It’s 1878, and elderly widow Mrs Orless has for some years been living off gifts from four gentlemen and each has been promised he will inherit her house.
But when she dies, her will, made 16 years previously, leaves her estate to her maid, Mary Ann Clatterby, a niece by marriage.
The gentlemen furiously demand to search the house where they claim that a secret new will and valuables are hidden and accuse the maid of murdering her mistress.
A postmortem concludes Mrs Orless died a natural death, but Sherlock Holmes is not convinced.
Holmes and his good friend Mr. Stamford assist the police and executor in searching the house where Holmes finds a hidden key, but nothing it will open.
And then they make a horrifying discovery. In a cupboard of Halloween decorations, is the mummified corpse of an unknown woman.
Who was the dead woman? Was her death connected to that of the widow? Holmes and Stamford must work harder than ever before to crack this puzzling case.
Sherlock Holmes and the Widow’s Key by Linda Stratmann is published on 2 January, 2026. It’s the 10th in her Early Casebook of Sherlock Holmes series.
See more historical fiction coming out in 2026 in our round-up of almost 100 books published this year.
