Dr. Watson was the chronicler of every Sherlock Holmes adventure published in The Strand magazine between 1887 and 1927. He reported them with honesty in the bluff, army-style of a military doctor, so frank in their account of human behaviour that they were too risque for the morals of Victorian England. George Newnes, the editor, purged each story before its publication. Newnes also replaced Watson’s jocular illustrations with Sidney Paget’s more innocuous portrayals.

Newnes deleted everybody’s backgrounds but in these accounts Watson reveals Holmes’s family: his father, Professor Julian Cornelius Bortzoy Holmes; his wife, Wendy; his sister, Rachel, as well as Mycroft. Watson also exposes Mrs. Hudson’s property empire and he tells us how Professor Moriarty became the Napoleon of crime. Some of this new material is shocking, even by today’s standards!

Book 2 synopsis, Mr. Jabez Wilson is the most laborious man in London but he has a mysterious story that fascinates Sherlock Holmes and interests Dr. Watson (because he has funds to pay for their services). They head for the City of London taking in a lunch with Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy before grappling with John Watson’s Great-uncle Eric in bizarre circumstances.