Mr. Robert Ferguson thinks his wife might be a vampire. He’s caught her sucking their baby’s neck and since that discovery, she has locked herself in her room, only allowing their Peruvian maid to bring her food. Her behaviour had been strange before that and she had struck Ferguson’s son from an earlier marriage twice. The boy, fifteen, has been left handicapped by a childhood accident. Holmes is immediately convinced he has solved the case upon hearing the story but he follows Ferguson back home to clear the mystery. "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" is part of "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Scotland and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After his studies, he worked as a ship’s surgeon on various boats. During the Second Boer War, he was an army doctor in South Africa. When he came back to the United Kingdom, he opened his own practice and started writing crime books. He is best known for his thrilling stories about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He published four novels and more than 50 short-stories starring the detective and Dr Watson, and they play an important role in the history of crime fiction. Other than the Sherlock Holmes series, Doyle wrote around thirty more books, in genres such as science-fiction, fantasy, historical novels, but also poetry, plays, and non-fiction.

A mother sucks the blood from her baby's neck! Could she be a vampire? Do vampires really exist? Robert Ferguson thinks so. In fact, he believes his wife is one! He calls upon Holmes and Watson to solve the case. Will they find an explanation for the wife's strange behavior? Or are they facing a real vampire?

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, the final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1921 to 1927, features his last 12 mysteries, including the only two stories narrated by Sherlock Holmes himself-"The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane." This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes includes all 57 illustrations by Howard Elcock, Alfred Gilbert, and Frank Wiles as they appeared in the original Strand serials, as well as a complete Timeline of Sherlock Holmes Cases and a detailed author biography.

"Sir - Our client, Mr Robert Ferguson, has made an enquiry concerning vampires. Since we are an engineering firm, unfortunately the matter is not one upon which we can advise. Perhaps you can help." Holmes and Watson take on their strangest case yet when a distraught husband comes to them desperate to understand his wife's strange behaviour. He's caught her sucking the blood of their baby son! But there's no such thing as a vampire ... is there?

A mysterious package reveals a revolting surprise! When Miss Susan Cushing receives a package with gruesome contents, she cannot imagine who sent it. While Inspector Lestrade dismisses the package as a practical joke, Holmes fears the worst. Can Holmes and Watson discover the sender?

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... XII THE JEW'S BREASTPLATE My particular friend, Ward Mortimer, was one of the best men of his day at everything connected with Oriental archaeology. He had written largely upon the subject, he had lived two years in a tomb at Thebes, while he excavated in the Valley of the Kings, and finally he had created a considerable sensation by his exhumation of the alleged mummy of Cleopatra in the inner room of the Temple of Horus, at Philae. With such a record at the age of thirty-one, it was felt that a considerable career lay before him, and no one was surprised when he was elected to the curatorship of the Belmore Street Museum, which carries with it the lectureship at the Oriental College, and an income which has sunk with the fall in land, but which still remains at that ideal sum which is large enough to encourage an investigator, but not so large as to enervate him. There was only one reason which made Ward Mortimer's position a little difficult at the Belmore Street Museum, and that was the extreme eminence of the man whom he had to succeed. Professor Andreas was a profound scholar and a man of European reputation. His lectures were frequented by students from every part of the world, and his admirable management of the collection entrusted to his care was a commonplace in all learned societies. There was, therefore, considerable surprise when, at the age of fifty-five, he suddenly resigned his position and retired from those duties which had been both his livelihood and his pleasure. He and his daughter left the comfortable suite of rooms which had formed his official residence in connection with the museum, and my friend, Mortimer, who was a bachelor, took up his quarters there. On hearing of Mortimer's appointment Professor Andreas...