The Brazilian Cat

The speaker in the audio puzzle relates a story from the point of view of Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ flat-mate from the adventure series as told by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - clued by the references to their lives at their Baker Street home.

Conan Doyle also wrote many other tales not involving Holmes and Watson.  The novel suggested here which features a “huge, black-bearded fellow” is The Lost World, in which the iconic Professor George Challenger appears.  (His name, shared with the “futuristic space-going vessel” of the puzzle, is of course, NASA’s space shuttle.)

A fossil was named in honor of the fictional Challenger upon its discovery in 1996 – the irritator challengeri, a new species of spinosaurid dinosaur.  Its skull remains were found in Brazil.

The puzzle goes on to suggest that Conan Doyle wrote another story that features a different beast and contains the name of the country where the irritator challengeri was found in its title.  In his Tales of Terror and Mystery, Conan Doyle pens a short story called The Brazilian Cat.