On a freezing winter's night, a dead man sits beside a blazing fire, his throat cut ... Sherlock Holmes is summoned by Inspector Lestrade, to investigate what is certainly murder ... But what Holmes then realizes will present him - and Doctor Watson - with an almost impossible dilemma... Can murder ever be excused - and the killer thus allowed to go free...? From the author of SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CANNING CLAIMANT, SHERLOCK HOMES & THE DEVOURER OF MEN, SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE POISON FIRE and SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN