Hugh Ashton

Doctor John Watson tantalisingly informed us, in The Problem of Thor Bridge, that a box full of unpublished adventures of Sherlock Holmes had been left in the vaults of Cox & Co. of Charing Cross. However, what Watson neglected to tell us was that more than one such box existed, containing accounts of the great detective which had hitherto remained unknown, save for cryptic hints dropped by Watson in the published stories.Hugh Ashton, recognised to be one of the leading writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, edited Watson's manuscripts from the first box and prepared them for publication. This formed the "Deed Box" series of adventures, with the second box forming "Dispatch-Box" series. After these two boxes originally belonging to Doctor Watson had been examined and the stories therein edited by Ashton, a third box was discovered, containing a pipe, a Persian slipper, and a battered Gladstone bag. The bag in its turn contained many notebooks. These notebooks held accounts, in Watson's almost illegible doctor's handwriting, of more cases of the most famous of all sleuths, most of which have now been edited and published in volumes of the MX Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories.Fourteen of these adventures are brought together here in one volume for the first time.The book also includes a foreword by eminent Sherlockian and editor of the MX Volumes, David Marcum.The stories are traditional in style and plotting, remaining faithful to the Canonical originals, but add depth to the characters of Holmes, Watson, and those around them, while taking nothing away from the originals by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The much-loved Mapp and Lucia novels of E.F.Benson are sadly too few in number. The Tilling Smugglers is the fifth in Hugh Ashton's series which have satisfied the wishes of Mapp and Lucia fans around the world for more adventures of the famous pair. The first four books, written in the style of the originals, have been much praised and enjoyed .In this story, a new character from the theatrical world appears when Lucia is appointed to entertain a visiting Royal personage with a pageant. And at the same time, Major Benjy and Elizabeth Mapp-Flint make a surprising, but also disturbing, discovery.Join your old friends in Tilling: Georgie, the Padre and Evie, Major Benjy, Quaint Irene, dear Diva, and of course Elizabeth Mapp-Flint and Lucia, as they plot and scheme in their attempts to lead Tilling Society.

Elizabeth Mapp-Flint seeks to regain her status as the leader of Tilling society by holding a New Year's Eve party to which Lucia brings two unexpected and not entirely welcome guests, causing embarrassment, if not chaos. Elizabeth redoubles her social offensive by introducing an alternative to Tilling's traditional games of bridge, brought back from India many years before by her husband, Major Benjy. Such a state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue, as Lucia offers a different form of entertainment, and battle between these two formidable hostesses commences.A Tilling New Year tells the story of a slice of life in the Tilling of the Mapp and Lucia novels by E.F.Benson, and is written in sincere tribute to these comicbut yet sympathetic portraits of middle-class society in England in the 1920s and 1930s. It is the fourth book in Hugh Ashton's Mapp and Lucia series, following Mapp at Fifty, Mapp's Return, and La Lucia, which have been enjoyed by fans of the original stories:

Mrs Emmeline Lucas, known to all as "la Lucia", is the undisputed social and cultural leader of the quiet, but refined country village of Riseholme. Together with her husband, and her devoted courtier Georgie Pillson, she leads her subjects in hunts for Roman remains and fossils. Meanwhile two very different visitors arrive in the village, and the balance of Riseholme power is temporarily upset.La Lucia looks at life in Riseholme before the start of the Mapp and Lucia novels by E.F.Benson, and is written in sincere tribute to these comic but yet sympathetic portraits of middle-class society in England in the 1920s and 1930s. It is the third book in Hugh Ashton's Mapp and Lucia series, following Mapp at Fifty and Mapp's Return, which have been enjoyed by fans of the original stories:

Originally published in 1952 and as a second edition in 1967 this volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the Basuto people and their changing culture, and reviews the developments and changes leading up to 1966 when Basutoland achieved independence as Lesotho. It describes in detail daily lives, the education and upbringing of children, initiation, marriage, economic activities and political developments within and outside the country. It includes a discussion of tribal and modern law and the workings of the courts and a study of the part played by magic and sorcery and an analysis of the motives leading to the out break of 'medicine' murders in the 1940s.

Elizabeth Mapp-Flint of Tilling is approaching her fiftieth birthday, and plans a party to celebrate the event. However, as so often happens in Tilling, things don't go entirely according to plan, as Major Benjy, her husband, over-refreshes himself at the party, and presents her with an entirely unwelcome birthday gift. Meanwhile, Emmeline ("Lucia") Pillson and her husband Georgie, together with the rest of Tilling look on as Elizabeth's sister, the existence of whom had been hitherto unsuspected, visits Tilling and exposes a few family secrets.Mapp at Fifty is written in sincere tribute to the original Mapp and Lucia novels by E.F.Benson, comic but yet sympathetic portraits of middle-class society in England in the 1920s and 1930s.

Eleven stories in a darker mood from Hugh Ashton, the acclaimed author of the Deed Box and Dispatch-box of Sherlock Holmes adventures. Settings range from a 16th-century Italian galley, through a 19th century country house, to the author's home city of Lichfield. Contains strong language and adult themes.

Sherlock Holmes travels to Rugeley in Staffordshire, and investigates mysterious happenings at the site of a vicious crime committed some sixty years earlier.

Brian Finch-Malloy: school chess and fencing champion, crack shot, former officer in the British Army's Coldstream Guards, and private in the army of the Confederacy.He is now on the run from the British Secret Service, the Confederacy, and from Hermann Goering of the German National Socialist Workers' Party. Working with a group of Confederates and Germans, he must find a way to prevent an unholy alliance between President Jefferson Davis III's Confederate States of America and Adolf Hitler's Germany.David Slater: private in the Army of the Confederacy, with talents for chess and calligraphy, both of which take him on unexpected adventures; to Germany, and in the Zeppelin Bismarck, where he meets Hitler, Goering, and other Nazi functionaries.Beneath Gray Skies tells of a past that never happened, where the Confederacy survived into the 20th century, and a giant airship soars through the air, carrying a fabulous and mysterious treasure across the Atlantic.

When his business card is found in the pocket of a man who has died under the wheels of a train at Shinjuku station in Tokyo, Kenneth Sharpe's life takes a turn for the worse. The stakes start high, and rise higher, as Sharpe and his friends take on the might of the financial world against the backdrop of the 2008 Wall Street collapse, and the ruin of the global financial markets. This edition includes an appendix containing sections of the original first draft written in 2007, which described an earthquake rocking Tokyo and causing a nuclear accident. These were replaced in the final published edition by descriptions of the effects of the Lehman Shock. However, with the events of March 11, 2011, the first draft has proved disturbingly prophetic. Best-selling Sherlock Holmes author Hugh Ashton lived in Japan for over 25 years, working in the technology and financial services sectors. At the Sharpe End was his second published novel, following the acclaimed alternative history Beneath Gray Skies.

Five adventures of the celebrated consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, occurring before he met his "Boswell", Doctor John H. Watson (late Indian Army).

Originally published in 1952 and as a second edition in 1967 this volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the Basuto people and their changing culture, and reviews the developments and changes leading up to 1966 when Basutoland achieved independence as Lesotho. It describes in detail daily lives, the education and upbringing of children, initiation, marriage, economic activities and political developments within and outside the country. It includes a discussion of tribal and modern law and the workings of the courts and a study of the part played by magic and sorcery and an analysis of the motives leading to the out break of 'medicine' murders in the 1940s.

Another discovery from the vaults of Cox and Co., the old London bank which had forwarded the Deed Box of John H Watson to the author last year. The Dispatch Box contains all manner of illuminating documents about Messrs. Holmes and Watson. Of particular interest are what the author refers to as The Affair of the Vatican Cameos, the Reigate Poisoning Case, with a shocking conclusion, and a document apparently written by the man Holmes himself called 'the fourth smartest man in London', John Clay.

The second box ("the dispatch-box") to be discovered in the vaults of Cox & Co. of Charing Cross has been the source of even more discoveries concerning the celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes. Included in this volume are four tales, all referenced in the canonical originally published adventures: The Abernetty Horror: A bloody crime in a Welsh fishing village points to one seemingly obvious answer. Holmes brings his reasoning powers to bear on the parsley and butter to discover the true solution (mentioned in The Six Napoleons). The Finsbury House: "the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland, that so nearly cost us both our lives" (The Norwood Builder). The Curious Affair of the Archdeacon: Mentioned in passing at the beginning of the Red Circle, this case is more light-hearted than many of Holmes' adventures. An Account of the Victor Lynch Forgery: An account of an early case of Sherlock Holmes, related not by Watson, but by Inspector Lestrade, in the form of a letter to the good doctor, following the events at Meiringen. Mentioned in both Study in Scarlet and the Sussex Vampire. This collection includes a Foreword from consulting Sherlockian Dr. Philip. C. Eyster, who writes, "I had only read a few pages of his initial story, when I knew that Mr. Ashton has not only the skill but also the deep-felt desire to faithfully add to the canon the same Sherlock as came from the pen of Arthur Conan Doyle over 100 years ago."

Tales of Old Japanese is a collection of five short stories of the older generation living in contemporary Japan. The author spent over 25 years living in the country, working as a writer and journalist. Some of his impressions of Japan and of the people who live there have been recorded in: Keiko's House: An old house, its history, and the history of those who have lived there in the past. Haircuts: When 92-year-old Mr Kato changes his barber, his life takes on a surprising new meaning. Click: One photograph every day. The memories of twenty years, all neatly arranged in albums. Mrs Terada's camera sees everything. Mrs Sakamoto's Grouse: When Mrs Sakamoto sees a new brand of whisky on the shelves of her local neighbourhood shop, the result is unexpected. The Old House: Two boys play in the garden of a deserted house once owned by a notorious miser; which turns out not to be deserted after all.