In The Shadow of the Rat David Stuart Davies conjures up a grand atmosphere of excitement and fear. When a body is found floating in the river – a body that has been deliberately infected with the plague virus. Holmes and Watson find themselves seeking answers at The Bridge of Dreams, a club where a person's darkest wish can be granted – for a price. Holmes falls under the control of a will stronger than his own, which threatens the life of his closest friend Watson and leaves the government – indeed Britain itself – open to a deadly terror, the monstrous Giant Rat of Sumatra. David Stuart Davies is a British writer. A former English teacher, he now works as a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies has written extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. He is the editor of Red Herrings, the monthly in-house publication of the Crime Writers' Association.