“The sixth instalment from Baker Street continues to invoke the Holmes of Conan Doyle”

There is always a challenge when an author picks up the baton and continues the legacy of a character that is entrenched in English literature. Both reader and, to some extent, the author must feel the weight of history and the hope that what unfolds on the page continues to bring the character to life, long after the creator has departed.

The good news is that Bonnie MacBird, who lives around the corner from the great detective’s home in Baker Street, London, this is her sixth venture through the eyes of Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

The Serpent Under throws the reader back into Victorian London and the dimly lit streets which were the stomping grounds of criminals and the great detective alike.

Fans of Sherlock Holmes, across the globe, will delight in this new full-length thriller in which the erstwhile protagonists face treachery and danger. There are three interlocking mysteries this time, with Sherlock taking on a case at Windsor Castle, a drowned boy in the Serpentine and a women’s rights activist who is convinced there is a traitor in her midst.

The story takes the reader from royalty in the palace to a gypsy encampment as Sherlock investigates the various strands. Unfortunately for the detective, there may be trouble closer to home, in 221B Baker Street, which require him to be at his sharpest best.

If you enjoy crime thrillers, then this should float your boat. The fact that is has one of the world’s most famous detectives at its core, is all the better and the reader feels the warm glow of excitement that Sherlock is alive and bounding around the pages of a book once again.