Sherlock Holmes In Montague Street Volume 2 (30 page)

In the Colt Row ken over the coals the fifth dancer slides says Jerry Shiels the homey.

“ ‘Dancer,' as perhaps you didn't know, is thieves' slang for a stair, and ‘homey' is the strolling musician's name for cornet player. Of course the thing took a little time to work out, chiefly because the sentence was short, and gave one few opportunities. But anybody with the key, using the cipher as a means of communication, would read it easily.

“As soon as I had read it, of course I guessed the purport of the Flitterbat Lancers. Jerry Shiels's name is well-known to anybody with half my knowledge of the criminal records of the century, and his connection with the missing Wedlake jewels, and his death in prison, came to my mind at once. Certainly here was something hidden, and as the Wedlake jewels seemed most likely, I made the shot in talking to Hooker.”

“But you terribly astonished him by telling him his name and address. How was that?” I asked curiously.

Holmes laughed aloud. “That,” he said; “why, that was the thinnest trick of all. Why, the man had it engraved on the silver band of his umbrella handle. When he left his umbrella outside, the housekeeper (I had indicated the umbrella to her by a sign) just copied the lettering on one of the ordinary visitors' forms, and brought it in. You will remember I treated it as an ordinary visitor's announcement.” And Holmes laughed again.

Editor's note and chronology

The twenty-five Sherlock Holmes cases that were eventually rewritten as “Martin Hewitt” adventures by Holmes's neighbor and journalist friend, Brett, had numerous facts altered before publication. In addition to changing Holmes's name, description, and location of residence, Brett also altered a number of dates in these stories as well, making it appear that the narratives were spread out over a number of years, rather than over just one year.

This chronology for the “Martin Hewitt” stories shows when the adventures actually took place throughout 1876, during the time that Brett lived at upstairs from Holmes at 24 Montague Street:

1876

About the author

Arthur Morrison (1863-1945) was born and raised in the East End of London. He became a journalist and novelist, writing realistic stories telling of the lives of slum residents.

In 1894, Morrison created the character of Martin Hewitt, a London detective whose adventures were first published in
The Strand
. Morrison would go on to write twenty-five Hewitt tales.

Gradually, Morrison ceased writing fiction, and became a noted expert and collector of Japanese art.

About the editor

David Marcum began his study of the lives of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as a boy in 1975 when, while trading with a friend to obtain Hardy Boys books, he received an abridged copy of
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
, thrown in as a last-minute and little-welcomed addition to the trade. Soon after, he saw
A Study in Terror
on television and began to search out other Holmes stories, both Canon and pastiche. He borrowed way ahead on his allowance and bought a copy of the Doubleday edition of
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
and started to discover the rest of the Canon that night. His parents gave him Baring-Gould's
Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street
for Christmas and his fate was sealed.

Since that time, he has been reading and collecting literally thousands of Holmes's cases in the form of short stories, novels, movies, radio and television episodes, scripts, comic books, unpublished manuscripts, and fan-fiction. In addition, he reads mysteries by numerous other authors, including those that he considers the classics, Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot, and Holmes's logical heir, Solar Pons.

When not immersed in the activities of his childhood heroes, David is employed as a licensed civil engineer, and lives in Tennessee with his wife and son. He has finally traveled to Baker Street in London, the location he most wanted to visit in the whole world, as well as other parts of England and Scotland on an incredible trip-of-a-lifetime Holmes Pilgrimage.

Questions and comments may be addressed to:

[email protected]

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