In Somoza's new novel, A Study in Black, it all begins in June 1882, when a nurse, Anne McCarry, middle-aged, ugly, unmarried, arrives in Portsmouth, where she has accepted a position at the prestigious Clarendon House mental hospital. She is assigned to take care of a mysterious gentleman. This strange patient calls himself Mr. X, he cannot stand daylight, but he is endowed with extraordinary insight, for him there is nothing secret in the actions of people, and he can investigate crimes without leaving his chair.