The recently discovered diaries of the young Arthur Conan Doyle contain the startling adventures of Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and the Edinburgh surgeon, Joseph Bell in Russia during 1881. At the time, Holmes, a medical school dropout, had become a skilled anatomist, diagnostician and surgeon. Even his most devoted admirers are unaware that Holmes was an undercover agent for Her Majesty's Secret Service before he became a private detective.

Holmes and Doyle accompany Dr. Bell when he travels to St. Petersburg to lecture on antiseptic surgery. Doyle's diary of their adventures reveal the origin of Sherlock Holmes's addiction to cocaine as well as the plots by Prussians and Americans to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. The British are particularly concerned about an ex-officer, driven mad by torture during the Afghan-British war, who is determined to assassinate the Tsar.

Holmes, with his uncanny ability, solves a series of murders by observing seemingly insignificant clews, such as the position of chess pieces, a cigar band and a sick dog. Doyle's attraction to a radical young woman leads to his involvement with students who manufacture bombs. He is thrown in prison and when he visits a bawdy gentlemen's club, a sword-wielding Cossack challenges him to a duel. Doyle meets famous Russians such as Dostoyevsky and Rasputin.

This latest diary will enlighten and enchant all lovers of the Great Detective.