Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Bedeviled Foot

Book excerpt: “The Adventure of the Bedeviled Foot” is at once an exciting prequel to as well as a sequel to “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”-Sherlock Holmes “strangest case.” Holmes and Watson were supposed to be on vacation of sorts amongst the Cornish greenery and archaeological treasures, since it had become clear enough that the pressure of the detective’s investigations had taken a toll on his nerves, and a few days away from London in the country was prescribed. But their excursion was rudely interrupted when murders most heinous came to light. The so-called Devils’ Foot was a deadly substance of unknown origin that kills when inhaled. The earlier story directed our attention to the unflawed greenery of the Cornish countryside. “The Bedeviled Foot” finds Holmes on the African veldt combatting the Devil’s own legions of marauding “little buggers,” where he encounters the root of that curiously toxic devil’s foot for the first time.