Investigating a crooked tabloid magnate, Sherlock Holmes is drawn across the continent

Dr. Watson has never been much of an angler, and he is perplexed when Sherlock Holmes invites him on a Scottish fishing expedition. "Come if convenient," reads the telegram. "If not, come anyway." A few years after his near-death experience at the hands of Moriarty, the great detective is restless. If any man needs a vacation, it is Sherlock Holmes. But Watson knows better than to expect a peaceful fishing trip.

As it happens, Holmes has dragged Watson to Scotland not for the fishing—but for a party. The celebration is hosted by John Moxton, an American muckraker who has recently expanded his tabloid empire across the pond. When his paper, the Clarion, turns out to be one step ahead of Holmes in investigating a baffling series of crimes, the detective suspects that Moxton isn't just breaking the news—he's making it.