Before You Begin

Before you begin.

A vanished bridegroom and a mystery hidden in plain sight bring Mary Sutherland to Sherlock Holmes's rooms at Baker Street.

The case moves through late-Victorian London's domestic and commercial systems: family income, typewriting work, poste restante, newspaper notices, City offices, cabs and the railway district around King's Cross. Conan Doyle turns ordinary traces - sleeves, boots, violet ink and the wear of a typewriter - into a complete chain of evidence.

At its center is also a question of control. Mary has money of her own but little freedom to use it, and the deception succeeds by manipulating affection as carefully as physical appearance.

Ten illustrated progression plates unlock at semantic anchors in the text. Each plate summarizes only what has been revealed at that point; no plate anticipates a later deduction.