The Case of the Displaced Detective
Books 1 & 2
By Stephanie Osborn

The Arrival is the first book in a science fiction mystery series about alternate universes, in which people exist which we believe to be only literary characters.

The Arrival and At Speed both contain a great blend of technology and human interaction/characterization and will appeal to science fiction fans, mystery fans, and thriller fans.

The Arrival and At Speed were written by a 20-year veteran of the space program who is an experienced scientist.

Both books use cutting-edge science, taking M-theory and string theory and using them in unexplored ways to create the scenario.

The Case of the Displaced Detective series is a canonical take on the classic Sherlock Holmes, maintaining the personality Doyle created while allowing room for character growth and development.

Stephanie Osborn:

Hometown: Clarksville, TN. Currently resides in Madison AL.

She obtained majors in physics, mathematics, and chemistry, a minor in geology, and a MSc in astronomy.

Ms. Osborn worked in Huntsville, AL in the Space Shuttle/Station programs.

The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival is a SF mystery in which hyperspatial physicist, Dr. Skye Chadwick, discovers there are alternate realities, often populated by those considered only literary characters. In one reality, a certain Victorian detective (who, in fact, exists in several continua) was to have died along with his arch-nemesis at the Reichenbach Falls. Knee-jerking, Skye intervenes, rescuing her hero, who flies through the wormhole connecting universes. Unable to go back, Holmes must stay in our world and learn to adapt to the 21st century. Meanwhile, Schriever AFB Security discovers a spy ring digging out the details of – and possibly sabotaging – Project: Tesseract.

Can Chadwick help Holmes come up to speed in modern investigative techniques in time to stop the spies? Will Holmes be able to thrive in our modern world? Is Chadwick now Holmes' new "Watson" – or more? And what happens next?

In The Case of the Displaced Detective: At Speed -- Having aborted one attempt to sabotage Project: Tesseract, Sherlock Holmes and Skye Chadwick face the next challenge. How do they find the members of the spy ring when they don’t even know what the ring wants? And how can they do it when Skye is recovering from a nigh-fatal wound?

Further complicating matters is their relationship. For the ups and downs between Holmes and Chadwick are due to something more than the occasional clash of demanding, eccentric personalities. Chadwick acknowledges to herself that she has fallen in love with Holmes. Knowing he eschews matters of the heart, she struggles to hide it, to maintain the friendship. Holmes feels attraction — but fights it tooth and nail, refusing to admit it, even to himself.

Can they work out the intricacies of their relationship? Can they determine the reason the spy ring is after the tesseract? And — most importantly — can they stop it?

Novelist Stephanie Osborn
My words: The Case of the Displaced Detective is a single story in two volumes -- I simply found it impossible to tell the story properly in one book. I've been a huge Holmes fan since childhood, and when the "plot bunny" for this story bit, it bit HARD. I HAD to write it! The first draft came spewing from my fingers into my laptop, 215,000 words in two months! That's like one person holding a wide-open fire hose. I couldn't get it set down fast enough! I'm so excited about this story, which is the first of a series where Holmes and Chadwick tackle technological and scientific based mysteries. There are two more in the editing pipeline, and three more besides that in work, and I've got ideas for more besides! I love these characters and this world -- I could write these books for the rest of my life!

The Case of the Displaced Detective
The Arrival
By Stephanie Osborn

The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival is a SF mystery in which brilliant hyperspatial physicist, Dr. Skye Chadwick, discovers there are alternate realities, often populated by those we consider only literary characters. Can Chadwick help Holmes come up to speed in modern investigative techniques in time to stop the spies? Will Holmes be able to thrive in our modern world? Is Chadwick now Holmes’ new “Watson” -- or more?

And what happens next?

First book in the Displaced Detective series
“…a fantastic spin on the Holmes mythos and does the character and his creator great honor. This is definitely Doyle’s Holmes, a man who, although he assimilates to blue jeans and computers quite well, is clearly still of the sensibilities, skills, and quirks he has always been.”
~ Tommy Hancock for Ideas Like Bullets. Tommy is host of One-Two Punch on TMVCafe.

Cover artwork by Darrell Osborn
SF mystery trade paperback
Retail price $19.95. 5.5x8.5 326 pages
ISBN: 1-60619-189-7

“For the fan of any mystery involving Sherlock Holmes, this nonstop action tale will delight and satisfy you and you will definitely go looking for other great tales by talented author Stephanie Osborn.” ~ Anne K. Edwards, author of Shadows over Paradise and The Last to Fall
The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival is available through your favorite local bookstore. Copies may also be ordered directly from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or the publisher, Twilight Times Books, P. O. Box 3340, Kingsport, TN 37664 and also via the Internet: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/ Twilight Times Books

Sample Chapter:
The Arrival -- Chapter 1

The Case of the Displaced Detective
At Speed
By Stephanie Osborn

Having foiled sabotage of Project: Tesseract by an unknown spy ring, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Skye Chadwick face the next challenge. How do they find the members of this diabolical spy ring when they do not even know what the ring is trying to accomplish? And how can they do it when Skye is recovering from no less than two nigh-fatal wounds?

Can they work out the intricacies of their relationship? Can they determine the reason the spy ring is after the tesseract? And -- most importantly -- can they stop it?

Second book in the Displaced Detective series

Cover artwork by Darrell Osborn
SF mystery trade paperback
Retail price $19.95. 5.5x8.5 294 pages
ISBN: 1-60619-191-0

The Case of the Displaced Detective: At Speed is available through your favorite local bookstore. Copies may also be ordered directly from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or the publisher, Twilight Times Books, P. O. Box 3340, Kingsport, TN 37664 and also via the Internet: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/ Twilight Times Books

The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Real-Life Locations

The Case of the Displaced Detective may be fiction, but a number of its locations are based on fact – and some of them are not well known.

Here are a few:

Great Britain:
London
London is the capital city of England and the UK, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, with history going back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile medieval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor and the London Assembly.

EUROPE:
The Reichenbach Falls
The Reichenbach Falls (Reichenbachfall) are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringin in the canton of Bern in central Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 m (820 ft). At 90 m (295.2 ft), the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps.

The town and the falls are known worldwide as the setting for an entirely fictional event: it is the location where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero, Sherlock Holmes, apparently dies at the end of "The Final Problem," locked in mortal combat with his arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty. The ledge from which Moriarty and Holmes apparently fell is on the other side of the falls from the funicular; it is accessible by climbing the path to the top of the falls, crossing the bridge and following the trail down the hill. The ledge is marked by a plaque in English, French, and German; the English inscription reads, "At this fearful place, Sherlock Holmes vanquished Professor Moriarty, on 4 May 1891." This is a reference to an event in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Empty House", in which Holmes is revealed to have survived the fight with Moriarty due to his knowledge of "baritsu, or Japanese wrestling" and to have taken the opportunity to fake his own death, to protect himself from Colonel Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's henchman. The pathway on which the duel occurs now ends some hundred yards away from the falls. However, at the time Doyle viewed the falls, the path ended very close to the falls, close enough to touch it. Over the hundred years after his visit, the pathway has slowly eroded away, and the falls have receded into the gorge.

UNITED STATES:
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located 61 miles south of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. At 6,035 feet (1839 m) the city stands over one mile (1.6 km) above sea level, though some areas of the city are significantly higher. Colorado Springs is situated near the base of one of the most famous American mountains, Pikes Peak, in the Rampart Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Florissant, Colorado
Florissant is a rural community in Teller County, Colorado, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 104. Florissant, Colorado, was named after Florissant, Missouri, the hometown of the founding family. The word florissant is the gerund of the French verb fleurir, which roughly means to flourish, to flower, or to blossom.

Florissant Fossil Beds
The Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is a United States National Monument in Teller County, Colorado, United States, that is noted for its fossils. It is located in a mountain valley just west of Pikes Peak and holds spectacular remnants of prehistoric life. The fossil beds take their name from the nearby town of Florissant, Colorado. The fossils are contained in the Florissant Formation of Eocene age. Huge petrified redwoods and very detailed fossils of ancient insects and plants reveal a very different landscape in Paleogene Colorado. Almost 35 million years ago, enormous volcanic eruptions — now designated the Thirtynine Mile Volcanic Area — buried the then-lush valley and petrified the redwood trees that grew there. A lake formed in the valley, and the fine-grained sediments compacted into layers of shale and preserved the delicate details of organisms as fossils. The Florissant Fossil Beds were set aside as a part of the National Park System in 1969.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado
Garden of the Gods is a public park located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. It contains numerous trails for hiking, walking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Because of the unusual and steep hogback rock formations in the park, it is an attractive goal for rock climbers. Rock climbing is permitted, with annual permit obtained at the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center.

Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak (originally Pike's Peak) is a mountain in the Front, or Rampart, Range of the Rockies, 10 miles (16 km) west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County in the United States of America. Originally called "El Capitan" by Spanish settlers, the mountain was renamed Pike's Peak after Zebulon Pike, Jr., an explorer who led an expedition to the southern Colorado area in 1806. At 14,115 feet (4,302 m), it is one of Colorado's 54 “fourteeners” (mountains that rise more than 14,000 feet (4,267.2 m) above sea level). Pikes Peak rises over 8,000 feet above the city of Colorado Springs, and is a designated National Historic Landmark.

Pikes Peak is the easternmost fourteen thousand foot peak in the United States, located 10 miles (16 km) west of the city of Colorado Springs. It is composed of a characteristic pink granite called Pikes Peak granite. The color is due to a large amount of potassium feldspar. The granite was once magma that crystallized at least 20 miles (32 km) beneath the Earth's surface, formed by an igneous intrusion during the Precambrian era, approximately 1.05 billion years ago, during the Grenville orogeny (mountain-building). Through uplift, the hardened rock pushed through the Earth's crust and created a dome-like mountain, covered with less resistant rock. Years of erosion removed the soil and rock, leaving the exposed mountain.

Bust, Colorado
Bust, Colorado is a small community along US Highway 24 in Ute Pass, directly opposite Pikes Peak in the eastern canyon of the pass. It was created in a humorous reference to the gold mining boom slogan, “Pikes Peak or Bust.”

Cheyenne Mountain
Cheyenne Mountain is a mountain located just outside the southwest side of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is home to the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and its Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, formerly known as the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC). Throughout the Cold War and continuing to this day, the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center and the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate collect data from a worldwide system of satellites, radar, and other sensors and process that information in real time. Operations are conducted year-round in the Air Warning Center, Missile Correlation Center, Operational Intelligence Watch, Systems Center, Weather Center, and the Command Center.

Peterson AFB
Peterson Air Force Base is a USAF base located at Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and it provides runways for the adjacent City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. It was named in honor of 1st Lt Edward Joseph Peterson who was killed in a crash at the base. Peterson AFB is home to the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), NORAD, Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), AFSPC's 21st Space Wing (21 SW), the Army Space Command, and the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing (302 AW). The 21 SW serves as host unit for Peterson AFB. On 28 July 2006, operations formerly conducted in Cheyenne Mountain by NORAD were relocated to Peterson Air Force Base for purposes of efficiency. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex will be left on warm standby until the protection of the mountain is again required. NORAD officials no longer feel there is a threat of an intercontinental nuclear attack which could disrupt NORAD's operations.

Schriever AFB
Schriever Air Force Base is a USAF base located approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. This Air Force Base is named in honor of General Bernard Adolph Schriever, who pioneered in the development of the American ballistic missile programs. It is the home of the 50th Space Wing of the Air Force Space Command, and this base provides command and control for over 170 DoD warning, navigational, and communications satellites. Also housed at Schriever AFB are the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center and the Space Innovation and Development Center. Schriever AFB is the main control point for GPS.

Author’s Biography:
Stephanie Osborn is a former payload flight controller, a veteran of over twenty years of working in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defense programs. She has worked on numerous Space Shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the training of astronauts on her resumé. Of those astronauts she trained, one was Kalpana Chawla, a member of the crew lost in the Columbia disaster. Stephanie holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences: Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several more, including Geology and Anatomy. She obtained her various degrees from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.
Ms. Osborn is currently retired from space work. She now happily “passes it forward” teaching math and science via numerous media including radio, podcasting, and public speaking, as well as working with SIGMA, the science fiction think tank, while writing science fiction mysteries based on her knowledge, experience, and travels.

Author web site:
Stepahnie Osborn on SFF Net

Degrees and Certifications:
1)
Degrees and Licenses:
Bachelor of Science, Austin Peay State University
Majors: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics
Minor: Geology
Master of Science, Vanderbilt University
Majors: Astronomy
Thesis
Minors: Physics, Geology
Ministry License, North Tennessee Bible Institute

2)
Certifications (current/previous)
ACE certified personal trainer
Madison City Schools certified substitute teacher
American Heart Association Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) certification
National Weather Service certified storm spotter

Published Works
Short works
“Space Mission Operations” section in Alien Invasion: How to Defend Earth by Travis S. Taylor and Bob Boan, 2011 Baen Books
“The Bunker” Dreams of Steam Anthology No. 1, 2010 Kerlak Publishing

Novels
Burnout: the mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, 2009 Twilight Times Books
Extraction Point, with co-author Travis S. Taylor, 2011 Twilight Times Books
Displaced Detective series
The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival, 2011 Twilight Times Books
The Case of the Displaced Detective: At Speed, 2011 Twilight Times Books
The Case of the Cosmological Killer: The Rendlesham Incident, 2012 (forthcoming) Twilight Times Books

Cresperian series
The Y Factor, with co-author Darrell Bain, 2009 Twilight Times Books
The Cresperian Alliance, with co-author Darrell Bain, 2010 Twilight Times Books

Preview © 2011 by Dan L. Hollifield

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