" In this family-friendly holiday mystery, Sherlock Holmes is asked to discover the identity of a man who lost his hat and goose in a late-night scuffle. At first, Holmes treats the request as only a mild curiosity, but then the countess of Morcar's rare and valuable blue carbuncle is found stuffed down the goose's throat. The pursuit of the thief leads Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from 221B Baker Street to Covent Garden Market and all over the streets of wintery London."--Page 4 of cover.

Sherlock Holmes, the world's “only unofficial consulting detective”, was first introduced to readers in A Study in Scarlet published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887. It was with the publication of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, however, that the master sleuth grew tremendously in popularity, later to become one of the most beloved literary characters of all time. In this book series, the short stories comprising The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes have been amusingly illustrated using only Lego® brand minifigures and bricks. The illustrations recreate, through custom designed Lego models, the composition of the black and white drawings by Sidney Paget that accompanied the original publication of these adventures appearing in The Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. Paget's iconic illustrations are largely responsible for the popular image of Sherlock Holmes, including his deerstalker cap and Inverness cape, details never mentioned in the writings of Conan Doyle. This uniquely illustrated collection, which features some of the most famous and enjoyable cases investigated by Sherlock Holmes and his devoted friend and biographer Dr. John H. Watson, including A Sandal in Bohemia and The Red-Headed League, is sure to delight Lego enthusiasts, as well as fans of the Great Detective, both old and new. In this story Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the curious discovery of a blue carbuncle in the crop of a Christmas goose abandoned by a man during a scuffle with some street ruffians. Holmes makes a series of deductions concerning the owner of a tattered old hat recovered along with the goose and thus sets out on the trail of the audacious thief who stole the precious stone five days previously.

It's the year 1900. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson receive an urgent commission from the Prince Regnant of Bulgaria to come to Sofia. The Codex Zographensis, the most ancient and most sacred manuscript in the Old Bulgarian language has been stolen. Its disappearance could lead to the outbreak of war between Russia, Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans, three ageing empires disintegrating like great suns on every side of the Balkans. What follows is an extraordinary story of duplicity, murder, vampires and greed for vast estates in Bulgaria and Hungary, with the fate of millions in Sherlock Holmes' hands.

The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories - Part V: Christmas Adventures features contributions by: Bob Byrne, Derrick Belanger, Amy Thomas, David Marcum, Denis O. Smith, C.H. Dye, Marcia Wilson, Julie McKuras, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bert Coules, John Hall, Jim French, S.F. Bennett, Narrelle M. Harris, William Patrick Maynard, Vincent W. Wright, James Lovegrove, Arthur Hall, Nicholas Utechin, Mike Chinn, Tracy J. Revels, Roger Riccard, Wendy C. Fries, Paul D. Gilbert, Jan Edwards, Molly Carr, S. Subramanian, Peter K. Andersson, Matthew J. Elliott, Hugh Ashton, and Mark Mower, with a poem by Ashley D. Polasek and forewords by Jonathan Kellerman, Roger Johnson, Steve Emecz, Melissa Farnham, and David Marcum.

Is Sherlock Holmes really as rational as he seems? He talks about the importance of reasoning and logic, but why then does he sometimes seem like a "strange Buddha"? On the other hand, why in The Sign of the Four does Watson smash a Buddha? What is going on in The Sign of the Four, that strange tale of Empire? What is going on in all the original sixty stories in "the canon"? In this study of the stories, Sheldon Goldfarb explores questions like these, from the significance of the eggs in "Thor Bridge" to the reason Watson keeps leaving Holmes for an insubstantial wife. What meanings lurk beneath the surface of these detective stories? Why is there an obsession with Napoleon in this story or an article on free trade in this other? Can we find answers to these questions? Perhaps. In any case, in this collection of essays (or "Musings") on each of the 60 stories, Dr. Goldfarb, an award-nominated mystery writer himself and the holder of a PhD in English literature, light-heartedly tries out a variety of perspectives, allowing readers to come to their own conclusions about such matters as the nature of the angel in "A Case of Identity" or the reason Holmes abandons his magnifying glass for binoculars in "Silver Blaze." Who brings binoculars to a horse race? Indeed.

The Heir of Redclyffe tells the story of the Byronic Guy Morville, heir to the Redclyffe baronetcy, and his cousin Philip Morville, a conceited hypocrite who enjoys an unwarrantedly high reputation. When Guy raises money to secretly pay off the debts of his blackguard uncle, Philip spreads the rumour that Guy is a reckless gambler. As a result Guy's proposed marriage to his guardian's daughter Amy is called off and he is disowned by his guardian. Guy bears the situation with a new-found Christian fortitude until the uncle clears his character, enabling him to marry Amy after all.