Scandal at the Savoy: The Monocle Murder

by CJ Verburg

About the Author: CJ Verburg writes contemporary mysteries in the Golden Age tradition. Her Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod series (Croaked, Zapped, Disarmed) was sparked by her artist friend Edward Gorey, who also inspired her multimedia memoir Edward Gorey on Stage. Her Cory Goodwin mystery series stars the international journalist daughter of NYC detective Archie Goodwin.

Excerpt

So many wild speculations have lately appeared regarding the so-called Monocle Murder, that I am resolved to set out the facts of the matter.

My friend Sherlock Holmes scoffs at my desire to add one more voice to the chorus. In his view, we do the public no favour by feeding that vulgar appetite which seeks excitement where it ought to seek edification. Yet now that the wheels of justice have turned, I believe that the truth should be revealed of this singular case, which found Holmes at the center not only of the solution, but of the problem.

Let me begin on the February afternoon when auditions were held for Scandal at the Savoy: An Immersive Theatre Experience. For then it was, on the sidewalk outside a former San Francisco warehouse, that a sardonic baritone voice inquired: “Are you Watson?”

My presence in this queue had nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. I needed to earn my living; it was that simple. By day I was completing my medical studies; by night I must find a way to pay for them. What man so precariously placed could resist the lure of a new theatrical production seeking to hire thirty-five actors?

I turned, and faced a tall, thin man, hawk-nosed and eagle-eyed, clad in a Burberry trench coat. “Yes,” I said. “Watson is my surname and the role which I hope to play. Are you Holmes?”

He uttered a short bark of a laugh. “Exactly so.”

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