Thomas Jones, a retired professor of English and rare book dealer, is astounded when a young man enters his shop offering an almost pristine copy of THE STRAND MAGAZINE from July 1891, containing the Sherlock Holmes story A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA. But what shocks Thomas the most is that below the magazine title is a stamped inscription proclaiming in large block letters 'AUTHOR COPY'. Thus begins an astonishing adventure leading to murder - both past and present - and the discovery of Dr. John H. Watson's lost dispatch box!