The Problem of the Surly Servant

At Oxford, a rash of crime puts Dodgson under suspicion of murder

The world of academia is hardly a hotbed of crime. And although scholars at the University of Oxford may debate the assassination of Caesar or the execution of Socrates, a modern criminal has no place within the school’s walls. And yet, as the reverend Charles Dodgson is horrified to learn, there is a thief within the college of Christ Church. The wine cellar has been ransacked, the faculty has been robbed, and a female student is being threatened by a blackmailer. It falls to Dodgson—better known as Lewis Carroll—to unmask the thief with the help of his dear friend Arthur Conan Doyle.

The campus crimes quickly escalate until the university’s hallowed halls are stained with blood. When suspicion of murder falls at Dodgson’s feet, it is up to Doyle to clear his friend’s name—with the brilliance and style befitting the man who created Sherlock Holmes.