Wolfe, Sebastian - The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes II / Вульф, Себастьян - Злоключения Шерлока Холмса II [1991, EPUB, ENG]

Introduction Sebastian Wolfe
The Martian Crown Jewels / Сокровища марсианской короны Poul Anderson
From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes Maurice Baring
The Anomaly of the Empty Man Anthony Boucher
The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber John Dickson Carr
The Adventure of the Conk-Singleton Papers John Dickson Carr
The Adventures of the Snitch in Time August Derleth and Mack Reynolds
The Adventure of the Dog in the Knight Robert L. Fish
The Adventure of the Three Madmen Philip Jose Farmer
Mr Montalba, Obsequist H.F. Heard
A Trifling Affair H.R.F. Keating
The Great Detective (= Maddened by Mystery) / ПОМЕШАВШИЙСЯ НА ТАЙНЕ, ИЛИ ДЕФЕКТИВНЫЙ ДЕТЕКТИВ Stephen Leacock
The Singularge Experiece of Miss Anne Duffield John Lennon
The Affair of the Midnight Midget Ardath Mayhar
From a Detective’s Notebook P.G. Wodehouse

In glancing through my notebook delineating the many odd adventures which I was fortunate enough to share with my good friend Mr. Schlock Homes in the early months of the year ’68, I find it difficult to select any single one as being truly indicative of his profound ability to apply his personal type of analytical Verwirrung, which, taken at its ebb, so often led him on to success. There was, of course, the case of the nefarious card-cheat whom Homes so cleverly unmasked in a young men’s health organization in the small village of Downtree in Harts—a case I find noted in my journal as The Adventure of the Y-Bridge. It is also true that during this period he was of particular assistance to the British Association of Morticians in a case whose details are buried somewhere in my files but which resulted, as I recall, in a National Day being set aside in their honor. While it remains a relatively unimportant matter, the tale still is recorded in my case-book as The Boxing-Day Affair. However, in general those early months were fruitless, and it was not until the second quarter of the year that a case of truly significant merit drew his attention. In my entry for the period of 15/16 April, ’68, I find the case listed as The Adventure of the Dog in the Knight. It had been an unpleasantly damp day, with a drizzle compounded by a miasmic fog that kept us sequestered in our quarters at 221B Bagel Street; but evening brought relief in the form of a brisk breeze that quickly cleared the heavy air. ‘We have been in too long,’ Homes said, eyeing me queryingly. ‘I suggest a walk to clear away the cobwebs.’ I was more than willing. Homes had spent his day at the laboratory bench, and between the stench of his chemicals and the acrid odor of his Pakistanis, the room fairly reeked. For several hours we roamed the byways of our beloved London, our coat collars high against the evening chill, stopping on occasion at various pubs to ascertain the hour. It was eight o’clock exactly when we arrived back at our rooms, and it was to find a hansom cab standing at the kerb before our door. ‘Ah,’ Homes observed, eyeing the conveyance sharply. ‘A visitor from Scotland Yard, I see!’ I was sufficiently conversant with Homes’s methods by this time to readily follow his reasoning; for the crest of the Yard—three feet rampant on a field of corn—was emblazoned both on the door and the rear panel of the coach, clearly visible under the gas-lamp before our house, and the jehu sitting patiently on the box was both uniformed and helmeted. With some curiosity as to the reason for this late visit, I followed Homes up the stairs and into our quarters. A familiar figure rose from a chair beside the unlit fireplace and turned to face us. It was none other than Inspector Balustrade, an old antagonist whose overbearing manner and pompous posturing had long grated upon both Homes’s nerves and my own. Before we could even discard our outer garments he was speaking in his usual truculent manner. . . .