Terror and death stalk the shhadowed ancient hallls of Stoke Place, in the rustic country holding of Stoke Manor. Violet Stonor, a young woman awaiting hher wedding day, is found dead of no apparent physical cause. The local coroner is stymied. Even Dr. John Watson, a friend of the deceased and her sister Enid, can offer no explanation for the tragedy. Thhe only party willing to voice any suspicious is a local shopkeeper who is more than willing to repeat the many village stories about the woman's stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, an Anglo-Indian transplant with a reputation for violence. Two years later, Enid is engaged to be married as well, and the once-innocent events that proceeded hher sister's death begin to repeat themselves at Stokke Hall. This time Watson and Enid enlist the aid of the formidable Sherlock Holmes... but, is even England's greatest detective a match for a cunning fiend with the darkest secrets of exotic foreign lands at his command? Considered one of the most riveting and spooky of all the adventures of Sherlock Holmes!