Recently, a cache of documents has been discovered detailing, in Sherlock's own hand, his early forays into criminal investigation.Only weeks into his first year at Eton, Sherlock's father calls him and his brother back to Underbyrne, the ancestral estate.
The village midwife has been found with a pitchfork in her back in the estate's garden, and Mrs. Holmes has been accused of the murder.
Can Sherlock find the true killer in time to save her from the gallows?
~ ~ ~
After a few false starts with other authors taking on Holmes, I actually found myself enjoying this take on the young Sherlock. What begins as simply a case of proving his mother innocent of a crime,young Sherlock, and indeed the Holmes clan, embark on solving the actual crime as the body count rises.
The author provides an insight into the young Holmes, fresh from being dragged away from his first year at Eton, to join older brother Mycroft (dragged away from Oxford Uni much to his chagrin) and uncle Ernest in collectively solving these local crimes.
For me, however, it is Mrs Holmes who is the stand out - she is obviously the one whom young Sherlock will emulate - and you can feel the author's guiding hand in his development as a detective. As Sherlock himself says "... mother always taught me a detached mind produced better results ...". We also are treated to the first glimpses of the skills Holmes will develop and use in his latter years - disguises, consorting with all class of people, powers of observation and evidence collection, a little criminal activity, and his one-up-manship against the local constabulary.
All in all, this is a fine start to a new series and one I am looking forward to investing in.
