Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine

March 1895. Hilary Term at Oxford. In the newly built extension to the University Galleries, ProfessorQuantock has put the finishing touches to a wondrous computational device which, he claims, is capableof analytical thought to rival that of the cleverest men alive. Indeed, his so-called Thinking Engine seemsequal to Sherlock Holmes himself in its deductive powers.To prove his point, Quantock programmes his machine to solve a murder in the Jericho area which hasbeen baffling Oxford police. The Engine identifies a suspect who proves not to have a valid alibi for thenight of the crime. The man is duly arrested and arraigned.Sherlock Holmes cannot ignore this challenge. He and Watson travel to Oxford, where a battle of witsensues between the great detective and his mechanical counterpart as they compete to see which of themcan be first to solve a series of crimes. As man and machine vie for supremacy, it becomes clear that theThinking Engine has its own agenda. Holmes's and Watson's lives are on the line as a ghost from the pastcatches up with them...