I must admit, it took me a while to really get into this book, mostly because I wanted the guts and gore from the very beginning, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. The further I got the more I wanted to know, and when one question was answered, a hundred more rose up in my mind. I instantly fell in love with both characters in the story, as you would any great novel I suppose. I was rooting for them every step of the way, even in the darkest of moments, which is to be expected. And when it seemed so blatantly obvious who was following Chase throughout the novel, nothing could have prepared me for what happens at the end of their journeys. I can't remember exactly how I reacted, but it was something along the lines of gasps of horror, then screams of rage, then wails of sadness. But the most surprising reaction of all was the sympathy I felt for both Jones and Chase. I can assure you that I will be rereading this one, from cover to cover to see if I can pick up on any clues that I missed...

Really enjoyed this book.

Well, consider me bamboozled. I’m going to try very hard to keep this review spoiler free – I wouldn’t spoil the plot of this for anything. Reading the synopsis for this after reading The House of Silk puzzled me, I hadn’t expected for Horowitz to shift the focus from Holmes and Watson so thoroughly – more fool me. By the end of this book I could see all the hints and clues he has left in the first book. There’s one line in particular towards the end where I nearly smacked myself in the forehead with the realisation. I will have to go back to the beginning and read both books again, I’d like to read all the original stories too. Here Horowitz is playing a game of his own, amongst the ruins of Holmes’ world in the wake of Reichenbach and he is playing it with a great deal of skill. I’m intrigued to see where Horowitz might go with these ‘insert novels’ next – I’d love a novel about Beatrice’s adventures as a Lady Detective.

Great take on Holmesian characters and really does put things into perspective outside of Dr. Watson's normal view, and the plot twist at the end made me say words that I don't think are suitable for reviews. A must-read for all fans of Sherlock Holmes.

Three years after expanding the Sherlock Holmes canon in marvellously faithful fashion with The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz again plunges us back – now after Holmes’ death at Reichenbach – into another complex, murky, moderately bonkers (the ‘decoding the letter’ thing is simultaneously too ridiculous for words and wonderfully lovely) and expertly-handled novel of Victorian intrigue. Not a new Holmes novel per se, we’re moving sideways in the universe and so, freed of the tropes that hound almost every Holmes pastiche – visit Mycroft, allude to Irene Adler, shoe-horn in the Irregulars, etc., etc. – we get Horowtiz’s story. And what a story it is. His detective Athelney Jones is a wonderful feat of creative inspiration – an original character who already has a place in the Holmes universe (I’ll not spoil how this is possible) and treads in the footsteps of the great detective in a way that makes narrative sense while also appeasing those who want some dazzle with their detection. The deliberate Holmes-Watson dynamic with Frederick Chase is a nice touch, especially given how things pan out, but Horowitz isn’t slavish in his referencing of Holmes: there’s an acknowledgement here that those famous mental powers were possibly overstated which, while subtly done, is a pretty bold step in something rubber-stamped by Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate. I shall not spoil the plot – I have very consciously stayed away from anything that may refer to it before reading it myself, and believe this is the best policy – but what works particularly well is that it’s not a standard someone-has-been-killed-let’s-find-the-murderer caper. I was never looking for where things were going, content to simply let the narrative and the ambience of late-19th century London sweep me along, and so I was delighted by some of the developments that Horowitz worked in. It is unquestionably a labour completed out of love for the original stories, and if there are more to come then this literary jewel could not be in better hands. Honestly, if you told me that Horowitz was going to publish another one of these in three years I’d pre-order it right now, and ‘The Three Monarchs’ is a simply lovely bonus (but, hey, maybe that’s a hint of things to come). Here’s hoping...