It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers—his uncle and aunt—in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local people die from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent.

安德魯·萊恩，英國青少年暢銷書作傢。萊恩不僅是大偵探福爾摩斯的骨灰級粉絲，擁有海量相關藏書，還是研讀福爾摩斯一係列相關作品的專傢，同時，萊恩還是唯一獲得柯南·道爾産權會授權，創作福爾摩斯青少年小說的作傢。

萊恩的代錶作還有《失落的世界》（Lost Worlds）等。