Showing results by narrator "David Ian Davies" in All Categories

The Red-Headed League - Holmes and Doyle pull out all the stops for this classic Conan Doyle story. Of all the many excellent tales in life of Sherlock Holmes this must rate amongst the most perplexing of them all. Why would a pawnbroker have to copy out in long-hand the complete Encyclopedia Britannica, word for word, and what bearing can the knees of a man's trousers have on the case?

James M. Dodd comes to see Holmes about a missing friend, Godfrey Emsworth. Dodd and Emsworth served together in the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa during the Second Boer War, which has only just ended. Emsworth was wounded and Dodd has not seen him since the report of his injury. He also has not received any letters from him in six months. Since Emsworth has always been such a good friend, Dodd is inclined to assume that something must be amiss.

One Voice Recordings' presentation of Matthew Elliott's excellent new Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Holmes is contacted by a cracksman, or thief, who has entered a residence to commit a 'routine' crime and found a decaying body stuffed in the chimney. Holmes' investigation leads him to the governmental office of his older brother, Mycroft, as the case takes on larger and more ominous dimensions.

"A curious experience? said the Doctor. Yes, my friends, I have had one very curious experience. I never expect to have another, for it is against all doctrines of chances that two such events would befall any one man in a single lifetime. You may believe me or not, but the thing happened exactly as I tell it." The opening lines of Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Beetle Hunter" promise much and deliver as only Doyle can do.

Kennedy and Burger are rivals seeking fame, the one young and rich, the other old and crafty. They will head out, Burger in the lead, to enter and explore one of history's legends: The catacombs of old Rome in all its violent glory, where lie the decaying remains of Christians hunted down, tried and murdered. But there is more to this trip than we realize at its beginning.

Dr. Aloysius Lana, a "Black Doctor" of Spanish ancestry, has settled in a Lancashire town and courted Miss Frances Morton, a young woman of the local gentry. After he unexpectedly breaks off their engagement, he is found dead, and Frances' brother is arrested.

Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate when the body of an Italian diplomat is discovered in the River Thames, his torso horrifically mutilated. Fearing the political repercussions - the diplomat being in London to initiate talks regarding a secret naval treaty between the two nations - the Government entrust Holmes with the delicate task of uncovering the truth behind the brutal murder. Events take a shocking turn, however, when a young solicitor is found slain in the East End, his body similarly mutilated.

Holmes must recover a highly inflammatory stolen document, which may result in a world war if its contents become known to certain parties. Then a murder further complicates the desperate situation.

A crime with no apparent motive, the murder of Willoughby Smith, invalid Professor Coram’s secretary, puzzles the great detective.

A holiday in the country after Holmes suffers an attack of nervous exhaustion develops into a crime investigation, and then one of the detective's cases. A family retainer has been murdered, but the points of evidence seem completey awry.

Watson joins Holmes late one night as the detective takes on the case of an army officer who has died an apparently violent death. He is found in a pool of blood, his head savagely struck during an argument with his wife, who is now incapacitated by the traumatic event. Yet there is evidence that suggests the presence of a third party in the locked room - and even a strange, curtain-climbing animal of unknown origins.

In this adventure we are at last introduced to Sherlock Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, the only relative of whom Watson’s friend has ever openly spoken during their long assocation. Mycroft, says Sherlock Holmes, is Sherlock’s superior in intelligence and observation but cannot put the gifts to practical use. They stroll to the singular accomodations of the Diogenes Club, and as Dr. Watson becomes acquainted with the elder Holmes, Mycroft introduces them to a Grecian interpreter.

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place: Evidence of murder, ransacked ancient mummies, giving away a beloved dog, and a horse race upon which a man's life and future depend are just four of the elements of this Holmes story, making it one of the most memorable (and chilling) cases in the Sherlockian Canon.

So often associated with science fiction and stories of the supernatural, H. G. Wells also had a flair for the comedic and the absurd. His short story "Mr. Brisher's Treasure" delights with a title character given to broad, slapstick behavior and mannerisms that could make one nearly drop their book chuckling. The treasure trove he discovers in the most unlikely of places leads to impromptu plotting to take possession of it right under the noses of others.

When a young governess, unemployed and desperate for a position, accepts a job with a couple living in a remote country home, her positive first impressions of the man and his family begin to change. With a mixture of fear and uncertainty, she asks Sherlock Holmes to investigate the increasingly disturbing events that have begun to unfold around her.

After some time of not meeting him, Tevye the Milkman meets Sholom Aleichem, the story's primary narrator as well as its author, and begins to tell of the troubles that have come on him (turning his hair gray) because of his gullibility, fatalism, and obedience to God, which make him an easy target for misfortune.

The novel tells the story of impoverished, embarrassment-prone Archibald "Archie" Moffam and his difficult relationship with his art-collecting, hotel-owning, millionaire father-in-law, Daniel Brewster, who is the father of Archie's new bride, Lucille. Archie's attempts to ingratiate himself with Brewster only get him further into trouble.

A call comes for Holmes' assistance from Inspector Hopkins. The facts behind the murder of Sir Eustace Brackenstall during an invasion robbery seem simple enough, until a possible lie by his wife, and inconsistencies in the evidence, suggest her accounts of the crime may be disguising the truth for personal reasons.

A visitor to Wisteria Lodge awakens one morning to discover everyone else has vanished.

A banker accepts a priceless British artifact as collateral for a loan and it is promptly stolen from his home's safe. Circumstances point to the banker's son, who bitterly denies taking it. Holmes allows his investigation to follow the trail of evidence, come what may.