The Italian Secretary a Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes by Carr, Caleb - 2005

New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 2005. Hardcover. 0786715480 . This first edition first printing red hardcover is crisp, unbumped, and has only a few tiny brown spots near the spine of the lower page block. The dust jacket has a little edge curling and a few small scratches. ; 1.08 x 8.84 x 6.12 Inches; 263 pages; Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are summoned to the aid of Queen Victoria in Scotland by a telegram from HolmesÆ brother, Mycroft, a royal advisor. Rushed northward on a royal trainùand nearly murdered themselves en routeùthe pair are soon joined by Mycroft, and learn of the brutal killings of two of the QueenÆs servants, a renowned architect and his foreman, both of whom had been working on the renovation of the famous and forbidding Royal Palace of Holyrood, in Edinburgh. Mycroft has enlisted his brother to help solve the murders that may be key elements of a much more elaborate and pernicious plot on the QueenÆs life. But the circumstances of the two victimsÆ deaths also call to HolmesÆ mind the terrible murderùin Holyroodùof "The Italian Secretary, " David Rizzio. Only Rizzio, a music teacher and confidante of Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered three centuries ago. Holmes proceeds to alarm Watson with the announcement that the Italian SecretaryÆs vengeful spirit may have taken the lives of the two men as punishment for disturbing the scene of his assassination. Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Caleb CarrÆs brilliant new offering takes the Conan Doyle tradition to remarkable new heights with this spellbinding tale. .