THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ALBINO’S TREASURE
It is with pleasure that we take up our pens again to report on a new outing for the great detective. This one comes to us courtesy of Stuart Douglas, a man who has form in chronicling the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In 2013, his story The Adventure of The Locked Carriage appeared in the Titan Books anthology Encounters Of Sherlock Holmes and is one of the few whose solutions we actually remember offhand (that is, without having to get up and walk all the way to the STARBURST bookshelf to look up the finer details).
Barring the somewhat cliché-ridden ‘this tale was too sensational to be published at the time’ introductory twaddle that we’ve come to expect of recent Holmes novels, Douglas weaves a clever and occasionally humorous scavenger hunt of a novel, and with so many characters in play you never know quite who to trust. Also, Fu Manchu (referred to here as the Lord of Strange Deaths) is a pivotal part of the story, so fans of that character will be pleased by his appearance here.
It’s not perfectly told, sadly; characters would turn up and announce their plans, meriting a hasty flick back through the pages to find out just who the hell they were. But when the plot becomes clear near the end, it makes total sense and the author thankfully didn’t have to resort to too much exposition. Holmes does make a few missteps, but they are just as logical in their own way as the right answer turns out to be, as the errors in his thinking come about through making the most of the information that is available to him at the time.
If you’re looking for an idea of what kind of Holmes story this is, think The Six Napoleons flavoured with a touch of The Musgrave Ritual and just a dash of National Treasure. We’ll certainly be coming back to it for another go in our free time and are looking forward to Douglas’ next outing.
INFO: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ALBINO’S TREASURE / AUTHOR: STUART DOUGLAS / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: MAY 29TH
