Michelle Birkby

Patients are dying in the hospital ward. Surely this isn't news. But to Mrs. Hudson, ill and dizzy from medication, the deaths&#8212one patient, then another, and all of them women &#8212seem sinisterly connected. Even if she's the only person who sees the connection.Mary Watson knows just how she feels, though her focus is less on sick women than on missing boys&#8212the skinny, grubby, poor ones that nobody wanted in the first place. Sherlock Holmes isn't interested in either issue; he and Dr. Watson have more important puzzles to solve. So once again, it is left to Mary and Mrs. Hudson to help the truly vulnerable, to draw lines between the dying women and the disappearing boys, and to follow those lines to their grim conclusion.

Moriarty meets Longbourn in this enthralling debut novel featuring the adventures of Mrs. Hudson and Mary Watson, perfect for fans of the Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series.Mrs. Hudson was always more than a landlady, and Sherlock Homes wasn't the only Baker Street resident with detective skill... After years of watching his habits, cleaning up his mess, and eavesdropping on interviews through a grate in the kitchen, Mrs. Hudson has learned a thing or two. So when Sherlock turns away the case of persecuted Mrs. Laura Shirley, she and Mary Watson resolve to help a fellow woman in need and take on the investigation themselves. Blackmail, libel, extortion, murder--Mary and Mrs. Hudson quickly discover that Mrs. Shirley is not the only woman at risk, and as they put together the pieces of an increasingly complicated and dangerous puzzle, the investigation becomes far bigger than either of them could have ever imagined. Enlisting the help of the Baker Street Irregulars and the infamous Irene Adler, she and Mary follow a trail of clues leading to the darkest corners of Whitechapel, where the feared Ripper is still rumored to stalk. But can Mrs. Hudson solve the case before it claims another life? Wildly compelling and told in Mrs. Hudson's intelligent, compassionate voice, The House at Baker Street is an extraordinary debut. Michelle Birkby brings to life a cast of strong, complex female characters every bit as captivating as Conan Doyle's protagonist. If it's true that behind every great man is a great woman, it is time for one of literature's finest to step into the spotlight.

As Sherlock and Watson return from the famous Hound of the Baskervilles case, Mrs Hudson and Mary must face their own Hound, in the swirling fog of Victorian London . . .When Mrs Hudson falls ill, she is taken into a private ward at St Barts hospital. Perhaps it is her over-active imagination, or her penchant for sniffing out secrets, but as she lies in her bed, slowly recovering, she finds herself surrounded by patients who all have some skeletons in their closets. A higher number of deaths than usual seem to occur on this ward. On her very first night, Mrs Hudson believes she witnesses a murder. But was it real, or just smoke and mirrors? Mary Watson meanwhile has heard about young boys disappearing across London, and is determined to find them and reunite them with their families. As the women's investigations collide in unexpected ways, a gruesome discovery in Regent's Park leads them on to a new, terrifying case.

A Mrs Hudson and Mary Watson investigation