Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara

By Alan Vanneman

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Companion and I sat down for a long cozy read of a new Sherlock Holmes detective story. It started in the traditional, exciting fashion of a Conan Doyle escapade: a late night rendezvous to an undisclosed country setting. It proceeded with mystery and excitement for several chapters, taking the reader through a cross-Continental adventure and revolved around a diamond, Austrian nobles, a few murders, and fictional characters based on Winston Churchill and Cecil Rhodes. It was great!

And then… it digressed.

Instead of the continuation of suspense and intrigue, the author brings us into Dr. Watson’s personal life, which included the adoption of a Holmes street urchin, Jennie, and several affairs, one with the stimulating Madame la Comtesse D’Espinau. While I’m always up for a good love story and family life, it just doesn’t fit well in Sherlock’s world. Surprisingly though, by the last hundred pages the author brings us back to our master sleuth, the initial mystery, and finishes off quite well.