London
1890: After foiling a fake department store Santa with “taking
ways”, Holmes and Watson repair to a tea shop. They
are approached by a young woman in a state of distress who
proceeds to tell a surprising tale. Eve Allerthorpe comes
from a wealthy family who live in a gothic pile called Fellscar
Keep in Yorkshire. Since childhood she and her brother have
heard tales of the terrible Black Thurrick, a local spirit
who haunts the area around Christmas. The creature leaves
bundles of birch twigs for naughty children before carrying
them off to his lair This is surely just a legend, but now
Eve insists that she has not only received twigs but has actually
seen the being herself. She is soon set to inherit a large
sum of money, so could it be that somebody is trying to drive
her mad?
This
one has all the ingredients of not only a good Holmes story
but also a good Christmas one. Namely, a seasonal setting,
a house party in a spooky isolated mansion, a creepy legend
coming to life, sinister secrets and several hauntings. I
confess to being a keen reader of these “pastiches”
and found this to be one of the best to date. Not only does
it hit the ground running with the pair in pursuit of the
bogus Santa, but it features all of the above and more, filling
the pages with ghostly and murderous happenings. There are
plenty of suspects among the eccentric Allerthorpes, something
new occurs on almost every page and it all ties up neatly
in the end, like a good Christmas present. The author has
got down Watson’s narration style well, and his Holmes
rings true. If we can’t have Conan Doyle back adding
to the original canon, at least we can still enjoy a good
book like this one. More please!
Reviews
of other titles by this author
The
Sign of Seven - Anthology
The
Labyrinth of Death (Sherlock Holmes) - James Lovegrove
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