Baker Street Regular

The novel opens with a much-married and well-established Watson narrating an early tale. The case blistered with such ugliness that it was secreted away from public viewing for 100 years. With this promise of the egregious the reader is taken on a ride of big chases,bigger crimes and smart sleuthing.

It is November 1890. London shivers in the cold,as Watson and Holmes sit by the hearth of 221B Baker Street,drinking tea and eating scones. Edmund Carstairs,an art dealer,specialising in the great masters,intrudes upon their evening. He believes he is being followed by the Flat Cap Gang,headed by a pair of notorious Irish twins — Rourke and Keelan O’Donaghue.

While investigating this incident,Holmes and Watson tumble into a sinister world of opium and abuse and encounter London’s punishing poverty. They access this world through the Baker Street Irregular,a group of street urchins and juvenile pickpockets who Holmes pays for information. When a young informant is found with ribs,legs,arms,fingers smashed,head severed,and a white ribbon knotted around the wrist,Holmes must feel implicated in the death of the child.

London freezes over and human actions and motives darken. The truth behind the House of Silk reveals the worst sides of human nature,but also seems,sadly,contemporary,taking this novel out into the 21st century.

When Holmes is arrested of murder,Watson emerges from the shadows,tentatively taking his place in the spotlight. This is a welcome change,as Watson’s steadfast adulation for Holmes,at times,weighs down the novel with the voice of a sycophant rather than a biographer.

Long-time Holmes readers will enjoy identifying hidden references to previous cases and the fleshing out of characters. Holmes’s elder brother Mycroft plays a role in this case,and for the first time Watson realises that he had never thought that his best friend might have any family at all. Watson says of Holmes,“In general he preferred almost to pretend that his family had never existed,as if a prodigy such as himself had sprung unaided onto the world stage.”

Horowitz,known to have “committed more (fictional) murders than any other living author”,does a fine job in creating a pastiche of an iconic work,conjuring an authentic Holmes,who inspires awe and leaves readers cheering for more.