When the Earl of Alderstein is found stabbed inside his locked study, and a key witness dies in a locked bathroom, a sharp female detective teams up with the ghost of Sherlock Holmes to prove the impossible—that both “suicides” were actually murders.

SYNOPSIS:

DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MARIA MARTIN (25) and her love interest, CONSTABLE HENRY GRUBER (23), arrive at the Chateau of the Earl of Alderstein (28), where he was stabbed to death in his den that is locked from the inside. DOC (45) claims the two stab wounds in the front don’t rule out suicide. Luckily, DI Martin is on the case, and she hears the sometimes-helpful voice of the ghost of Sherlock Holmes to help solve difficult cases. The first lead suspect is the COUNTESS, Earl’s wife. Earl demanded a large dowry in their arranged marriage to keep his crumbling Chateau solvent. Earl, teetering on bankruptcy, buys a personal insurance policy in hopes of collecting on an accidental injury (his minor stab wound in the side). The second stab wound to the heart comes minutes later. Persons of interest include Earl, the Countess, the BUTLER (40), his wife, the Chef (38), LUCY (30s), a sultry Asian maid.

Later, Lucy is found in a locked bathroom with her wrists cut. Locked room murders are notoriously difficult to solve, and these two cases are made more difficult by the slow unveiling of motives, secrets, conspiracies, and bizarre behavior of the suspects. The Butler and Chef are paid as one person to cut costs. Lucy turns to blackmailing her co-workers to make ends meet. The Countess despises the Earl for selling her jewelry and squandering her dowry. How the household could afford HANS (24, a masseuse) and Samantha (Earl’s mistress) is another mystery. And they all want a cut of Earl’s accident insurance, which doesn’t pay out for murder.

The Ghost of Sherlock Holmes arrives (in DI Martin’s head) to help solve the case. Sherlock is distracted by the modern world and infatuated with the voice of DI Martin’s dead mom. Sherlock often disappears during the investigation. To make matters worse, the oddball suspects drink heavily at Earl’s planned “Almost-A-Wake” party. They demand the deaths be ruled suicides to collect insurance. The killer or killers remain in the Chateau, and no one is safe.

Doc finally admits that Earl’s self-inflicted stabbing may have been murder. His insurance fraud plan backfires, and his mistress won’t inherit a penny. DI Martin concludes Lucy the maid was killed by the Chef to keep her blackmailing videos from surfacing, and that Lucy and the Countess were in cahoots. The Countess denies it all until DI Martin sends the Constable to search the grounds. She pieces together both locked-room murders before the Constable returns with the Countess’s blood-spattered white robe. Sherlock watches with pride as Maria solves the case with little help. She’s becoming a master detective herself. Now that she’s off-duty, she and the Constable can finally kiss, while Sherlock races away for a ghostly date with Mum.

THE GHOST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE LAST EARL OF ALDERSTEIN