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.