The Case Of The Silk King

The reader's decisions control an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of an American businessman in Thailand.

Someone wants your detective agency to investigate the disappearance of the an American businessman who might be living as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. You are promised a huge reward. You decide what to do next.

For the first time in its one-hundred-and-twenty-five-year history, the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate has authorized a new Sherlock Holmes novel. Once again, The Game's Afoot... London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap - a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place. Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper into an international conspiracy connected to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston, the gaslit streets of London, opium dens and much, much more. And as they dig, they begin to hear the whispered phrase-the House of Silk-a mysterious entity that connects the highest levels of government to the deepest depths of criminality. Holmes begins to fear that he has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society. The Arthur Conan Doyle Estate chose the celebrated, #1 New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz to write The House of Silk because of his proven ability to tell a transfixing story and for his passion for all things Holmes. Destined to become an instant classic, The House of Silk brings Sherlock Holmes back with all the nuance, pacing, and almost superhuman powers of analysis and deduction that made him the world's greatest detective, in a case depicting events too shocking, too monstrous to ever appear in print...until now.

Maya Herman In Search of The Silk King A Novel Among many stories I heard in Southeast Asia, the most fascinating is the story of the legendary American “silk king” of Thailand – Jim Thompson. It is as mysterious as Asia itself. The name Jim Thompson seemed to follow me from the first moment I arrived in Bangkok. The more stories and rumors I heard, the more I became fascinated by them. They had all the ingredients of a good novel or a major movie – romance, mystery, glamour, exotic locations, and more. The legend of the “silk king” and his disappearance remains as mysterious today as it was in 1967. No clues were ever found. Only unanswered questions remained. Using poetic license, I decided to write a novel that might answer some of them. As such, the novel is very loosely and only in part based on the real life of Jim Thompson, as I learned of it primarily through living in Bangkok, traveling extensively throughout Southeast Asia and writing about it in my book of travel essays, The Jade Window (Bangkok, 1998). It is also in part based on the information I gathered in my research from the newspaper articles on Thompson, William Warren’s indispensable biography of him, on the interviews with Warren and Henry Thompson, through Alexander Macdonald’s notes and OSS archives, for all of which I am immensely grateful. Still, my “Jim Thompson”is not a historic but a fictional character. In Search of The Silk King is a work of fiction written in many voices that are tempered with the measure of truth. Any errors – biographical, historical, intended, or otherwise - are solely mine. This is the story of an adventure told in hero’s voice and in various voices of the people who knew him. It is also the story of his life that had the sweep of a historical romance and the power of a heroic quest. As Jim Thompson’s absorbing tale unfolds, the reader discovers what happened after his disappearance, how he succeeded and suffered and eventually found the truth. It is a novel of suspense, of fate and love lost and found. The “Jim Thompson” of my novel thinks of himself as an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. There are, on the tapes he sent from his after-life in exile to a journalist friend, his memories of the past: his childhood desire to travel to exotic places ... of his first and greatest love, of his marriage. As a young man, Jim went to New York and worked as an architect. He met Vera, a Russian ballerina, and fell in love with her. He gave her a brooch designed as a pair of ballet slippers made of emeralds and diamonds as a token of his great love. When Vera decided to go back to her old lover she returned one of the two slippers. Jim kept the slipper as the memento of his love that would prove to be fatal. After the breakup, Jim tried to find a new direction in life. He married a woman he barely knew and enlisted in the Army. This was his way of escaping the loss of his first great love that would mark his whole emotional life. He went to Africa where he worked for the OSS with Maurice, a half-French, half-Laotian mystery man. Not eager to return home, Jim volunteered to go to Southeast Asia. This was the real beginning of his journey. He fell in love with Bangkok and wanted to stay there even after the war was over. His wife Pat did not share his enthusiasm and agreed to a divorce. Jim returned to Bangkok with a plan to renovate the Oriental hotel. He did not succeed in that, but found his true vocation in a forgotten art of silk making. Jim almost single-handedly revived the Thai silk industry and became the most successful American businessman in Thailand. There is a story about silk. Jim’s life seemed full. He built a beautiful house and opened a new store. He seemed to have finally found his fulfillment. He had a beautiful young mistress, Nicole, and seemed

Silk and Steel: Mariah Bowes thinks that being alone and penniless is the worst thing that can happen to her, but then she becomes the innocent victim of a horrifying act of revenge. Daniel Thorpe never realized the terrible consequences his affair with the beautiful Lily would bring consumed with guilt. Will he ever convince Mariah to trust him again? But for Mariah there are further horrors to face. Not least the terrible secret that her father, Ezekiel Bowes, is determined no one will ever discover. Women of Iron: Luther Dearne has made a fortune with the wealthy iron masters of South Riding, and by cheating the Swedish shippers who bring their iron to sell in England. He has everything his heart desires--except children. When a woman turns up in the tavern with an orphaned little girl for sale, Luther does not hesitate. Little does he know that Lissie, with her great beauty and mysterious origins, whom his wife hates at first sight, will prove to be both his greatest joy and his deepest heartache--and finally his undoing.