Sherlock Holmes and The Twelve Thefts of Christmas
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
A thrilling chase as Sherlock Holmes is set a fiendish puzzle by Irene Adler over a snowy London Christmas, in this stunningly packaged mystery.
Sherlock Holmes's discovery of a mysterious musical score initiates a devious Christmas challenge set by Irene Adler, with clues that are all variations on the theme of 'theft without theft', such as a statue missing from a museum found hidden in the room it was taken from.
In the snowy London lead-up to Christmas, Holmes's preoccupation with the "Adler Variations" risks him neglecting the case of his new client, Norwegian arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who has received a series of threats in the form of animal carcasses left on his doorstep. Could they really be gifts from a strange spirit that has pursued Nansen since the completion of his expedition to cross Greenland? And might this case somehow be related to Irene Adler's great game?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in December 1890, Major's disappointing third Sherlock Holmes pastiche (after The Defaced Men) opens with Holmes receiving a gift of two theater tickets, ostensibly from former client Matthew Jacchus, a dishonest jeweler who refused to pay the detective despite Holmes having cleared him of a forgery charge. Holmes's suspicion that the tickets didn't come from Jacchus is borne out by events, as his attendance at the theater turns out to be the start of a battle of wits with Irene Adler, who begins a series of odd thefts by stealing a worthless plaster statue from the British Museum. Meanwhile, acclaimed Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen is being harassed by someone who has left a dozen dead animals at his doorstep over the course of eight months, both in his native country and at his lodgings in England. Major is adept at building suspense and devising intriguing puzzles, but the resolutions fall short of the premises. Furthermore, his language isn't always a match for the canon, as when Watson fears that Mrs. Hudson is "about to launch into one of her soul-searching episodes." Sherlockians can safely pass.
