Without My Boswell

Before John Watson had his fateful encounter with the eccentric beater of corpses at Barts, there was a consulting detective by the name of Sherlock Holmes, who had already built up a practice and a reputation that extended to Scotland Yard. However much he may have felt lost without his Boswell later in his career, Holmes was playing a solo game when he started out.

Here are five cases which helped to establish Sherlock Holmes in his career as the world's first consulting detective, all of which are mentioned by name in the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

• The Tarleton Murders
• The Case of Vamberry the Wine Merchant
• The Singular Affair of the Aluminium Crutch
• The Case of the Aboninable Wife
• The Adventure of the Two Bottles

With original illustrations by Andy Boerger