idea who the right person might be. There is a very big stable at the hospital, but it is largely for the use of visitors coming to see their sick relatives. So a groom always needs to be present as the hospital has visitors at all hours of the day or night and our doctors work some strange hours. I normally work through the night to make sure that all is well.

Pray continue, said my friend leaning forwards in his chair. I could see from his expression that he was keenly interested by what our visitor was saying, even though I could not see where this