“Young men, even very ignorant ones, enjoy all sorts of freedom, Flotsam,” Mrs Hudson used to tell me, “but without some learning, a young girl finds herself trapped below stairs forever.”
Mrs Hudson and The Spirits’ Curse, the first novel in the Holmes & Hudson series, tells the story of Flotsam, an orphan rescued from the streets of London by the redoubtable Mrs Hudson, and of how the pair end up in service at Baker Street. Observing the great detective’s activities from the warmth of the kitchen, Flotsam soon discovers that in unravelling the mysteries of turn-of-the-century London, a firm understanding of domestic detail can be every bit as valuable as brilliance, logic and some rudimentary knowledge of the violin…
Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose is the second in the Holmes & Hudson series. The Great Salmanazar, a world famous magician, is about to perform in London, and Sherlock Holmes is asked to guard a priceless ruby, on display only a few doors away. All across Europe, when the Great Salmanazar performs, precious stones vanish – but the British public is certain that the Malabar Rose is in safe hands. Yet when the ruby disappears as if by magic, Mrs Hudson seems strangely unconcerned, interested only in the rather more humdrum case of a missing clerk from Ealing…
In Mrs Hudson and the Lazarus Testament, the third in the Holmes & Hudson series, an ancient religious artefact has gone missing – and so has the dashing viscount who holds the only clue as to its whereabouts. The trail leads Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson to the lonely Cumbrian moors where rumours abound of dead men risen from the grave, of ghosts walking. Meanwhile, Broomheath Hall, the big house apparently at the centre of the mystery, is in need of a housekeeper, and Mrs Hudson is the perfect person for the job…
The fourth of the Mrs Hudson series is Mrs Hudson and The Samarkand Conspiracy. It is summer in London, and every self-respecting criminal has left town for the season. Restless boredom prevails in Baker Street – until, in a remote corner of the Carpathian Mountains, a train enters a tunnel and is never seen again. On board was a British diplomat carrying a message vital to the nation’s interests, and Sherlock Holmes is charged with saving the day. Mrs Hudson, meanwhile, seems more interested in helping the vicar of a rural parish whose spectacles are constantly going missing…
At the start of Mrs Hudson and The Blue Daisy Affair, London is abuzz with news of the return from foreign parts of George Dashing, a radical politician every bit as handsome and charming as his surname suggests. Society hostesses celebrate, but there are many who would go to great lengths to make sure that his much-anticipated speech to the Paternoster Society is never made. From Russian spies to opponents of women’s suffrage, his enemies are legion – and somebody is planning his assassination. Flotsam has her own reasons for hoping that Mr Dashing escapes harm, but the task of protecting him is greatly complicated when a housemaid goes missing and the son of George Dashing’s most bitter rival is arrested for her murder. A rival detective, newly arrived in town, is called upon to investigate, while Mrs Hudson appears entirely focussed on turning a bumper raspberry crop into jam….
Mrs Hudson and The Christmas Canary is the sixth novel in the series. It’s mid-December, and eminent members of society are receiving anonymous gifts of live poultry. Are they a joke, or something more sinister? When a world-famous violinist disappears from outside his townhouse, Flotsam fears the latter. But Mr Holmes is more interested in events in Sussex, where someone is decapitating Christmas trees in the grounds of a stately home. Meanwhile, a magician loses his hat on the train to Bognor Regis; someone is melting down stolen treasures; and a notable artist tells Flotsam the story of another Christmas, 23 years earlier, when a priceless ornament locked away in an ancient tower vanished from under the noses of its keepers…
Martin Davies 