In his late twenties, Paul Winslow is a bookish man with genius-level intellect and an obsession with the world of Sherlock Holmes, authored and created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Bolstered by the comfortable life made possible by his banker parents’ financial support, Paul’s obsession is prolific: Paul collects Victorian memorabilia and artwork, and even owns all of the various filmed adaptations of Holmes adventures. But recently, his obsession, and the comfort and escape it provides, has been waning. Paul’s depression and anxiety increases, compelling him to visit a psychiatrist named Dr. Levine. Paul is consoled by Dr. Levine, who affirms the importance of fictional characters in people’s lives when Paul disparages his own passion for Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Levine praises Paul’s skills at deducing facts about people based on contextual clues—similar to Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Levine encourages Paul to use his education in the sciences to take up a career in forensics. Days later, Paul mulls over Dr. Levine’s career advice to find practical applications for his talents in a Starbucks. He overhears a conversation between two patrons about a recent stabbing murder of a young woman, the third victim over the past several months of a murderer dubbed the “East Side Slasher.” Paul decides to go to the crime scene in Central Park and apply his deduction skills. At the crime scene, a detective named Al Carrera questions Paul. As Al begins to reveal details about the case, Paul uses his deduction talents to help Al in the NYPD’s investigation. A reporter from the Daily Feed named Moss sees this curious interaction. Al is typically uncooperative, so Moss is surprised to see him receptive to Paul’s thoughts on the case. Impressed with Paul’s advice, a few days later, Al visits Paul’s elegant apartment for consultation on the case. Meanwhile, the killer, a man named James Lassiter, has seen Paul’s interaction with Al and gets worried. As he stakes out Paul’s residence, he sees Al enter for his consultation. Paul deduces from photographs brought by Al that the murderer is a fisherman with a fancy car and a lake house. He suggests that he and Al go to Central Park to find the murderer. While Paul is out, the murderer James Lassiter breaks into Paul’s house to stage a fake robbery that will end with him incapacitating Paul so that he cannot continue to aid the investigation. Paul beats Lassiter to it, disarming him and handcuffing him. In a dramatic turn, Paul reveals that he killed Al in the park and planted evidence on the reporter Moss. In truth, Paul knew that Lassiter would come to his apartment and hoped to enlist Lassiter’s murder skills as an “assistant” to his true project: rather than emulate Sherlock Holmes, Paul  hopes to begin a reign of chaos as a modern day James Moriarty, Sherlock’s arch nemesis in the books. Lassiter agrees to Paul’s terms and they begin their partnership of terror.