Sherlock Holmes takes to the stage for the sake of a beleaguered actress

Sherlock Holmes can tell the woman pacing outside of 221B Baker Street is an actress. She mutters to herself and practices gestures in preparation for her meeting with the world-famous detective. It's a matter of life, death, and theater. Flora Adler has come on behalf of her father—the American impresario Florenz Adler, who turned Times Square into a circus, staged Wagner in the Grand Canyon, and has come to England to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This last is a magnificent dream, but anonymous threats have turned it into a nightmare.

A series of notes adorned with quotations from the Bard suggest that something terrible will happen at the venue's inaugural performance, when none other than Queen Victoria will be in attendance. To save queen and country, as well as the English stage, Holmes is taking on Shakespeare.