The Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes [*SIGNED*]

London: Constable. Near Fine in Fine dj. 1997. First Edition. Hardcover. [page edges very lightly tanned, former owner's initials plus name & place of purchase in ink on rear pastedown (concealed beneath rear jacket flap); the jacket itself is flawless]. SIGNED by the author on the title page. A collection of seven Holmes pastiches, the fourth such book by this author, the conceit here being that the stories were "allegedly written by Dr. John Watson [and] were discovered in the battered despatch box deposited at his bank, Cox and Co." ("Aubrey B. Watson" was the purported inheritor of the manuscripts, bequeathed to her by an uncle who also happened to be named John Watson, which coincidence led to his obtaining the box in question.) The stories here are of cases "mentioned in the canon but which, for various reasons, have not been published before, including the theft of the Vatican cameos, the cunning arrest of Huret the Boulevard assassin and the terrible death of Crosby the banker, in which a repulsive red leech played a significant part." Signed by Author .