Imagination Theatre Presents “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman (A Great Hiatus Mystery)”!

“All I can say is I hope God has mercy on their souls, because the wrong gentleman never does.”

So Inspector G. Lestrade advises Dr. John H. Watson.

But who is this wrong gentleman? And what does he have to do with a pair of Scotland Yard detectives who vanished while investigating a smuggling operation run by a remnant of Professor Moriarty‘s gang? Or with Sherlock Holmes‘ attempts in India to prevent a multi-national conflict as he chases the steamship Matilda Briggs through the perilous Padma tributary?

HINT: On board the Matilda Briggs is one the smugglers and a particular Indonesian-style statue of a large rodent.

How’s that for a teaser?

The good news is all these questions will be answered in my new radio pastiche and second Great Hiatus Mystery “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman,” brought to you by those oh-so talented and wonderful folks at Jim French’s Imagination Theatre!

It is June 1893, two years since the events of “A Case of Unfinished Business,” and while Watson and Lestrade search for the missing detectives, Mycroft Holmes has sent his right hand man Walter Simonson to Nepal to find Sherlock Holmes and prevent The Moriarties from starting a world war.

Things are popping, to be sure!

If these events sound familiar, it could be because I adapted “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman” from my 2015 pastiche “The Case for Which the World is Not Yet Prepared,” which was first published in The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part XVII: Whatever Remains…Must Be the Truth and again in my novel The Case of the Coal-Tar Derivative: The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John H. Watson Against The Moriarites During The Great Hiatus.

Oh, and if you don’t mind, a quick aside I’d like to share.

“That’s right, Mr. Melas, I killed your dog in the night. What are you going to do about it?”

You might think this pastiche was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s story “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” and The Giant Rat of Sumatra, but while they obviously had an influence, the inspiration came while I was listening to IT’s adaptation of “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter” (written by the incomparable Matthew J. Elliott). In the story a neighbor of Mycroft’s, Mr. Melas, finds himself being absconded in a cab with Harold Latimer, a most unscrupulous fellow, who threatens Melas if he does not assist Latimer with some very shady business.  Later in the story, Holmes comments:

“He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well aware from their experience the other night. This villain was able to terrorize him the instant that he got into his presence.”

I had read Doyle’s story and had seen or listened to other adaptations of “Greek Interpreter” before, but for some reason this time I got to thinking about a couple of old precautionary sayings I grew up with. One is: “No matter how big and tough you are, there’s always somebody bigger and tougher.” The other is: “Some day he is going to mess with the wrong guy.”

So, I wondered, what if Melas not only possessed physical courage, but goes John Wick on Latimer?

C’mon, you’ve got to admit, that sounds like it could be fun.

“The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman” debuts November 15 on Imagination Theater’s flagship station, KIXI 880 in Seattle at 10:30 Pacific Time.  If you don’t happen to live in Seattle there are plenty of other radio stations that you can catch it on. Just click here for a list of all the radio stations that Imagination Theater is syndicated on.

But if terrestrial radio isn’t your bag there is more good news! You can listen to “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman” for a limited time on the Imagination Theater YouTube Channel starting around Saturday November 29. You can also download it or purchase it on a USB flash drive, both of which will be for sale at the Imagination Theater website starting November 22.