When a struggling poet is found dead in his Thames-side lodgings and his publisher vanishes the very next day, young Sarah Hendricks brings a peculiar request to 221B Baker Street: a manuscript of terrible verses that may hold the key to both mysteries.As Holmes and Watson follow the verses downriver, from Rotherhithe's decaying wharves to the treacherous waters of Deptford, they uncover a smuggling conspiracy that reaches into the highest circles of government. But their adversaries are ruthless, well-connected, and willing to add two more bodies to the Thames if it means keeping their secrets buried.In a case where language itself becomes evidence, where failed poetry speaks louder than confession, and where the truth must be decoded from the most unlikely text, Holmes must prove that even desperate, flawed men can create something of lasting value-if only someone knows how to read it.