I am pleased to welcome back Stephanie Osborn, author of The Dispatched Detective Series. Today marks the release of the fifth book in this mystery series inspired by Sherlock Holmes.
Who Knew?
By Stephanie Osborn
Wow! Who knew?
I mean, I always knew Sherlock Holmes was a popular character. But I guess on some level I didn’t realize HOW popular. Here we are, with a 3rd Sherlock Holmes movie (Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr.) about to be released, season 2 of CBS’ Elementary getting ready to hang cliffs, and series 3 of the BBC’s Sherlock been and gone, with series 4 in pre-production.
And the fifth book (NOT counting the Omnibus!) of the Displaced Detective Series about to be released!
THAT is popularity.
For those of you who may not know me, I’m Stephanie Osborn, retired rocket scientist (yes, really) turned author. My preferred medium is the science fiction/mystery novel, and this Displaced Detective Series came out of an idea to play around with my favorite fictional detective, since almost all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories are in the public domain in the USA, and all of them are in the public domain in the UK. The series has been described as, “Sherlock Holmes meets The X-Files,” and that’s a pretty apt description. It starts out with Holmes in the Victorian Era of an alternate universe where he is combating Professor Moriarty, with Dr. Skye Chadwick in the 21st Century heading up Project Tesseract, a top-secret device literally UNDER Schriever AFB that uses M theory to access alternate dimensions. But in this particular version of events, Holmes doesn’t survive his encounter with the Professor at the Reichenbach Falls. When Skye knee-jerks in the middle of their climactic battle, she jumps through the wormhole between realities, breaking up the fight — and sending Moriarty to his death, and Holmes flying back through the wormhole into Chadwick’s reality.
There, he faces the choice of being sent back to die, or remaining and coming up to speed on the modern day…alone. Being a smart man, Holmes chooses to stay, and Chadwick is assigned as his liaison. Hijinks ensue as base security discovers a spy ring intent on wresting control of the tesseract.
By the time that mystery is solved, a strong, firm bond has been established between Holmes and Chadwick, and they continue to tackle mysteries of the STEM sort. By book 3, a…very Holmesian…romance of sorts has seen their way clear to marrying, as it turns out that Chadwick is her continuum’s parallel to the great detective, and to forming a consulting business, The Holmes Agency. A Case of Spontaneous Combustion takes place a bit shy of one year after Holmes’ arrival in his new continuum.
So when an entire village on the Salisbury Plain is wiped out in an apparent case of mass spontaneous combustion, Her Majesty’s Secret Service contacts The Holmes Agency to investigate. Unfortunately Sherlock Holmes and his wife, Dr. Skye Chadwick-Holmes, have just had their first serious fight, over her abilities and attitudes as an investigator. To make matters worse, he is summoned to England in the middle of the night, and she is not — and due to the invocation of the National Security Act in the summons, he cannot even wake her and tell her.
Once in London, Holmes looks into the horror that is now Stonegrange. His investigations take him into a dangerous undercover assignment in search of a possible terror ring, though he cannot determine how a human agency could have caused the disaster. There, he works hard to pass as a recent immigrant and manual laborer from a certain rogue Mideastern nation as he attempts to uncover signs of the terrorists.
Meanwhile, alone in Colorado, Skye battles raging wildfires and tames a wild mustang stallion, all while believing her husband has abandoned her.
Who ― or what — caused the horror in Stonegrange? Will Holmes find his way safely through the metaphorical minefield that is modern Middle Eastern politics? Will Skye subdue Smoky the stallion before she is seriously hurt? Will this predicament seriously damage ― even destroy — the couple’s relationship? And can Holmes stop the terrorists before they unleash their outré weapon again?
Next up for Holmes…
Fear in the French Quarter…
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Short bio:
Stephanie Osborn, the Interstellar Woman of Mystery, is a veteran of more than 20 years in the civilian space program, with graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences: astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several more, including geology and anatomy. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to more than 20 books, including the celebrated science-fiction mystery, Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281. She is the co-author of the “Cresperian Saga” book series, and currently writes the critically acclaimed “Displaced Detective” series, described as “Sherlock Holmes meets The X-Files.” In addition to her writing, the Interstellar Woman of Mystery now happily “pays it forward,” teaching math and science through numerous media including radio, podcasting and public speaking, as well as working with SIGMA, the science-fiction think tank.
Website:
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Purchase A Case of Spontaneous Combustion: