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61 pages

English

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Holmes is summoned to Geneva by the legendary "Sisi," Empress Elisabeth of Austria, to "rake through the coals of Mayerling" and learn the true fate of Crown Prince Rudolf, her dead son.

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	25 août 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781787058262
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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The Adventure of the Inconvenient Heir Apparent
Part Two of Sherlock Holmes and the Crowned Heads of Europe
Thomas A. Turley

Published in 2021 by
MX Publishing
www.mxpublishing.com
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2021 Thomas A. Turley
The right of Thomas A. Turley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Edited by Thomas A. Turley
Illustrated by Marcia Wilson
Cover design by Brian Belanger

For my Mom
Catherine Coen Turley (1929-2017)
Who introduced me to Sherlock Holmes
When I was a little older

Preface and Acknowledgments
By Thomas A. Turley
It is fitting that the last of these four stories, all written near the end of Dr. Watson’s life, quotes Sir Edward Grey’s prophetic words on the evening of August 3, 1914. Just as Grey feared, the lamps of the Europe he had known would not be lit again. The halcyon days of Queen Victoria, still comfortably ensconced in the memories of Sherlock Holmes and his biographer, were gone for good. No wonder, then, that the tales explore a fateful theme: the “quarter-century of rivalry and tension” that led Great Britain and the German Empire to a ruinous trial of strength.
As the Great Detective noted, events recounted in these stories had “an unfortunate cumulative effect.” Frederick III is almost a forgotten figure; yet, in 1870 he foretold the course of German history for the next seventy-five years. The Liebestod at Mayerling, the fate of the beautiful Sisi, are remembered as personal tragedies afflicting the stoical old emperor who presided over his decaying realm for seven decades, to the tune of a Strauss waltz. Franz Josef appears within these pages in a rather different light. Watson also reveals the true nationality of “The King of Bohemia,” whose even more inept successor was overthrown by rivals who would light the “Balkan powder keg,” igniting a cataclysm that would bring down Holmes and Watson’s “vanished world.”
Prior to taking up his pen in 1928, the Doctor had consulted contemporary sources on the origins and outbreak of the war: Allied propaganda, Emil Ludwig’s biography of Kaiser Wilhelm (who wrote his own memoir), Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s collection of the Empress Frederick’s letters, and the opinions of revisionist historians such as Sidney Bradshaw Fay. The present editor has augmented these accounts with recent studies. It is remarkable how frequently the words of Watson’s royalty, courtiers, soldiers, and doctors are echoed in letters, diaries, and reminiscences found in the published works. For all this confirmation of his work’s veracity, the Doctor’s chief accomplishment is to show the “human” side of eminent figures his readers have encountered (if at all) only in the history books.
More than ever before in his stories, Watson also shows the human side of Sherlock Holmes. We are privy to his last encounter with The Woman whom (as the Doctor finally reveals to us) Holmes loved. We see Our Hero fail, far more ignominiously and tragically than in the Irene Adler case. And on this occasion, Holmes not only exhibits but admits to his emotions, explaining how he dealt with them as he pursued his work. He reproaches those of us who would define him as a “reasoning machine” incapable of feeling. “The ‘great detective,’ we are admonished sternly, “must not be equated with the inner man.”
Readers may become annoyed by the relative inconclusiveness of the four stories. An unhappy reviewer of “A Scandal in Serbia” (which first appeared in the anthology The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes, Part VI) complained that “There seemed to be no clear outcome to the adventure. . . .” Please note, therefore—as Watson does regretfully in his Introduction—that he and Holmes could not arrest the destined course of history. Despite the best efforts of Our Heroes, in the “fateful summer” of 1914 the cases’ “long-delayed results combined with terrible effect.” Two shots rang out at Sarajevo, the Great War began, and The Crowned Heads of Europe eventually fell victim to their folly. “Our endeavours,” concluded the Doctor, “had but postponed their fall and preserved our own country from immediate destruction. Yet,” as he consoled himself, “that in itself is a good deal.” Whether it is enough to satisfy readers of these stories I shall leave to them.
***
In a way, Crowned Heads has been percolating since my childhood, when my mom gave me A Treasury of Sherlock Holmes. Although HOUN and SPEC were my favourites, I also liked the stories that dealt with espionage and military matters: NAVA, BRUC, and (of course) LAST. By the time I arrived in graduate school at the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt, I had developed special interests in Anglo-German relations, Austria-Hungary, and Sarajevo. A student job at the Vanderbilt medical library brought to my attention Sir Morell Mackenzie’s fascinating (if sad, polemical, and gruesome) account of “Frederick the Noble’s” tragic end. Thus was laid the groundwork for my senescent editing of Watson’s notes. I started the project soon after retiring from the Alabama state archives in 2016, having no idea that I would take so long to finish it.
Thanks are first due to several people from my distant past, some of whom, alas, are long deceased. University of Tennessee professors Galen Broeker, Paul Pinckney, and (in a back-handed fashion) Arthur Haas helped to stimulate my interest in the topics covered here, as did my doctoral committee at Vanderbilt. Crowned Heads might be seen as a belated sequel to my Ph.D. dissertation on late-Victorian British defence policy, although surely not the one my professors had expected. One more thank-you from those days: my fellow grad student and long-time friend John Shedd, now retired from a distinguished career in education, offered astute criticism and support throughout the project.
On the Sherlockian side, the list is even longer. Publisher Steve Emecz has been unfailingly helpful and encouraging from the time he accepted my first story seven years ago. My friend and editor, David Marcum, not only forgave me for a shockingly un-canonical beginning, but allowed me to invade his own literary universe, as cited in the bibliography. Marcia Wilson, whose striking illustrations illuminate this volume, wrote my first positive review. Her books on Lestrade and his fellow Scotland Yarders remain a constant inspiration. It is to the most “literary” of Sherlockians (and retired English teacher), Daniel D. Victor, that Crowned Heads’ readers owe the absence of 117 end notes that swamped the e-book edition of “The Dying Emperor.” S.F. Bennett gave that work a kind review, and her depiction of the edgy relationship between the two best-known Holmes brothers has informed my own. Other Sherlockian colleagues I should thank are: Brian Belanger (who designed the book’s cover), Derrick Belanger, Richard Gillman, and Chris Redmond.
Several friends and family members (Greg Parsons, Larry White, my daughter Catherine, and my son Bryan) have read and offered encouragement about these stories. So has my wife Paula, who—having gone through this before back in the ‘Eighties—was incredibly patient with the hours I spent each day wandering in Sherlockian Europe. Her love sustained me, as it has for over forty years.
February 20, 2021

The Adventure of the Inconvenient Heir-Apparent
Part Two of Sherlock Holmes and the Crowned Heads of Europe

Introduction
By John H. Watson, M.D.
During the long and distinguished career of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, he was often called upon to serve the British government, or one of the then-reigning monarchies of Europe, in cases of exceeding delicacy. As my friend’s biographer, I was required to exercise more than usual discretion when writing of such cases, or those that could be presented to the public if suitably disguised. Some of these disguises were inadequate, I fear, for readers with more than a passing knowledge of contemporary politics. No doubt they identified “Lord Bellinger” or “the Duke of Holderness” with ease, aware that no “King of Bohemia” had ruled an independent kingdom for four centuries. Nevertheless, given the gravity of the events behind them, these mythical figures had to populate my stories in order for them to be read at all.
Surely, the necessity for such feeble deceptions has now passed. Our Victorian statesmen have long since departed the political arena. The Great War has swept away the dynasties of Europe. It becomes possible, therefore, to write openly of cases Holmes could not have permitted to be published, a decade ago, even in the fictionalised manner I have hitherto employed. All but one of the royal principals are dead, and the survivor’s reputation cannot be diminished further by my revelations. These four inconclusive cases—two of which date back over thirty years—may finally be recorded, although they shall not be published until well beyond my lifetime. Had the facts behind them been made public at the time, each would have resulted in