Sherlock Holmes’ Fatal Hour

An “almost similar” oddity has taken place at the Reichsbank in Berlin and a London bank. Nothing missing, watchman unconscious or dead.

A man who works in the Foreign Office is a dreadful cheat at bridge for money.

Two sides of the case, out of which Holmes deduces forged banknotes, blackmail and currency smuggling.

The mastermind is Professor Robert Moriarty, a cheerful loser at cards. Half the crime in the world is ascribed to him and his organization, which is remarkably like Dr. Mabuse’s.

It’s called The Sleeping Cardinal in Britain for a curious reason suggesting Goya.

A Fire Has Been Arranged

Smash-and-grab goes to ground where Shuffle & Cutte cook their books as department store mavens, the loot must be dug up, the pile incinerated ere Shuffle & Cutte’s policy expires, a happy collusion of interests.

“A sentimental ballad by our old friends Messrs. Flanagan & Allen” concludes the thing in a gambling hell (cf. Robin and the 7 Hoods, dir. Gordon Douglas).