Prologue: The Biographer

I have recorded elsewhere the events of my dear friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes', final case, entitled: the final problem. However, as my days grow ever shorter and memory becomes less and less precise I find myself drawn back to my humble desk, my hand drifting to my pen and my drawer slipping open to reveal a stack of blank paper.

The reason this particular case has not reached the public eye before now has nothing to do with any hesitation on my part to record its events and everything to do with Holmes' own disinclination to publicity and personal questions. Perhaps it is the latter which has so far dissuaded me from ever inscribing this case, for though I have often wheedled permission from him to write of his adventures, I have never sought his consent for this particular narrative. For I know the public well enough to know that, should this story have ever reached the newspaper during his lifetime, Mr. Holmes would no doubt have been bombarded with questions that he would certainly wish to be left alone.

I myself must ask the overzealous reader to refrain from sending me any letters concerning the personal life of the late Sherlock Holmes, for though I might have broken his confidence in revealing this case, I shall do no more. And, in any case, had I been asked to recount the personal life of Holmes, I would be pressed indeed to come up with another word besides solitary. There is not much in the way of information to be found in that particular line of questions.

I am old, old and grey with the years and, perhaps due to my less active and more sedentary frame, have not aged quite so well as my dear friend, but it seems I am destined to live the longer and as such I shall take full advantage of the opportunity to impress upon my readers the full extent of Holms' powers in perhaps his most tangled and at the same time his most electrifying case I have ever had the fortune of observing. It is also a most singular occurrence as it is the only case of which I know where Holmes conspired with a woman in his plans, returning to the late Irene Adler in his hunt.

Secondary characters aside, the case in itself was one of immense importance to the British people, even as it was unknown to most of England during its duration. That was, I believe, the way Holmes wished it, and had he lived in a perfect world, I believe that was the way he would have wished all but the most intellectually challenging of his cases to be. Therefore, it is with my sincere apology to the memory of Holmes and a hearty thanks to my dedicated readers that I present to you the case of the scarlet ball gown with the hope that it will further the reputation of a great man, a great detective, and a great friend.