The Case of the Russian Chessboard

On a foggy afternoon in November, a woman arrives at 221B to ask Holmes for help her sister who is working at a London hostel for Russian exiles. Another resident of the hostel had been driven to suicide, and Victoria believes her sister will be next unless Holmes intervenes. Holmes and Watson's investigation leads them into secret circles of radicals, socialists, feminists, and anarchists organized in London, in Essex, and abroad. The heads of Okhrana, the Russian secret police, always interested in the doings of exiles, allow Holmes to approach them, expecting to receive information that Holmes may not choose to share.