The Ballad of Lady Smallwood

The Ballad of Lady Smallwood cover

The Ballad of Lady Smallwood is a short story in the form of linked 221Bs1. It contains spoilers for His Last Vow2 and an explanation for reappearance in the final scene of that episode.

Coincidence, the timing of Moriarty’s return? The world is rarely so lazy.

For Kalypso, on her birthday.

Warnings: The author chooses not to warn.

Acknowledgements:
The original cover image is based upon a photograph of Portcullis House in London, United Kingdom entitled ‘Chimneys in Westminster’ by Tristan Forward. The font used on the cover is ‘Underground’ by Nick Curtis. The fonts used in this book are from the Source Serif Pro font family by Frank Grießhammer.

The images and fonts were used under license detailed on their respective website pages at the date of this book publication.

As usual, Russ from shoes for industry designed the book cover, produced the books and compiled the on-line work.

The opinions, prejudices, faults and spelling herein are all my own work, and I apologise in advance for them.


  1. “221B” describes a short, self-contained work of precisely 221 words length, of which the last word begins with ‘B’, a literary form invented specifically by fanfic writers in the Sherlock fandom. 

  2. His Last Vow is the third episode in the third series of the BBC Sherlock television program. 


This short story is rated PG. You might also like to consider other books set in the Sherlock fandom.

- First Edition: 3rd Feb 2014
- 2nd Edition: 5th May 2021

This work is created as a transformative work on a not-for-profit basis. All rights in the underlying properties are those of their respective holders.


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