A treat for Holmes enthusiasts looking for a brisk and satisfying holiday read.
A holiday-themed Sherlock Holmes mystery story, told in the classic style.
On Christmas morning in 1902, Dr. John Watson visits his old friend the consulting detective at 221B Baker St. to ask him to join him and his wife for Christmas dinner. Upon unwrapping a gift from Holmes—a bottle of Beaune, an elegant pinot noir—Watson discovers that the bottle’s contents have been emptied and replaced with a mysterious dark sand; the container’s also been stoppered with a handkerchief belonging to none other than the new king of England. Suspecting this to be the work of a new foe, Holmes immediately sets out to enlist the help of his brother, Mycroft, and Inspector Lestrade while keeping Watson in tow. They’re all determined to unravel the mystery—and keep the royal family from harm. Matthews published One Must Tell the Bees, another Sherlock Holmes novel, just last year. This one is written in the manner of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original tales and reads as a loving tribute, showcasing a mastery of characters and setting that indicates reverent study; for instance, narrator Watson, upon entering Holmes’ room, nostalgically describes its scent as “a unique mixture of noxious chemical vapours, the sooty fragrance of a coal fire in the grate, and the sulphurous aroma of gunpowder, with a foul hint of stale tobacco smoke.” The prose beautifully evokes Edwardian London at Christmastime, and the author makes sure that several familiar supporting characters, such as Kitty Winter and Shinwell Johnson, are present. The pacing is swift but even, with a twist at the end that’s sure to please genre fans. Most importantly, the author depicts the two main players authentically, showcasing Holmes’ quirks and Watson’s steadfast loyalty. This work isn’t treading any new ground, but fans of Doyle’s work will delight in its familiarity.
A treat for Holmes enthusiasts looking for a brisk and satisfying holiday read.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1736678350
Page Count: 92
Publisher: Not Making This Up LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.
It takes a quirky sleuth to solve a baffling closed-door murder.
The author himself or, more accurately, some version of him, walks the reader through a “gruesome murder” that occurred in a rural farming village. At the center of the crime is the wealthy Ichiyanagi family, including the widow Itoko and her five children. The “heinous crime” occurs in the evening after the festive wedding of eldest son Kenzo to schoolteacher Katsuko. Yokomizo, part narrator and part raconteur, liberally shares digressions such as the fact that his favorite British author is A.A. Milne, who wrote The Red House Mystery as well as the books about Winnie-the-Pooh. Written in 1946 but set in 1937 before the devastation of World War II, this is the first novel featuring Kosuke Kindaichi, the legendary detective who appeared in more than 70 stories by Yokomizo. If Yokomizo is the Japanese Agatha Christie, Kindaichi may seem the Japanese Hercule Poirot—although actually, given his unkempt hair and apparently distracted manner, he’s more a cross between Poirot and Columbo. Shrewdly, his entrance is delayed until midway through the novel, after the police have stalled and both the family and the reader are anxious for a solution. The narrator’s garrulous charm, in a mystery long on logistics and forensic clues but short on detailed character portraits or extended interactions, is a key to the novel’s success, leavening the more intricate pieces of the puzzle. Armchair detectives will welcome the helpful character list that precedes the story.
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781805336549
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
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