The Devil’s Due. Bonnie Macbird

      

      THE DEVIL’S DUE

      A SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURE

      Bonnie MacBird

       Copyright

      This book is a new and original work of fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, and other fictional characters that were first introduced to the world in 1887 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all of which are now in the public domain. The characters are used by the author solely for the purpose of story-telling and not as trademarks. This book is independently authored and published, and is not sponsored or endorsed by, or associated in any way with, Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. or any other party claiming trademark rights in any of the characters in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

      COLLINS CRIME CLUB

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      Copyright © Bonnie MacBird 2019

      All rights reserved

      Bonnie MacBird asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020

      Cover images © Bonnie MacBird (figures); Shutterstock.com (all other images)

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008195076

      Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008195090

      Version: 2020-03-30

       Dedication

       For my cousin, Chris Simpson

       Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Prologue

      PART ONE – LONDON

      1 Fog

      2 221B

      3 Attack!

      4 Devil and Hyde

5 Brotherly Love

PART TWO – GATHERING THE TROOPS

6 The Greater Goodwins

7 The Spice of Life

8 The Lady

       9 A Question of Taste

       10 The Snake and Drum

       PART THREE – ALLIES AND OTHERS

       11 Heffie

       12 The Dogged Detective

       13 The Baguette Brigade

       14 Death at the Opera

       15 A Voice Stilled

       16 Italian Air

       PART FOUR – SETBACK

       17 Snap

       18 Helping Hands

       19 Pack of Foxes

       20 Might Is Right

       PART FIVE – BACKWATER

       21 Cat and Mouse

       22 One Flask Closer

       23 Zebras

       24 Fabric of Doubt

       25 Deep Waters

       26 Into the Mud

       PART SIX – OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

       27 Aesthetes and Anarchists

       28 Conflagration

       29 Embers

       30 The Baker Street Bazaar

       31 The Bizarre

       32 221B

       Acknowledgements

       Keep Reading …

       Also by Bonnie MacBird

       About the Publisher

       Prologue

      On a recent late September afternoon in London, as torrential downpours skittered down the bow window of my flat on Chiltern Street, I stood looking at the grey wall of water battering the vista below. Off to the right, across Marylebone Road, umbrellas crowded the Baker Street Station tube entrance, collapsing like evening blossoms as their owners, clad in puffy jackets, windbreakers and trainers, dashed into the building.

      Those doors first opened more than a hundred and fifty years ago.

      I blinked and imagined it was 1890, that same station, but beneath the jumble of umbrellas was a sea of top hats, bowlers and a few flowered bonnets, well-cut suits and the occasional long dress trailing across the muddy pavement.

      Deep below street level, noisy black engines belched steam and thundered through the darkness at terrifying speeds. Some superstitious Londoners would not venture into the depths. Who knew what devilish vapours might be swirling around down there?

      In 1890, London was the reigning centre of culture and commerce. But even as we romanticize those late Victorian times, we must also acknowledge that this magnificent city had her woes. What astonished me about the tale I discovered that day – inscribed in neat penmanship on a faded schoolboy notebook – was how little things had actually changed. Crime, yellow journalism, mob thinking, homelessness, murder, police brutality, fear of immigrants, dark politics – all in full flower then – and now.

      But who better to slice cleanly