The Devil’s Due

The Devil’s Due
Bonnie Macbird

After Art in the Blood and Unquiet Spirits, Holmes and Watson are back in the third of Bonnie MacBird’s critically acclaimed Sherlock Holmes Adventures, written in the tradition of Conan Doyle himself. It’s 1890 and the newly famous Sherlock Holmes faces his worst adversary to date – a diabolical villain bent on destroying some of London’s most admired public figures in particularly gruesome ways. A further puzzle is that suicide closely attends each of the murders. As he tracks the killer through vast and seething London, Holmes finds himself battling both an envious Scotland Yard and a critical press as he follows a complex trail from performers to princes, anarchists to aesthetes. But when his brother Mycroft disappears, apparently the victim of murder, even those loyal to Holmes begin to wonder how close to the flames he has travelled. Has Sherlock Holmes himself made a deal with the devil?

THE DEVIL’S DUE

A SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURE

Bonnie MacBird

Copyright (#ue6c06a5a-9a96-541d-b28f-564f08d3d4c9)

This book is a new and original work of fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, and other fictional characters that were first introduced to the world in 1887 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all of which are now in the public domain. The characters are used by the author solely for the purpose of story-telling and not as trademarks. This book is independently authored and published, and is not sponsored or endorsed by, or associated in any way with, Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. or any other party claiming trademark rights in any of the characters in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

COLLINS CRIME CLUB

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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © Bonnie MacBird 2019

All rights reserved

Bonnie MacBird asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Cover images © Bonnie MacBird (figures); Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com) (all other images)

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008195076

Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008195090

Version: 2019-08-22

Dedication (#ue6c06a5a-9a96-541d-b28f-564f08d3d4c9)

For my cousin, Chris Simpson

Contents

Cover (#u18879425-b670-5400-ab9d-7f6f9968f731)

Title Page (#u005cb3ec-f7d8-519f-9a23-5fcf65b78184)

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

PART ONE – LONDON

1 Fog

2 221B

3 Attack!

4 Devil and Hyde

5 Brotherly Love

PART TWO – GATHERING THE TROOPS

6 The Greater Goodwins

7 The Spice of Life

8 The Lady

9 A Question of Taste

10 The Snake and Drum

PART THREE – ALLIES AND OTHERS

11 Heffie

12 The Dogged Detective

13 The Baguette Brigade

14 Death at the Opera

15 A Voice Stilled