When a priceless Carthaginian seal vanishes from a Belgravia townhouse without a trace, Sherlock Holmes is drawn into a case that reaches far beyond London drawing rooms and academic rivalries.The stolen artifact is no mere antiquity. According to its late owner, it conceals a coded message, one that may point to a long-lost Phoenician treasure ship sunk during the First Punic War. As Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate a string of seemingly related thefts across Britain and the Continent, they uncover a shadowy contest among scholars, collectors, and obsessives willing to sacrifice reputation, loyalty, and even lives in pursuit of ancient secrets.From the reading rooms of the British Museum to the windswept waters off Sicily, The Affair of the Phoenician Seal blends classical scholarship, intellectual rivalry, and criminal ingenuity into a richly Victorian adventure. Faithful to the spirit of Conan Doyle while venturing into darker and more global territory, this new Holmes case asks how far the modern world is willing to go to claim the buried wealth, and buried knowledge, of the ancient past.