House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

lordnoble · Sep 10, 2012

I just got done reading House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz and while I was initially skeptical that it could come close to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fantastic stories of our favorite Consulting Detective, I was pleasantly surprised how well it had been done. The style of writing is very close to what Doyle wrote, and the plot is just as convoluted, if not more so. So if you're in the market for a new book, I recommend this one.
-Jason

papipeguy · Sep 10, 2012

Thanks for the review. I'm a hihe Holmes fan. In fact, Holmes is responsible for me taking up the pipe in the first place. Will definitely add it to my Kindle.

zanthal · Sep 10, 2012

So we've got two excellent Sherlock Holmes mainstream hollywood movies, a new BBC TV series, and now a new novel, all in the past three years.
This is actually pretty interesting, I found regarding House of Silk:
For the first time in its one-hundred-and-twenty-five-year history, the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate has authorized a new Sherlock Holmes novel.
That's a long time of saying "no" to potential publishers/authors to now allow a new one. That's pretty cool.

Is that women featured in this story?

First book in all this time? She's gotta be.

lordnoble · Sep 10, 2012

Nope. "The Woman" doesn't appear in this novel at all although Watson's wife, Mary does. I think the reason why the Doyle Estate waited so long was they were making money off the stories until they came into the public domain. After that, they couldn't enforce copyright anymore and needed some fresh money... Hence my skepticism of the quality.
-Jason

papipeguy · Sep 10, 2012

My memory is a bit dusty but isn't Irene Adler in only one Doyle story?

zanthal · Sep 19, 2012

I'm a few chapters into this now, and the author does quite good work in staying to Doyle's style I think.
Now to see if the plot is equally appealing. : puffy

:

lankfordjl · Sep 19, 2012

Excellent to hear! I can never get enough of Sherlock Holmes (the real Holmes, not the contemporary version). Hopefully, I'll find it for Kindle.

zanthal · Oct 9, 2012

Yeah the mainstream Hollywood version ... is barely comparable to the stories.
Wanted to post that House of Silk is shaping up to be a very true to the original theme rendition. I'm about a third of the way into it.
If I didn't know this was written by another author and only just recently, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

zanthal · Nov 5, 2012

Interesting that you discover in the Afterword of this book that there is a surprising chronology.

rondyr · Nov 5, 2012

Hmmm, I will have to check it out. I am a HUGE Holmes fan. Thanks for the information and review, dude!
And if anyone bookworm here is a horror/zombie fan, may I suggest Timeslinger: Rise of the Aeronauts vol 1 by Ryan Miller, available at Amazon for $2.99. It's a pretty good steampunk/zombie/horror mix. In the interest of fairness, I did edit and ghost-write parts of volume 1 and collaborated with Ryan, so I'm a bit biased.
Here's the link for it, and if anyone on the Forums is offended by my shameless self-promotion, I do apologize. Not here to offend anyone, unless they deserve to be offended :P
http://www.amazon.com/Timeslinger-Rise-Aeronauts-Book-ebook/dp/B009ZFOVOC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352157332&sr=1-1

yaboofive · Nov 5, 2012

This book was great, and if I remember correctly it is one of the few, if not only book to be approved by the Doyle estate. if your looking for another good Holmes story I would recommend. Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye.

zanthal · Nov 5, 2012

eh, rondyr, I'm not offended, but I'm pretty sure the moderators will find that against the forum rules.
So I take it this Dust and Shadow novel is "unapproved" by Doyle's descendants?

yaboofive · Nov 5, 2012

Zanthal,

"Approved" was the wrong term, I should of said endorsed. , I just know that the Doyle estate endorsed House of silk, and that many sherlockians were surprised because this was unheard of. However looking into this again I do see that Leslie S. Klinger noted that Faye's novel Dust and Shadow and Carr’s The Italian Secretary were also given the honors of being endorsed my the Doyle estate.

doctorthoss · Nov 5, 2012

Believe it or not, there have been a couple of Sherlock-themed anthologies that were really, really good over the past few years: The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures. Both are available in paperback or Kindle through Amazon, and both are excellent. Not every short story is top-notch, of course (they are anthologies, after all) but they are superb collections, nonetheless.

gnatjulio · Nov 5, 2012

I'll have to check to see if this is on audible.

lordofthepiperings · Nov 6, 2012

Did the author correctly set this story before Holmes goes over the falls in The Final Problem, because Mary passed away during Holmes' escapade throughout Europe before returning to London and meeting up with Watson again after his showdown with Moriarty. By that time Watson had remarried.

rondyr · Nov 6, 2012

Ahhhhh, well, I'd edit it but it won't let me now. I certainly won't be offended if a Mod deletes it; still new here and learning the rules.

lordnoble · Nov 6, 2012

Actually, there's no harm in a link like the one above. If it were to his eBay store or his website which is devoted to selling his own Holmes stories, then it'd be breaking the rules as I see them, although this isn't directly stated in the rules as such. Anyway, in my book, you're OK!
-Jason

zanthal · Nov 6, 2012

Back on topic with House of Silk ... I finished it yesterday and it had an ending I would not have predicted, in more ways than one.
The plot took some turns, it's a great book.

captainprophesy · Nov 6, 2012

Sounds great guys... I will definitely check it out.

House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

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