1888. After a disasterous Ripper investigation, Holmes sinks into a deep depression. Watson can do nothing to help his friend, but an encoded letter from the French singer, Emmeline La Victoire, rekindles the detective's interest. The singer's illegitimate son, Emil, who is 10, has disappeared, and may have been kidnapped. As Holmes and Watson travel to Paris, they discover that Emil's father, the Earl of Pellingham and a famous art collector...

"It's 1890 and the newly famous Sherlock Holmes faces his worst adversary to date; a diabolical villain bent on destroying some of London's most admired public figures in particularly gruesome ways. A further puzzle is that suicide closely attends each of the murders. As he tracks the killer through vast and seething London, Holmes finds himself battling both an envious Scotland Yard and a critical press as he follows a complex trail from performers...