The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

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The assassins were only very mildly suspicious apparently, investigating Holmes’ lateness in dying about 3 pm. An air of secrecy surrounds the case of The House of Silk with many notable and powerful people wishing that its horrific and secretive nature remain forever hidden. As he and Watson are leaving, Eliza Carstairs tells them that she does not trust Catherine, who she suspects is after her Edmund's money, and that her mother's death was almost certainly a suicide caused by the marriage. As he approaches the end, you feel that the words he would most like to hear are, ‘The game’s afoot! Despite their arrests, however, the case does not come to trial, due to a royal family member having been purportedly involved.

It was a great pleasure working with a professional team right across the board – from management, security to bar staff. An original thriller, Magpie Murders was published last year and got some of the best reviews I've had.Canon characters mentioned in the book include Godfrey Emsworth, Inspector Morton, Mrs Cecil Forrester, Stanley Hopkins, Jabez Wilson, Violet Hunter and Jephro Rucastle, Culverton Smith, and Jonas Oldacre. Horowitz is obviously very passionate about the man, and it shows through in his work: probably one of the reasons why the Conan Doyle estate have approved this one out of all the Holmes novels and stories that have appeared over the course of the last hundred years or so.

However inured we modern day readers may be to scandal and corruption, the truth about the House of Silk will still shock, if not surprise. When Watson arrives at the prison, he discovers Holmes has escaped of his own accord, disguised as an aide to the prison doctor, whom he had once helped as a client. The usual characters make an appearance giving validity to the story: Mrs Hudson, Wiggins, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft, the Baker street irregulars as well as a whole host of new characters, including Mr Carstairs, Carstair’s American wife, Carstair’s sister who hates Carstair’s wife, Cornelius Stillman, an American millionaire, The Boston gang, led by the O’Donaghue twins, The reverend and his wife who run a home for orphaned, unfortunate boys, and a brief spell with Moriarty.With devilish plotting and excellent characterisation, bestselling author Anthony Horowitz delivers a first-rate Sherlock Holmes mystery for a modern readership whilst remaining utterly true to the spirit of the original Conan Doyle books. On entering the hotel, the three men find the man dead by the door of his room, stabbed in the neck. Pitch-perfect characterisation combined with a complex and involving plot leave the reader in no doubt that Holmes – and the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – are alive and well in the form of Anthony Horowitz.