Now it can be told: Sherlock Holmes starred in still more real-life adventures, bringing to book such varied miscreants as the serial poisoner Dr. Thomas Neill Cream and the brides-in-the-bath killer George Joseph Smith. Read full book review >

Highlights of Victorian low-life, from costermongers' barrows, East End brothels, and "penny gaffs" to Scotland Yard, the court system, and the prison hulks. Read full book review >

Thomas (Dancing in the Dark, 1993, etc.) drags the inimitable detective out of retirement still again to investigate seven mysteries closely based on historical fact, from the alleged bigamy of George V (a case that brings him to the attention of Professor Moriarty) to the theft of the Irish crown jewels from an impregnable strongroom. Read full book review >

Undaunted by the news that three of shady Sonny Tarrant's intimates have just been murdered, petty con Johnny McIver—and his mistress and frequent photographic subject Solitaire (nÇe Sally Brown)—plot to empty out Tarrant's safe, succeeding to their sorrow: When McIver turns down an offer from a Tarrant underling to buy back the hot ú5 notes at a steep discount, he finds himself abandoned by the money-changer who'd promised him more, framed for the murder of Solitaire, and on the run from the police as well as Tarrant. Read full book review >