Free A Farewell to Baker Street by Mark Mower Page A

essentials of the verse and follows a rigid, highly-structured, layout. Perhaps the best known form is a verse of three lines which contains exactly seventeen syllables. The first and last lines have five syllables apiece, while the middle line contains no more and no less than seven. The art is in presenting a poem which conforms precisely to the accepted arrangement, with no superfluous words or syllables. Short, specific and to the point, a form of poetry I can appreciate.”
    â€œAnd is this a collection written by Mr Doeff?” I asked.
    â€œNo, his early attempts were, at best, experimental. The adoption of haiku poetry in Europe has moved the art on significantly beyond his stanzas. What I am particularly interested in, within this slim volume, is a section on crime-related haiku, written by a young poet called Edwin Halvergate. He manages to describe a fictional murder and within the same verse provides clues to the identity of the killer. Let me give you an example.”
    Holmes then read aloud:
    â€œMan shot for money.
    Robber - Daniel, Tim or Kyle?
    Killer in denial.”
    I looked at him bemused. “Well, it is certainly a short poem Holmes! Let me look at it on the page.”
    He got up from his seat and came across to me with the book, holding it up and pointing to the relevant verse. I read it to myself and then said: “So, the man is killed during a robbery and we have three suspects, each of which claims to be innocent of the crime. The poem then invites us to guess who the killer is.”
    Holmes chuckled. “That’s it, Watson. You have it. See how the short-form does not obscure the key facts. But the verse is not inviting you to guess who committed the crime - it tells you. Look at the last line: ‘killer in denial’. Yes, it’s telling us that the suspect denies murder, but ‘denial’ is also an anagram of Daniel . He is the guilty man.”
    â€œVery clever, Holmes,” I mused. “Let me have another, now that I’ve got the gist.”
    Holmes flicked on a couple of pages and picked out another poem:
    â€œJane dead - knew killer.
    Initial clues point to him.
    Mark, Kane, Fred or Jim?”
    This time I worked through the logic of the key facts. “We have another murder. This time, of a lady called Jane, who evidently knew the person who killed her. The poem again gives us a number of suspects, based on some early clues. But I’m guessing in this case that ‘initial clues’ has a double meaning. If we look at the initial letters which begin each line, they spell out the name of our murderer - JIM. How’s that, Holmes?”
    â€œPerfect! Of course, these are but introductory examples of Halvergate’s craft. His haiku get more intricate and complex as one progresses through the book. But then I would expect no less, given that Edwin Halvergate is not only a talented poet, but also a gifted logician who once studied under Professor Moriarty.”
    I recoiled at the name. “Then your poetry reading is not for idle pleasure. Has this Edwin Halvergate followed Moriarty into a life of criminality?”
    Holmes returned to his chair, closed the book and placed it on a pile of other manuscripts and papers to his left. “I am afraid so. He is fast becoming a major player in the criminal underworld of the capital. I have heard it said that he is trying to emulate his one-time academic mentor and resurrect the evil empire that Moriarty once led. It is my personal mission to prevent that from happening.”
    â€œAgreed, but how will you work against him? I imagine that Halvergate - like Moriarty before him - is rarely at the scene of a crime or directly involved in any of the nefarious activities he commissions.”
    Holmes nodded. “That is correct. But like his predecessor, it will be his hubris , his fatal pride, which will bring his downfall. Halvergate is clever, and certainly ambitious, but he is no