192. The House of Silk

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   Anthony Horowitz

Genre:  Fiction, Mystery, Crime

294 pages, published November, 2011

Reading Format:  Audio Book

 

Summary

For the first time in its 125 year history, the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate authorized the talented Anthony Horowitz to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel.  The result is The House of Silk which reads very much like the original Holmes’ mysteries.  Set in London of 1890, a fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help.  He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap – a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place.

 

Quotes 

“Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.”

 

“For all men are equal at the moment of death and who are we to judge them when a much greater judge awaits?”

 

“We’re all on the road to ruin but some are further ahead than others.”

 

“when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

 

“Childhood, after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child.”

 

My Take

If you are a fan of the Sherlock Holmes books, then you will likely enjoy The House of Silk.  While the original books are not of particular interest to me, I enjoyed, but did not love, this new take on the detective in the deerstalker cap.  I found Magpie Murders, a modern mystery penned by the inimitable Anthony Horowitz, far more enjoyable and engrossing.