In my humble opinion, James Lovegrove is writing some of the best Sherlock Holmes mysteries right now. At the time of my writing, he has published six Watson and Holmes novels so far. It’s my personal hope that there will be many more to come.

In this intrepid installment of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. John Watson, the duo find themselves in northern England. A young heiress is being tormented by both a ghost and a thurrick (the local equivalent to Krampus). According to the stipulations of the trust, the young heiress cannot inherit her wealth if she is found to be of unsound mind. So Holmes and Watson set off for Christmas at her family’s Yorkshire manor house in order to prove her sanity. In classic Scooby-Doo style, Holmes plans to show that the ghost and thurrick are just regular people up to no good.

Anyone familiar with the history of the “brilliant Detective“ archetype in mystery novels knows there is a straight line from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. Lovegrove takes advantage of that lineage. He places Sherlock Holmes into what is clearly a classic Agatha Christie-style parlor mystery. And it works brilliantly. Lovegrove is especially expert at mimicking the writing style of Mr Holmes’ most faithful chronicler, “Dr. Watson”.

What’s more, everything you want in a Sherlock pastiche is here. There are “elementary” conspiracies fueled by weird backstories, with still more convoluted crisscrosses behind those. There is plenty of Holmes’ high handedness balanced by Watson’s humanity. And if you're hoping for Holmesian disguises and Victorian forensic science, you won’t be disappointed in that department either.

This is a fun one and I highly recommend it. If you’ve got a Sherlock fan in your family, this would probably make an excellent Christmas present. The book is lovely to look at and Mr. Lovegrove takes advantage of the wintery Christmas-time setting. They’re sure to love it.

Written by Andrew

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