A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a 12th-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home’s past: a human skull, hidden away for decades. Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate’s young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents --- monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye. Could the skull belong to one of his victims?

The queen is Marie of Roumania. A famous beauty who was married at 17 into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie singlehandedly transformed Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The threat is…well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi. Or, as they are known in the West…vampires.

It’s summertime on the Riviera, and the Jazz Age has come to France’s once-sleepy beaches --- along with Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Russell falls into easy friendship with an enthralling American couple, Sara and Gerald Murphy, whose golden life on the Riviera has begun to attract famous writers and artists --- and some of the scoundrels linked with Monte Carlo’s underworld. The Murphy set’s importance for Russell lies in one of their circle’s recent additions: the Holmeses’ former housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson, who hasn’t been seen since she fled England under a cloud of false murder accusations. When a beautiful young man is found dead in Mrs. Hudson’s front room, she becomes the prime suspect in yet another murder.

Sherlock Holmes has not only captivated readers for more than a century and a quarter, he has fascinated writers as well. When renowned Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger invited their writer-friends and colleagues to be inspired by the Holmes canon, a cornucopia of stories sprang forth, with more than 60 of the greatest modern writers participating in four acclaimed anthologies. King and Klinger have invited another 15 masters to become IN LEAGUE WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES. The contributors to the pair’s latest volume include award-winning authors of horror, thrillers, mysteries, westerns and science fiction, all bound together in admiration and affection for the original stories.

Lady Vivian Beaconsfield has spent most of her adult life in one asylum after another, since the loss of her brother and father in the Great War. Although her mental state seemed to be improving, she’s now disappeared after an outing from Bethlem Royal Hospital, better known as Bedlam. To track down the vanished woman, Mary Russell must use her deductive instincts and talent for subterfuge --- and enlist her husband Sherlock Holmes’ legendary prowess. Together, the two travel from the grim confines of Bedlam to the murky canals of Venice --- only to find the shadow of Benito Mussolini darkening the fate of a city, an era and a tormented English lady of privilege.

FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME is the latest volume in the award-winning series from Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, with stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and friends in a variety of eras and forms. King and Klinger have a simple formula: ask some of the world’s greatest writers --- regardless of genre --- to be inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Some tales are pastiches, featuring the recognizable figures of Holmes and Watson; others step away in time or place to describe characters and stories influenced by the Holmes world. Some of the authors spin whimsical tales of fancy; others tell hardcore thrillers or puzzling mysteries. One beloved author writes a song; two others craft a melancholy graphic tale of insectoid analysis.

A year ago, Principal Linda McDonald arrived at Guadalupe determined to overturn the school’s reputation for truancy, gang violence and neglect. One of her initiatives is Career Day --- bringing together children, teachers and community presenters in a celebration of the future. But there are some in attendance who reject McDonald’s bright vision. A principal with a secret. A husband with a murky past. A cop with too many questions. A kid under pressure to prove himself. A girl struggling to escape a mother’s history. A young basketball player with an affection for guns. Even the school janitor has a story he dare not reveal. But no one at the gathering anticipates the shocking turn of events that will transform a day of possibilities into an explosive confrontation.

In this follow-up to the acclaimed IN THE COMPANY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, expert Sherlockians Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger put forth the question: What happens when great writers/creators who are not known as Sherlock Holmes devotees admit to being inspired by Conan Doyle stories? While some are highly regarded mystery writers, others are best known for their work in the fields of fantasy or science fiction. All of these talented authors, however, share a great admiration for Arthur Conan Doyle and his greatest creations, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets --- her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond. And what of the other person to whom Russell has opened her heart: the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son. What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him --- as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes.

The Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were recently voted as the top mystery series of all time. Now, Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger have assembled a stellar group of contemporary authors from a variety of genres and asked them to create new stories inspired by that canon. Readers will find Holmes in times and places previously unimagined, as well as characters who themselves have been affected by the tales of Sherlock Holmes.

In the spring of 1924, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes agreed to perform a dangerous job for the emperor of Japan. At the time, Russell encountered a young Japanese woman on board their ship who tutored the two foreigners about her country and guided them into a secret meeting with the Prince Regent himself. Now, when Russell heads for Oxford to resume her long-delayed studies, she comes face-to-face with that very same young Japanese woman --- and quickly realizes that Miss Sato Haruki is not all that she seems.

Summer, 1929. Global financial ruin may be on the horizon, but in Paris, decadence is synonymous with freedom. The American expat community of artists, musicians and writers is joined by Harris Stuyvesant, private inquiry agent and former officer with the American Bureau of Investigation. Stuyvesant is investigating a missing American girl, whose disappearance may be one of many, and possibly linked to a series of murders.

Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Mary Russell, are separated by shocking circumstances in a perilous part of the world, each racing against time to prevent an explosive catastrophe that could clothe them both in shrouds. Will Holmes and his friends be able to find the newly amnesiac Russell in time to stop a deadly African/European revolt?

In this latest adventure featuring the intrepid Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, Laurie R. King takes readers into the frenetic world of silent films --- where the pirates are real and the shooting isn’t all done with cameras.

Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell encounter a violent religious fanatic who seriously wounds Holmes’s son and may be after his granddaughter next.