Holmes and Moriarty
December 1889. Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson are intrigued when fledgling actor George Reynolds approaches them with the strange story that his performances as the title character in a third-rate production of Richard III are always attended by the same small pool of theatregoers in various unconvincing disguises.
Meanwhile, Holmes’s nemesis Professor Moriarty and his side-kick Moran find themselves in the middle of a turf war between rival gangs and framed for a crime they didn’t commit. Someone seems determined to force Holmes and Moriarty to work together to defeat a greater evil – but can Moriarty really be trusted?
This addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon has been authorised by the Conan Doyle estate and ticks many boxes. Holmes, Watson and Moriarty are recognisably themselves, as is Sherlock’s brother Mycroft. There are the requisite powers of observation and instant deductions about strangers. The historical details are mostly well-researched, and it is easy to distinguish between the two narrators – Watson and Moran – without needing tags at the top of the chapters.
And yet I found the plot so far-fetched that I struggled to suspend my disbelief. The pacing flags, too, in the third quarter of the book, so I found myself pondering on minor details like – why would a full goblet of Communion wine be standing on an altar if there is no religious service taking place? I’m also not sure why Moran sounds so working-class in his use of slang, when he boasts of having been to Eton and Oxford and having attained the rank of colonel in an era when there was relatively little armed conflict to speed up the rate of promotion. I’m sure there will be plenty of readers who will love this book, but unfortunately I’m not one of them.
