London, 1919. While the world awaits the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Holmes and Watson are called to a singular mystery. A severed hand has been found on the banks of the Thames, a hand belonging to a soldier who supposedly died in the trenches two years previously. But the hand is fresh, and show signs that it was recently amputated. So how has it ended up back in London two years after its owner was killed? The mystery puts Homes and Watson on the trail of a descent of Victor Frankenstein, via a terrifying genetic disease, government-sanctioned grave-robbing and an encounter with a creature.