The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes
Read The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes Online
Authors: George Mann
Also by George Mann and available from Titan Books
Newbury & Hobbes: The Executioner’s Heart
Encounters of Sherlock Holmes
Coming soon
Sherlock Holmes: The Will of the Dead
(November 2013)
Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes
(February 2014)
Newbury & Hobbes: The Revenant Express
(July 2014)
TITAN BOOKS
THE CASEBOOK OF NEWBURY & HOBBES
Print edition ISBN: 9781781167427
E-book edition ISBN: 9781781167434
Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP
First edition: September 2013
Cover design by Amazing15.com
Names, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.
George Mann asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Copyright © 2013 George Mann.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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FOR PAUL MAGRS AND STUART DOUGLAS
No one could ask for better friends
A Timeline of the Newbury & Hobbes Universe
I can barely believe it’s been five years since
The Affinity Bridge
was first published. It seems as if only a few months have passed. I’ve been astounded by people’s response to the series, by how many people have found something to enjoy in these madcap tales of derring-do and adventure in the dark streets of a Victorian London that never was.
When I set out to write
The Affinity Bridge
it was purely an exercise in self-gratification. I wanted to write the type of story I love to read, something that would be sheer, unadulterated
fun.
I wanted to write a book for the sheer pleasure of it. The irony, of course, is that the book and the series it spawned has proved to be by far the most successful I’ve ever written. Which only goes to prove that old adage about writing for yourself, rather than writing what you think people are going to want to read...
Four novels and a handful of stories later and the characters have taken on something of a life of their own. Now it seems like they’ve always been there, a part of my psyche. Perhaps they have.
I originally conceived of Sir Maurice Newbury long before I wrote
The Affinity Bridge.
I think he was born out of my desire to write a sequence of stories in the mould of those classic Victorian and Edwardian tales about supernatural sleuths—Aylmer Vance, Eugene Valmont, Flaxman Low and, of course, Carnacki the Ghost Finder. I’ve always had a passion for those stories, along with Sherlock Holmes and
Doctor Who
—tales of high adventure, of foggy streets and bizarre encounters. Of bold heroes and larger-than-life villains.
Newbury was always going to explore bizarre and supernatural crimes in a weird, fantastical version of Victorian London. And his desire to understand the occult and his drug addiction would mean he always walked a fine line between being an expert in the dark arts and becoming a practitioner. That, you see, is Newbury’s flaw—he is drawn to the darkness. And it may yet prove to be his undoing.
It wasn’t, however, until Veronica Hobbes came into being that everything gelled and
The Affinity Bridge
began to take shape. Veronica was only ever intended to be Newbury’s sidekick, but almost as soon as I started writing I realised that this had to be a true partnership, a meeting of equals in a time of inequality. Veronica, a strong woman battling against the prejudice of her age, her clairvoyant sister locked in a lunatic asylum—she had a story of her own to tell. And secrets, too. Dark secrets that she couldn’t share with Newbury, no matter how much she longed to do so.
Then, of course, there was Charles Bainbridge, Newbury’s friend and confidant, a fellow agent to the Queen and an inspector at Scotland Yard. Bainbridge was never going to be a bumbling Lestrade, the ineffectual policeman who was there only to allow our hero to shine. Rather, he is a man of steady nerves—solid, dependable—quite the opposite of Newbury, and in his own way as essential a member of the team. Bainbridge solves crimes through hard work, process and resolve, whereas Newbury relies on flashes of insight and inspiration. Method as opposed to action; Bainbridge is yin to Newbury’s yang. They need each other to function effectively.
It soon became clear to me that these books are as much Veronica’s and Bainbridge’s story as they are Newbury’s, and the more of them I write, the more evident I think that becomes. Newbury—the man who started it all—is made greater by the presence of his friends and loved ones, just the same as us all.
So, as I sit here at my desk working on the fifth novel in the series, it seems strange to reflect back to the beginning of the saga. Things have changed so much for these characters—loyalties and battles have been fought and won; friends have been made and lost. But the core of these stories—the trio of Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge—remain as constant as ever. Hopefully their adventures will continue for a long time to come.
Here, then, in this collection, are a selection of those adventures, tales that detail some of the exploits of these characters during the times between novels, and for anyone encountering them for the first time, offer a flavour of the series as a whole.
Alongside all the regulars we also meet in these pages some of the other characters that later turn up in the novels, or enjoy associated adventures of their own: Professor Archibald Angelchrist, Lady Arkwell, Peter Rutherford, to name a few. Plus, of course, the occasional dalliance with famous peers, such as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
Also included here is a timeline of stories set in the alternate world which Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge—and in fact nearly all of my characters, across all of my different novels, stories and series—inhabit. Since
The Affinity Bridge
the world of Newbury and Hobbes has grown and evolved, spreading out in all manner of unexpected directions, encompassing other characters and stories and weaving them into the same fictional strata. Some of the stories included in this book draw some of those other characters in, helping to forge a more cohesive and diverse alternate history of the world.
I hope the timeline, and the stories in this volume, may prove to be something of a guide to navigating this fictional history. Most of all, however, I hope they prove to be
fun
.
George Mann
Grantham, April 2013
I
“I make a point of only smoking Guinea Gold cigarettes and drinking French brandy, Benson. I fear nothing else will do.” Templeton Black exhaled slowly, smoke pluming from his nostrils. His cigarette drooped languidly from his bottom lip.
“Then you, sir,” replied Benson, striking the billiard ball with the tip of his cue, “are nothing but a frightful bore.” He stood back, admiring his handiwork as two balls clacked together and a red one tumbled into a pocket at the far end of the table. He took a swig from a near-empty whisky bottle he’d left resting on the raised lip of the billiard table.
Black raised a disapproving eyebrow. “You understand, Benson, that it’s terribly uncouth to drink from the bottle like that?”
Benson laughed, nearly spluttering on his drink, and Black chuckled heartily, reaching out his hand. “Oh go on, give it here, foul stuff that it is.” He took the proffered bottle and downed the last of the caramel-coloured spirit, shuddering as it hit his palate.
“A drink’s a drink, Templeton,” said Benson, placing his cue on the table. “And a win’s a win. That’s a guinea you owe me. Unless you want to up the stakes for a rematch?”
Black shook his head, taking another long draw on his cigarette. “No,” he said, hopping down from where he’d been sitting on a window ledge and blowing smoke from the corner of his mouth. “I must find Newbury. Apparently there’s something he wants to discuss.”
“Hmm,” murmured Benson, unhappy to be losing his playmate. “I’m not sure why you bother attending these house parties, you know. You’re never here for more than five minutes before you go and get yourself caught up in another ridiculous investigation. You should tell Newbury to keep his mysteries to himself.”
Black laughed, slapping Benson heartily on the back. “Now you’re being drunk and petulant,” he said, warmly. “Go on, go and find someone else to beat at billiards.” He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see a pretty young woman in a black, floor-length gown enter the room. “Jocasta will play, won’t you?” he said, laughing.