Research

Victoria has given me a room in her manor while she leaves for whatever reason.

The first thing I want to do is study this new world so I go to the library. Looking through various books, I find that it has a similar history to my own world but various literary characters are actually real and many of them are the opposite gender to my own world.

There are a few exceptions, Adam and Eve are both the same gender but their story is also different to my world. Eve was created first and then Adam was created from her rib. It is Adam who took the apple. Then again, it makes sense that opposite gender versions of Adam and Eve would have the same name.

King Arthur himself still seems to be a man. That is disappointing. I was hoping it would be like Fate/Stay Night. It should have been focus not literally everyone was gender swapped. As far as I can tell, I'm the monster from Frankenstein and I'm still a guy.

I read A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story. It is almost exactly the same story as in my world, except Sherlock and Watson are both women. The book is written by Joan Watson. Does Sir Arthur Conan Doyle exist in this world?

I ask Victoria if the novel Frankenstein exists. She has never heard of it. The book was written by Mary Shelley and is set in the 18th century. The dates given are "17-". Yet, the creation of "Caleb" takes place a century later.

I realise something. The next Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four, was not written until 1890, two years from now. But the story was set in 1888. That is this year. I check the newspaper. What I find is an article about the of Bartholomew Sholto. And I already know who did it.

Bartholomew is the son of Major John Sholto, the only friend of Captain Arthur Morstan, father of Mary Morstan, who will be the future wife of John Watson. I mean Joan Watson. Is Mary a man in this world or are the Victorians just more progressive here? Or will Joan and Mary not be together?

The murderer is Tonga, a little person from the Andaman Islands working with a one legged man named Jonathan Small. Bartholomew was killed for treasure he found, a valuable fortune in pearls and jewellery that a rajah had sent to the British for safekeeping. However the servant who was supposed to deliver it was murdered by Small, who lost the treasure upon being arrested. Small later made a deal with John Sholto and Arthur Morstan for the treasure but Sholto double-crossed both Small and Morstan, taking the treasure for himself. Sholto hid the treasure and after he died before he could reveal it's location to Small, Bartholomew found it.

If I'm right, I could catch Small and Tonga before Holmes does. Or maybe help them escape. Small doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life building drains in Dartmoor Prison. He wasn't evil or sadistic by nature but an unfortunate man given to commit crimes by fate.