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- Herausgeber: Delos Digital
- Kategorie: Krimi
- Sprache: Englisch
Giallo - short story (21 pagine) - A chilling investigation into identity, power, and survival in the shadow of the Third Reich.
In the tense summer of 1935, Dr. Watson’s medical practice is interrupted by an unexpected visitor: Mycroft Holmes, bearing a request from Nazi Germany. A minor official accuses a high-ranking Luftwaffe administrator, Erhard Milch, of Jewish ancestry—a claim that could prove fatal under the Nuremberg Laws. Mycroft and Watson embark on a clandestine investigation to uncover the truth, navigating a web of racial obsession, bureaucratic cynicism, and startling pragmatism at the highest levels of the Third Reich. In a world where identity is a matter of life and death, the duo must decide where justice—and realpolitik—truly lie.
London businessman, Orlando Pearson is the creator of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes series, which buries forever the idea that Sherlock Holmes might not have been a historical person.
Do you want to see Sherlock Holmes come to the rescue of Queen Victoria, arrange the borders of post-war Europe, clear Macbeth of murder, unravel King Oedipus’s complexities, or provide advice to the Almighty? Then you will find all this and more in the seven collections of short stories, two novels, and the six plays in the series.
When not communing with the spirits of 221b, Orlando enjoys sport, music, and browsing price comparison websites.
He has written Sherlock Holmes stories on all these topics.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2026
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Cover
A Case of Paternity
Mycroft Holmes The Secret Memoirs
4
Orlando Pearson
A Case of Paternity
short story
Delos Digital
This book
A chilling investigation into identity, power, and survival in the shadow of the Third Reich.
In the tense summer of 1935, Dr. Watson’s medical practice is interrupted by an unexpected visitor: Mycroft Holmes, bearing a request from Nazi Germany. A minor official accuses a high-ranking Luftwaffe administrator, Erhard Milch, of Jewish ancestry—a claim that could prove fatal under the Nuremberg Laws. Mycroft and Watson embark on a clandestine investigation to uncover the truth, navigating a web of racial obsession, bureaucratic cynicism, and startling pragmatism at the highest levels of the Third Reich. In a world where identity is a matter of life and death, the duo must decide where justice—and realpolitik—truly lie.
The Author
London businessman, Orlando Pearson is the creator of The Redacted Sherlock Holmes series, which buries forever the idea that Sherlock Holmes might not have been a historical person.
Do you want to see Sherlock Holmes come to the rescue of Queen Victoria, arrange the borders of post-war Europe, clear Macbeth of murder, unravel King Oedipus’s complexities, or provide advice to the Almighty? Then you will find all this and more in the seven collections of short stories, two novels, and the six plays in the series.
When not communing with the spirits of 221b, Orlando enjoys sport, music, and browsing price comparison websites.
He has written Sherlock Holmes stories on all these topics.
Contents
Cover
Mycroft Holmes The Secret Memoirs
Frontispiece
This book
The Author
Contents
A Case of Paternity
(1)
(2)
(3)
From the same author
In the same collection
Did you liked this book?
Copyright
Cover
Frontispiece
Copyright
Book’s beginning
A Case of Paternity
Contents
A Case of Paternity
It was the summer of 1935.
Although my eightieth birthday lay behind me, I was still running a practice in Queen Anne Street. It was a beautiful day, and I was listening to a patient, a Mr Gladwyn, talking about his problems with flatus. These problems were very current and assailed more than one of my senses. For most patients and most complaints, I recommended changes to the complainant’s regimen of tobacco and alcohol consumption, but I could not see that this would be relevant here and I found myself, quite at variance to my normal modus operandi, making suggestions about diet and recommending a course of charcoal biscuits.
Suddenly the door opened, and Mycroft Holmes walked in. He was as massive as ever and his grey eyes had all the mastery which I have previously described to readers of my works.
“I have a matter of state I would wish to discuss with you, Doctor,” said he. He turned to Mr Gladwyn. “This matter outweighs in importance anything you might be discussing with the Doctor.”
It is hard to muster an argument against the masterfulness of Mycroft Holmes, and I said to my patient, “I think we had all but finished Mr Gladwyn.”
Once Mycroft (whom I shall normally refer to as such to avoid confusion with his brother, Sherlock) and I were alone, Mycroft spoke about the reason for his visit.
“We will soon be joined,” said he, “by a Herr Felchner from Berlin who works as a civil servant in Germany’s air ministry. Herr Felchner has telegrammed to say that he has a matter to present which if left unchecked poses a danger to the German Reich.”
“I am trying to run a medical practice here,” I grunted, slightly nettled by Mycroft’s apparent assumption that I would drop everything at his unannounced arrival for what seemed the vaguest of petitions.
“I note you are a little engaged at present, but if you are concerned about neglecting the needs of your patients, I am happy to be able to tell you that I have brought my young second cousin, Dr Verner, along with me. You will recall it was he who bought your practice at Kensington after my brother’s return from the Reichenbach Falls in 1894. He has now retired but would be happy to step in as your locum.”
In no more than a few minutes, Verner was seated behind my desk and listening to another patient who was, coincidentally, also troubled by flatus. Mycroft and I withdrew to the private part of my house, and we were soon joined by Herr Felchner. I was surprised that a civil servant at the German air-ministry in Berlin wore a dark blue uniform. I was even more surprised when he clicked his heels, raised his right arm, and cried “Heil Hitler!”, circling to take in both of us in as he gave his salutation.
I had no idea how to respond to this and even Mycroft, as unperturbable a man as it was possible to imagine, seemed nonplussed.
I have referred in the works I have published in my lifetime to the linguistic abilities of Sherlock Holmes, but I have never referenced Mycroft’s abilities in this area. As my readers might expect, he was at least as gifted in this respect as his brother Sherlock. I too have enough knowledge of the German language that Sherlock Holmes was able to quote Goethe to me in the original. Thus, the discussions that followed took place in a mixture of German and English as did all the numerous discussions with German officials in the account of events that follows.
It was Mycroft who opened proceedings.
“Herr Felchner has travelled overnight from Berlin to London. Perhaps Herr Felchner you might like to present to us the matter you would wish to discuss.”
“I am an under-secretary at the air-ministry, gentlemen, and I report to the State Secretary who is a man called Erhard Milch. He in turn reports to the minister, the Reichsmarschall or Marshal of the German Reich, Hermann Göring.”
There was a pause, and I wondered what sort of petition was coming next, but Felchner evidently felt he was only at the introductory phase of presenting what he had to say. A sudden light came into his eyes as he continued. “My country is finally on the rise after its betrayal at Versailles.” He paused for a second and a look of wonder across his face. “It is truly a miracle what is happening. Although, of course,” he insisted, suddenly becoming business-like, “we in Germany have no designs on any of the interests of the great British Empire. Indeed, our Führer, Herr Adolf Hitler, has always expressed admiration at how a country with a relatively small population can have assembled an empire the like of which the world has never seen before.”
“Any attempt by the Germans or anyone else to build an empire of its own will necessarily compete with the British Empire,” observed Mycroft mildly.
