The Adventure of the Second Wife
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan
Andrew Finkel
“The Adventure of the Second Wife is an assured and highly original debut that will entertain both Sherlockians and lovers of quirky and mysterious tales” - L C Tyler
"The search for a missing Sherlock Holmes mystery provides a view of obsession, authorship and authoritarianism that is both revealing and funny... a joy to read” - Jenny White
15th FEBRUARY 2024 | EVEN KEEL PUBLISHING | HARDBACK | £20.00
‘Which one, of all the Sherlock Holmes adventures, pleased you the most?’
‘Frankly, I’m sick to death of the lot of them,’ replied an irate Conan Doyle, who famously resented labouring in the shadow of his own creation. For a few uncomfortable moments, they sat in silence, the cup rattling in the saucer as he sipped his tea… ‘I must correct myself,’ he said to no one in particular. ‘There is one story that continues to intrigue me – that of “The Second Wife”.’
What did Arthur Conan Doyle mean by that now-infamous remark, uttered towards the
very end of his life? For there is no such story as ‘The Adventure of the Second Wife’… or
is there?
This is the mystery that has obsessed generations of Baker Street enthusiasts, and it
falls to an unlikely pair – a London doctor and a literature professor from Istanbul – to
unravel the clues. These lie buried in stories of the fin-de-siecle court of Abdülhamid II,
the last Ottoman ruler to command the world stage.
Sultan Abdülhamid was famously addicted to Sherlock Holmes: he would have the
stories read to him as he lay in bed at night. This obsession was to save his life and alter
the course of a dying empire. But solving one mystery can mean disturbing other, darker
and fresher secrets. Is the real story of ‘The Second Wife’ one that can ever be told?
The Adventure of the Second Wife is the debut novel of renowned journalist Andrew
Finkel – a clever, compelling mystery about a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast who with
the help of a brilliant Turkish professor, tries to solve the enigma of Arthur Conan
Doyle’s dying words only to upend his life in the process.
ABOUT ANDREW FINKEL
Andrew Finkel has spent years reporting for media organisations including The Times, The Economist, New York Times and CNN. He has covered wars and earthquakes, market booms and busts, and in his capacity as a food critic and contributing editor for Istanbul’s Cornucopia magazine, the postmodernity of the kebab. His experiences working in the Turkish-language press prompted him to co-found P24, an association to promote freedom of expression, and the Istanbul literature house, Kiraathane. He has written a number of non-fiction titles, including Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know which was “called a succinct, readable and expert briefing on the modern country” by Daily Telegraph and “no better introduction to today’s Turkey” by Andrew Mango. The Adventure of the Second Wife is his debut novel.