It is 1868, the week that Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister of
the Empire. Sherlock's beautiful but poor admirer, Beatrice, the
hatter's daughter, appears at the door late at night. She is terrified,
claiming that she and her friend have just been attacked by the Spring
Heeled Jack on Westminster Bridge and the fiend has made off with her
friend. At first Sherlock thinks Beatrice simply wants his attention,
and he is reluctant to go back to detective work. He also believes that
the Jack everyone fears is a fictional figure. But soon he is suspicious
of various individuals, several of them close friends.
Set at a time when many in England were in a state of fear because a Jew
was running the country, Shane Peacock presents a compelling story
filled with an atmosphere of paranoia and secrets and surprises played
out on late-night London streets. Sherlock gets drawn deeper and deeper
into the pursuit of the Spring Heeled Jack, whose attacks grow in number
until it seems that there are Jacks everywhere.
The Secret Fiend is the fourth book in Shane Peacock's award-winning
Boy Sherlock Holmes series, combining brilliant storytelling with
fascinating historical detail and a mystery worthy of one of the
greatest sleuths in English literature.