O Xangô de Baker Street, by Jô Soares

(English title: A Samba for Sherlock) It's late 19th century and D. Pedro II is the emperor of Brazil. His gift to a mistress, the last Stradvarius violin ever made, is stolen. As suggested to him by his friend, the French theatre diva Sarah Bernhardt, he calls Sherlock Holmes to discover what happened to the disappeared valuable instrument. Just as the famous detective prepares to come to Brazil with his inseparable companion Dr. Watson, a prostitute is perversely killed and a string is left in the scene of the crime, suggesting the possibility that the theft of the Stradvarius is somehow connected with the murder. Mr. Holmes is then enlisted by the local police to help to solve this extra mistery. What follows then is a hilarious and intriguing succession of events set in a historically accurate depiction of Rio de Janeiro that constitutes an undocumented Sherlock Holmes adventure. The funny part of the tale has to do with the quirks of the two Englishmen, how they relate to the tropical environment and how they interact with a culture they know virtually nothing about.