Dr
Watson is invited to a weekend party by his old friend James
Crain. The only son and heir of the Marquess of Berkeley,
Crain has never recovered from the death of his mother and
has recently become interested in spiritualism. Once at Crain
Manor it is obvious that medium Madame Farr and her cohorts
have got their hooks into him and Watson is keen to intervene
before things get worse. Following a séance and more
than one ghostly apparition things do indeed get deadly, and
Holmes is called in to investigate.
This involving novel has all the trappings of a good story:
a spooky old house, a party where everybody has something
to hide, séances, ghosts, a legend involving secret
passages and buried treasure…It kept me guessing until
not long before the dénouement, being replete with
red herrings and suspects. Set during a chilly April in 1894,
not long after Watson’s wife Mary has died and Holmes
has returned following his “death” the author
creates a suitably melancholy and gothic ambience which suits
the story perfectly. Holmes and Watson are both well portrayed,
and this is one of those real page turners where there is
at least one thing happening on each page. I have read a lot
of Conan Doyle “pastiches” and think this is a
particularly superior one, by an author who invariably delivers
the goods. Recommended.
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