An Impossible Impostor Novels & Stories

Just tried looking for this myself and had a surprisingly easy time finding it. It's on the usual suspects, like Amazon for Kindle, plus Apple Books and Google Play. I actually bought my copy through Barnes & Noble's Nook store.

If you want a free option and don't mind a library queue, check if your local library offers it through Libby or OverDrive. I had to wait a couple weeks, but it popped up. Don't bother with random free sites claiming to have it; they're either scams or will infect your device with malware.

Finished it last week and the resolution around the imposter's identity had me second-guessing everything I thought I knew about the series.

I was pretty shocked when I got to the reveal, but honestly, it makes total sense in hindsight. The whole time you're led to believe the person claiming to be Harry is just some opportunistic con artist, but the actual twist connects back to a character from 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. It's Jonathan Small's son. Stapleton's son, to be precise.

That connection to a past case is what makes it work for me. It's not a random new villain; it's someone with a legitimate, personal grudge against the Holmes family, tying up a loose end from Watson's earlier writings. The emotional weight comes from that history, not just the imposture itself.

Freddie's a keen archivist who'd never let a real name slip by, so the central crime in 'An Impossible Impostor' is pure invention. That said, the whole atmosphere of Victorian scientific fraud and the public's hunger for marvels is absolutely grounded in fact. The Great Exhibition era was full of charlatans claiming impossible inventions, and Stoker captures that buzz perfectly.

Where it might feel 'true' is in the character dynamics. Veronica's struggle for recognition in a male-dominated field and Stoker's own maneuvering through aristocratic circles mirror real historical tensions. The book doesn't need a direct true-crime blueprint; the setting itself provides all the authenticity.