Detroit Free Press crime reporter Timothy Wiggins attended Harry Houdini’s final performance in Detroit on Halloween Eve 1926. He wrote the great illusionist’s obituary the next day. Days later, he learns that Sherlock Holmes is en route to Detroit. The reason? To clear his old friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of possible complicity in Houdini’s murder. Thus begins a new adventure for the great detective and a reunion with his chief Baker Street Irregular, a now-adult Timothy Wiggins.

What follows is a mad dash to New York and Boston, step in step with the deranged Spiritualist medium Holmes has publicly discredited. Holmes, Wiggins, his feminist wife Violet, and Rose Mackenberg, Houdini’s top investigator into phony Spiritualism, relentlessly follow the spoor of a clever assassin with a tenuous connection to Conan Doyle. In Boston, Sir Arthur arranges a séance with Margie, the most highly regarded Spiritualist of the day. Her séance and hilarious interaction with her dead brother will end with a bizarre form of treasure hunt and a stunning climax that will change everyone’s perception of Holmes and his character.