Lil

Sherlock Holmes is dead.  Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. I absolutely loved Horowitz's first Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk , and so was very excited when I finally got my hands on this. I was initially disappointed to discover how little Holmes appeared in the book - and what kind of Holmes novel is narrated by someone other than Watson!? But Frederick C...

Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at the fashionable Bloxham Hotel have been murdered, a cufflink placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim… I'm ashamed to admit that I have read very little Agatha Christie, although I am a big fan of the TV adaptations, especially Poirot. I've been eager to read this since I first heard about it last year - it's a very brave move taking on such an iconic character written by such a beloved author and I was interested to see what Sophie Hannah had achieved. The character of the great...

'I know who killed him.' Could these few words, posted on a notice board in an exclusive girls' boarding school, be Detective Stephen Moran's passport to the Murder Squad? Moran is about to be plunged into the single most intense and nerve-shredding day of this life, investigating the story of a boy whose murder has remained unsolved for a year, and a group of girls on the verge of womanhood, who all seem to have something to hide. Comtemporary crime fiction isn't usually my thing; the glamorous world of the 1930s and Agatha Christie are about my level when it comes to mystery and murder. But the premise of this story lured me in.The boarding school setting appealed instantly to me. It's strange how in children's literature boarding schools such as St Trinian's and Hogwarts are places of mayhem and cameraderie, but they become altogether more sinister and somewhat sordid in adult fiction. The writing style drew me in from the very first page; it's in...

The premise of this book is as simple as it sounds: Sherlock Holmes is summoned to Paris to investigate the mystery of The Angel of the Opera (or The Phantom, if you prefer). I was immediately drawn to it as it is a clash of two of my favourite literary characters, and I was eager to see how Siciliano would tackle such a feud. The first thing to say, or rather warn, about this novel is that there is no Doctor Watson. Instead the story is narrated by a Doctor Henry Vernier, Holmes' French cousin. Unsurprisingly, this affected the story and it just didn't have the same dynamic without John - Henry performed the same function but something just felt missing. Henry's dismissal of Watson's writings as full of inaccuracies also does little to warm the reader to him. As for The Phantom I liked the fact that Holmes took his side, after all they are both outsiders, and you see more and more similarities between them as the book progresses. Including most of the characters from t...

Anthony Horowitz has been a favourite author of mine from the Alex Rider days of my childhood, so when I found out that he had written a Sherlock Holmes novel I knew that I had to read it.  I therefore came to the novel with high expectations, but I was not disappointed! Horowitz captures the essence of Conan Doyle and remains true to the Sherlock Holmes canon, yet still manages to put his own personal twist on it. The dual stranded plot is very cleverly thought out, and whilst you soon get an idea of where the story is going, it would take a mind as great as Holmes' to figure it out before the big reveal.  The Guide to Writing Sherlock Holmes essay included at the end of the novel is a nice touch and makes for very interesting reading. A must-read for any fans of the great detective. 5/5 stars: I couldn't put this book down! I just hope that Horowitz can be persuaded to write more Sherlock Holmes books in the future!