Book excerpt: In Sherlock Holmes's London, reputations are fragile and scandal can be ruinous. In order to protect the names of the good (and not-so-good), Dr Watson comes to the decision that his accounts of some of his friend's most brilliant cases must never see the light of day. Concealing the manuscripts in an old despatch box deep in the vaults of a Charing Cross bank, Dr Watson preserves the honour of others and in doing so proves himself a true gentleman as well as a good friend. But then a hundred years pass, and the mysteries outlast the memories of those they once could have harmed?An aluminium crutch betrays the criminal who relies upon it for support? An Italian Cardinal lies dead in a muddy yard in Spitalfields? What do a pair of suspiciously successful gamblers have in common with the Transylvanian mind-reader, Count Rakoczi? And can Holmes and Watson outwit the jewel thief who has the nerve to steal from the King of Scandinavia?