JOHN. H. WATSON, M.D., M.B., B.S., M.R.C.S., was born in England in 1852, and was friend, confidant, and chronicler of the great detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, whose exploits have served to inspire generations of amateur sleuths around the world since its first publication in the Strand magazine in the late 1890s. In 1878 he took his medical degree at the University of London and shortly after served as assistant surgeon with the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers in Afghanistan. There he transferred to the Berkshires, and was severely wounded in the Battle of Maiwand, after which he left the service and returned to London. While there, he began his long association with Sherlock Holmes, who became the subject of his more than sixty published books and articles. Dr. Watson died in 1940.

LOREN D. ESTLEMAN is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and a veteran police-court journalist. Since the publication of his first novel in 1976, he has established himself as a leading writer of both mystery and western fiction. His western novels include Golden Spur Award winner Aces and Eights, Mister St. John, The Stranglers, and Gun Man. His Amos Walker, Private Eye series includes Motor City Blue, Angel Eyes, The Midnight Man, The Glass Highway, Shamus Awardwinner Sugartown, Every Brilliant Eye, Lady Yesterday, Downriver, and A Smile on the Face of the Tiger. Mr. Estleman lives in Michigan with his wife, Deborah, who writes under the name Deborah Morgan.