Victorian romantic Mystery in the humorous vein of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.

The Great Detective has more in store for his landlady's niece than washing jars and labeling specimens: pistol shooting, fencing, boxing, and Jiu-Jitsu. This she can master, but Mirabella Hudson must face the greatest horror of all: Miss de Beauvais' Finishing School for Distinguished Young Ladies.

Sherlock Holmes gets more than he bargained for when he hires his landlady's young ward to keep his laboratory in order. Mrs. Hudson's niece might be clever, but Mirabella Hudson is insubordinate, talks too much, is an accident waiting to happen--and, worst of all, is distractingly pretty.

Unfortunately, 'pretty' is just what Sherlock Holmes needs.

Sherlock might be a master of disguise, but pretty he is not. The Great Detective requires a female operative to go under cover at London's premier finishing school where Princess Elena Petrovic-Njegos of Montenegro is a client--and the target of an assassination plot. If the inexperienced Miss Hudson and her employer do not succeed in saving the princess, there is trouble brewing across the globe that could potentially lead to war on a massive scale. Montenegro is a small Serbian country, but she has among her allies the Mother Russia.

One unsuccessful case could ruin this young detective's career before it starts. Above all, Sherlock must have occupation. Work is the blood in his veins. Work is life.

The game is afoot! And there can be no greater puzzle than what he receives in the form of one Mirabella Hudson--who might stump even Sherlock Holmes.