With humor set to wry, hypocrisies abounding and the usual great assumptive leaps masked as logic, Holmes and his world weary and slightly befuddled friend Watson are back for a new seasonal adventure.
Having been approached in a coffee shop by Eve Allerthorpe, eldest daughter of a wealthy and entirely batshit crazy Yorkshire family who live in a gothic black castle in the middle of a lake, Holmes and Watson are engaged to investigate the mysterious myth of the Black Thurrick; an evil side kick to Father Christmas who likes to leave bunches of Birch sticks around and snack on naughty children.
Eve’s interest in the myth is in part thanks to re-gailings of the myth from her recently deceased mother and to some weird goings on and supernatural sightings around her creepy and not at all cosy home. Of course she’s due a substantial inheritance on her 21st birthday on Christmas Eve, on one condition; that she has managed to retain control of her mental faculties by then. But while investigating out of curiosity, a far more serious crime occurs almost in front of Holmes and Watson.
So has local folklore come to life or is someone trying to drive Eve mad? Who would dare try and pull the wool over Holmes and Watson’s eyes? And can the grumpiest and most eccentric family in England make it through a holiday season in one piece?
This is a highly entertaining and enjoyably ludicrous Tale. Holme’s eccentricity and Watson’s sarcasm are set off perfectly by being surrounded by like-minded and similarly oddball members of the upper classes. There a moments of slapstick and exquisite arguments of the absurd where Holmes again proves his ability to always be right is pure luck, but is nothing compared to his unparalleled confidence in himself. And beneath it all the story and central mystery is beautifully written and imagined.
The book is stunning as well and has one of those covers you can’t stop running your hands over – it really would be a great addition in anyone’s stocking.
Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon is on sale from 22nd October 2019 and is published by Titan Books.
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