Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Cry of the Innocents
Sherlock Holmes
Cavan Scott

Titan Books
19 September 2017/ ISBN 9781783297160
Mystery/Historical

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

A bitterly cold March day in 1891, and Holmes, Watson and his wife, Mary, are cosily ensconced in 221B Baker Street when a Catholic priest staggers in. Gasping the words “Il corpe,” he drops dead, and the death is quickly attributed to cholera. But there is no epidemic, and news of a further dead priest looks even more suspicious. Surely they cannot truly have been on a mission to canonize the “incorruptible” body of 18th century Bristolian Edwyn Warwick? He may have done a lot for his city, but he was also a notorious slave trader. When his body goes missing things take an even more strange turn…

The game truly is afoot in this exciting and imaginative novel. From Baker Street to Bristol, the sleuths get to stay in the luxurious home of Lord Redshaw, participate in Japanese customs, poke around in a spooky old church and a lot more. To be more specific would spoil the surprises, as ostensibly this looks to be a story about dead priests and a missing corpse, but soon it changes into a lot more. Holmes gets to don various disguises and, although not a supernatural tale (in keeping with Conan Doyle’s own tales), things get pretty fantastic. Both meanings of the word apply here: “fantastic” as in enjoyable, entertaining and a totally absorbing read; but also “fantastic” as in far-fetched and somewhat unlikely. If you can suspend your disbelief – and with a thrilling story like this you will soon get swept up in it – this one is a lot of fun. Even Conan Doyle himself stretched the bounds of possibility in quite a few of his stories and so would probably have enjoyed this book himself.

Reviewed 2017
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