A woman is found stabbed to death in London. A young boy is drawn to the scene to investigate the murder and becomes a suspect himself.

After losing his mother while solving a brutal murder, young Sherlock Holmes commits himself to fighting crime. While visiting his father at work, Sherlock watches a dangerous trapeze performance. When the troupe's star drops to his death, Sherlock notices something is amiss and realizes it was foul play.

It is 1868, the week that Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister of the Empire. Sherlock's beautiful but poor admirer, Beatrice, the hatter's daughter, appears at the door late at night. She is terrified, claiming that she and her friend have just been attacked by the Spring Heeled Jack on Westminster Bridge and the fiend has made off with her friend. At first Sherlock thinks Beatrice simply wants his attention, and he is reluctant to go back to...

Ten brief cases allow the reader to match wits with ten-year-old crime-buster, Encyclopedia Brown, as he locates stolen jewels, retrieves a stuffed tiger, and more. Solutions are included at the back of the book.