The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

Book excerpt: Sir James comes to 221B Baker Street in the name of an anonymous but illustrious client. It concerns General de Merville’s daughter, Violet, who has fallen for the Baron Adelbert Gruner. The man has a bad reputation and Sir James hopes that if his misbehaviours can be proven by Holmes Violet will agree to break off the union. Just how bad the Baron’s actions have been and how to prove it is what Sherlock Holmes will have to find out. "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" is part of "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After his studies, he worked as a ship’s surgeon on various boats. During the Second Boer War, he was an army doctor in South Africa. When he came back to the United Kingdom, he opened his own practice and started writing crime books. He is best known for his thrilling stories about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He published four novels and more than 50 short-stories starring the detective and Dr Watson, and they play an important role in the history of crime fiction. Other than the Sherlock Holmes series, Doyle wrote around thirty more books, in genres such as science-fiction, fantasy, historical novels, but also poetry, plays, and non-fiction.