The Adventure Of The Five Sherlocks

by Ralph E. Vaughan

About the Author: Ralph E. Vaughan is the author of several books combining the worlds of Sherlock Holmes and HP Lovecraft, such as "The Adventure of the Ancient Gods" (first story to combine Holmes & Lovecraft), "The Dreaming Detective." and "Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time."

Excerpt

THE ADVENTURE OF THE FIVE SHERLOCKS

Ralph E. Vaughan

Editor’s note: All characters in this story are fictitious, except one

The four men who had, at various times, been known as Sherlock Holmes finished their monthly dinner and moved to the parlor. Three catering demons cleared away the remains.

Each man kept his own company. None seemed eager to start the meeting and consider the reports and rumors each had gathered from his resources.

Basil Rathbone, whose turn it was to play host, gazed languidly out his flat’s floor-to-ceiling bull’s-eye window. Christopher Lee busied himself with Rathbone’s library, seeking suggestions for his own collection. Though he seemed not to, Rathbone kept an eye on him.

Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett sat in overstuffed chairs near the low-burning hearth sipping brandy, either ignoring each other or enjoying a companionable after-dinner silence. It was hard to tell which, each was so good at both.

Rathbone looked across the expanse of Greater London as day surrendered to grim night and the rising of the astral Moon. Bisecting the metropolis, the sinuous River Styx changed from dull copper to a pale silver ribbon obscured by mists and vapors.

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