I’ll admit I have seen lots of Sherlock Holmes films and TV shows, but not actually read a Sherlock Holmes book. So I have no idea how the first non-Doyle Sherlock Holmes story, written by Anthony Horowitz, compares to those of the great man himself.
The House of Silk, published in 2011, was the first time the Conan Doyle Estate had authorised a new non-Doyle Sherlock Holmes story. And I loved it.
The story begins as you’d expect (as I’d expect anyway) with a person coming to seek Sherlock Holmes help. However the plot takes a surprising twist and sends the reader off in another direction. The story is complex, with lots of different events and characters. It is told by Dr Watson, and you find yourself deducing things just like Dr Watson. Where he is mislead, you find that so were you, although I did spot Sherlock Holmes in disguise before the doctor did.
The truth about the House of Silk is not revealed until near the end of the book and came as a complete surprise to me.
But that is not the end of the book. No, there is still a very large plot-thread to tie up, from the beginning of the book, that has been left to dangle.
A thrilling read that I highly recommend.
The Plot
It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.
Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston and the mysterious ‘House of Silk’.
The new Sherlock Holmes Series by Anthony Horowitz is available from https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/anthony-horowitz-the-new-sherlock-holmes-series
The House of Silk is available from Amazon
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