Second Fiddle

Homicide Detective Ned Zaleski resents the chief’s decision to enlist Sherlock Holmes’ help in Zaleski’s latest murder investigation. Zaleski fails to see how Holmes, newly transported to the 1990s from his own time by the Santa Cruz Time Wizards, can shed any light on a modern-day serial killer. But Zaleski soon learns Holmes’ earned his reputation for insight honestly. And that insight might lead Zaleski down a path he cannot bear to go. 


First published in Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, an anthology authorized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate, “Second Fiddle” offers an intricate series of unexpected twists and surprising turns that only Kristine Kathryn Rusch can deliver. 


“Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s crime stories are exceptional—both in plot and in style.”

—Ed Gorman, Mystery Scene Magazine



USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. 

To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com, fictionriver.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.