The Scroll of the Dead
1998 novel by David Stuart Davies
The Scroll of the Dead is a 1998 adventure mystery pastiche novel written by David Stuart Davies, featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they investigate a theft from the British Museum with ties to the Black Arts.
Plot
After Holmes and Watson attend a bogus seance to unmask a phony psychic, they are called upon to investigate a murder and the theft of a scroll from the British Museum. As it turns out, this is but the first key towards uncovering a mysterious Egyptian tomb, and within it, a papyrus that may hold the power of eternal life.
Background
While writing the novel, Davies was approached by Granada Television to have it adapted by Jeremy Paul as a two-hour film for their Sherlock Holmes series. Star Jeremy Brett objected, preferring to stick solely to the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Reprints
Titan Books reprinted the book in 2009, under the title of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Scroll of the Dead as part of its Further Adventures series, which collects a number of noted Holmesian pastiches.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Scroll of the Dead” is 1998 novel by David Stuart Davies. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Scroll, Dead and novel, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1998 novel by David Stuart Davies” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22936344. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998 and 2009.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Scroll of the Dead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.