To be continued...

I just finished reading The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. Horowitz is an acclaimed author in his own right, but this book is special because it is an authorized continuation of the Sherlock Holmes series. I suppose this means that, technically, the stories, actions, and events of House of Silk are now canon.

As all Sherlock Holmes stories are, this one is narrated by Watson and appears as a manuscript published long after both of our Baker Street friends are dead. (For those who are uninitiated in the Sherlock Holmes stories, I highly recommend you read them pronto. They are best discovered, I believe, between the ages of 12-16, but you won't suffer reading them now. Then, go watch the BBC series Sherlock. Stay away from the Robert Downey Jr movies. Far, far away. Just watch Sherlock and marvel at Benedict Cumberbatch and squeal over the sweet relationship between Cumberbatch's Sherlock and Martin Freeman's John.) The language and tone of the book felt very much like a real Conan Doyle story to me. However, I haven't read an actual Holmes story for awhile; I did read Study in Scarlet last fall but the actual tone and pacing of the story aren't fresh in my mind. It would be interesting to immerse myself in the original stories and then read this to see how it matches up.

I can't go into much detail about the plot without spoiling, but I will say that at two distinct times I felt like there was too much misdirection. At one point I was like, oh, they'll say [x] happened but really it will have been [y] because [x] is too obvious. At another I had a thought about how a certain situation wasn't necessarily what it seemed, and a few sentences later Watson has the same thought. That was kind of irritating.

I will spoil this for you, so skip down if you don't want to know:






Moriarty. All I can hear now is "Westwood!"







Anyways, while I recommend the House of Silk for Holmes fans, it reminded me of how complicated the legacy of authors who wrote successful serials can be. Growing up I loved Nancy Drew books, but the "new' Nancy Drews (not written by Carolyn Keene) just didn't feel the same. It's really important for an estate to pick an author who can bring the same storytelling power and tone to a series while still infusing new energy. The Conan Doyle estate has been very careful and protective of Sherlock Holmes (rightfully so) and overall, I think they did a good job finding a writer with enough skill and appreciation for the originals to bring our heroes back to life.