My Kyrosmagica Review of The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Goodreads Synopsis:

Bestselling novelist and Holmes expert Anthony Horowitz will bring the great man to life again for a new generation of readers. As the creator of Foyle, recently voted the nation’s favourite TV detective at the ITV Crime Thriller Awards 2010, Anthony has already displayed his talent for plotting and characterisation. Having been a lifelong fan of Conan Doyle’s novels, he was the perfect choice to return to the original stories and create a new mystery for Holmes and Watson. Interest in Holmes has never been higher than right now. A blockbusting movie adaptation has coincided with the BBC’s intriguing modern update and both successes are to be repeated this autumn. Horowitz says: ‘I fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was 16 and I’ve read them many times since. My aim is to produce a first-rate mystery for a modern audience while remaining absolutely true to the spirit of the original.’

THE GAME’S AFOOT…
It is November 1890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks.
Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events, stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston and the mysterious ‘House of Silk’…

Author info on Goodreads:

Anthony Horowitz, OBE is ranked alongside Enid Blyton and Mark A. Cooper as “The most original and best spy-kids authors of the century.” (New York Times). Anthony has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty.

In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.

On 19 January 2011, the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle announced that Horowitz was to be the writer of a new Sherlock Holmes novel, the first such effort to receive an official endorsement from them and to be entitled the House of Silk.

My Review:

Antony Horowitz is without a doubt an excellent crime writer, one just has to look at his writing resume to see that. But moreover, he has an obvious love of Conan Doyle’s original stories. The House of Silk is a novel devoted to an accurate portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, Horowitz’s enthusiasm shines through, in a voice that speaks with great fluidity. In fact I’m quoting him here from his conception, inspiration and the ten rules of writing The House of Silk: “When I was asked to write the House of Silk, I realised that this would be the key. I had to become invisible. I had to find that extraordinary, authentic voice.” Well, in my opinion Horowitz does that and more, he invisibly keeps the fun factor in Sherlock, keeping us quietly smiling all the way through.

I loved reading crime novels as a teenager and reading The House of Silk seems to have taken me back to my teenage self, and my love of this genre. I was a huge fan of Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie, so it takes no Sherlock deduction to know that this love has been well and truly rekindled!

The House of Silk is told from the perspective of Sherlock’s trusted friend Dr. Watson. An air of secrecy surrounds the case of The House of Silk with many notable and powerful people wishing that its horrific and secretive nature remain forever hidden. Even though Sherlock Holmes is warned in no uncertain terms by his brother to stay out of it, Holmes disregards this advice, thriving on yet another challenge. The nature of the investigation is so horrific that it was recorded by Watson at the time, but is only revealed a century after the death of his esteemed friend Sherlock Holmes.

The year is 1890, the case begins with the familiar surroundings of 221B, Baker Street, with Sherlock enjoying, “a large plate of scones with violet honey and cream, along with a pound cake and tea,” all very familiar and nice, but in stark contrast with a crime of such gruesomeness, as you will see, if you read the novel.

Mrs. Hudson’s tea, scones, pound cake, honey and cream sounds wonderful, we all need a Mrs Hudson I reckon!

At a later point Mrs Hudson ushers in Edmund Carstairs, an troubled Art Gallery owner, with a nervous disposition, who is disturbed by the sudden appearance of an Irish gang member that in the past damaged his paintings. Edmund Carstairs believes that this man, a member of the flat cap gang, is out to get him. Holmes calls upon his young street urchins, including Wiggins, to assist him in his investigations, and is shocked to find that one of them is brutally murdered too.

Be aware that Horowitz loves killing off people, its one of his self-confessed fortes!

Holmes shows a touch of remorse at allowing the young lad to get involved, in fact he is so disturbed by this turn of events that he becomes even more determined to bring the killer to justice.

This ultimately leads to Holmes arrival at an Opium Den, his framing, and arrest on suspicion of murder himself. Watson has to come to his friend’s rescue, he must be the one to get him out of prison, so that Holmes can find the killer, and solve the mystery of the ailing Carstairs family. In comparison to the superior intellect and keen wit of Holmes, Watson feels overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy. I will not tell you how, or if, Holmes manages to escape that’s for you to find out!

The nature of the crimes committed at The House of Silk are so shocking that even the most hardened of criminals wishes to help Holmes, and then Watson to solve the case. In the meantime, Carstair’s sister is suffering from some strange malady, poison is suspected, and the two stories begin to intertwine, and the final result is both shocking and gripping. Watson’s deep affection for his friend, and Holmes witty, dry, repartee, and amazing powers of observation and deduction, are all there to delight, and enthrall the reader. There is a deep sense of the social concerns, and shocking depravities that were allowed to exist at this time, making this a Sherlock Holmes novel with a different standpoint, a modern social conscience.

The book is longer than the original Conan Doyle stories but still manages to keep the reader entertained throughout. The House of Silk covers two interconnecting cases, The Man in the Flat Cap and The House of Silk. The Flat Cap appears to be a more traditional Conan Doyle type story, whereas the House of Silk, reads more like a modern day crime story, but the two work brilliantly well together. With some stunning reveals at the end of the case.

The usual characters make an appearance giving validity to the story: Mrs Hudson, Wiggins, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft, the Baker street irregulars as well as a whole host of new characters, including Mr Carstairs, Carstair’s American wife, Carstair’s sister who hates Carstair’s wife, Cornelius Stillman, an American millionaire, The Boston gang, led by the O’Donaghue twins, The reverend and his wife who run a home for orphaned, unfortunate boys, and a brief spell with Moriarty. There are plenty of exciting moments to keep the reader on his or her toes, I particularly loved the travelling fun fair episode.

There is a sequel, Moriarty, that I very much look forward to reading too.

My rating:

4.5 stars. Loved it!! Highly recommended to readers of detective, crime, mystery and thriller.

Links:

http://www.conandoyleestate.co.uk/index.php/house-of-silk-anthony-horowitz/

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61113-689-0

http://www.richardandjudy.co.uk/books/The-House-of-Silk/208

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/27/house-silk-anthony-horowitz-sherlock-holmes

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-house-of-silk-by-anthony-horowitz-6262618.html

Favourite Quotations:

“Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.”

“Childhood, after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child.”

“He had entered a veritable miasma of evil, and harm, in the worst possible way, was to come to us all too soon.”

“I think my reputation will look after itself,” Holmes said. “If they hang me, Watson, I shall leave it to you to persuade your readers that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.”

“It was quite elementary,’ returned the detective with a languid gesture of one hand.”

Have you read The House of Silk? Do leave a comment below I’d love to hear from you.

Bye for now,

Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx

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February 9, 2015 4

Happy Puzzling Sherlock Saturday: My latest read The House of Silk

Happy Puzzling Saturday

It’s Happy Puzzling Saturday. How can that be? Never heard of such a thing. Has Marje, aka, Kyrosmagica, gone bonkers? No, she’s just in a playful, poetic, puzzling, Saturday kind of mood.

I think my reading The House of Silk, has done it, Watson, I’ve gone all Sherlock Holmes like. My detective cap’s on, but don’t worry I haven’t started smoking a pipe, or ended up in an opium den.

Have you read The House of Silk? What did you make of it? Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?

Can you guess where I’m at in the novel? Have a go, see if you can puzzle out the answer. Have I finished, or am I half way through, have I arrived at a particularly exciting juncture? Do feel free to leave comments below.

Let’s find the key to a fantastic time this weekend! My detective work tells me that you will not be puzzled by any perplexities or stumped by any unfathomable doubts that you can’t solve during your weekend break! As ever enjoy, stay out of the cold weather, keep warm, drink hot chocolate, and don’t think too hard. Confound it! Sherlock, I mean it!

I’m leaving you with these pearls of Sherlock wisdom:

Top Ten Sherlock Holmes Quotes:

#1: “Excellent! I cried. “Elementary,” said he.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)
Watson and Holmes in “The Crooked Man” (Doubleday p. 412)

#2: “It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected.”

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)
Sherlock Holmes in “The Crooked Man” (Doubleday p. 416)

#3. “You will not apply my precept,” he said, shaking his head. “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. When, then, did he come?”

The Sign of the Four, ch. 6 (1890)
Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four (Doubleday p. 111)

#4. “Good heavens!” I cried. “Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?”
“They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.“

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
Sherlock Holmes in “The Copper Beeches” (Doubleday p. 323)

#5. I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air—or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought.

A Study in Scarlet, ch. 1 (1887)
Dr. Watson in A Study in Scarlet (Doubleday p. 15)

#6. To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen…. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
Dr. Watson in “A Scandal in Bohemia” (Doubleday p. 161)

#7. At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.
“By heavens, Holmes,” I said, half rising, “I believe that they are really after us.”
“No, it’s not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force—the Baker Street irregulars.“

The Sign of the Four, ch. 8 (1890)
Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four (Doubleday p. 126)

#8. She looked back at us from the door, and I had a last impression of that beautiful haunted face, the startled eyes, and the drawn mouth. Then she was gone.
“Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department,” said Holmes, with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended in the slam of the front door. “What was the fair lady’s game? What did she really want?”

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
Sherlock Holmes in “The Second Stain” (Doubleday p. 657)

#9. Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion’s ability, but I saw by the inspector’s face that his attention had been keenly aroused.
“You consider that to be important?” he [Inspector Gregory] asked.
“Exceedingly so.”
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893)
Inspector Gregory and Sherlock Holmes in “Silver Blaze” (Doubleday p. 346-7)

#10. “But one false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did—some little distance off, but fresh and clear.”
“Footprints?”
“Footprints.”
“A man’s or a woman’s?”
Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered:
“Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!“

The Hound of the Baskervilles, ch. 2 (1902)
Dr. Mortimer in The Hound of the Baskervilles (Doubleday p. 679)

More details of these quotes can be found in full at the following link:

Link: http://www.bestofsherlock.com/top-10-sherlock-quotes.htm#elementary

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February 7, 2015 6

My Friday Image: Juniper Artland Sculpture, Firmament by Anthony Gormley

Firmament by Antony Gormley

Exposure 2010

This litte poetic ditty was inspired by this wonderful sculpture which I had the pleasure of seeing in all its splendour at Juniper Artland, Wilkieston, Scotland. You may remember that I mentioned this wonderful inspiring Artland before in a much earlier blog post, on the 15th of June 2014.

The Puzzle of Unforgiving Turf

Black space, a jigsaw of blue, confusing skies.

A giant piece of white mystifying lies,

Still we twist, baffle, and turn,

While blackened steel pieces confuse and burn.

My fingers decipher thoughts, raw and aching,

Questioning layers of paint work mercilessly flaking,

I turn to discern the last bewildering step,

I piece the puzzle, too late, the enigma lies cold and wet.

I trip, and fall, unravel, flip an ankle,

In scattered pieces I confusingly entangle,

But there’s no bewildering cuddle,

Just a gap, no cushion, in air’s baffling puzzle.

A pocket of relentless sky and bemused clouds,

Blankets the confused sounds,

As I fall in pieces, scattering, to the perplexed earth,

Triumph hitting the newly solved, but, oh so, unforgiving turf!

Words, and Photo, good or bad, are my very own!

That was such fun!!!! Love poetry, just wish I was better at writing poems. Still, it’s nice to try. Please, if there any poets out there reading this, do give me feedback, I’m looking to improve 🙂

Links:

https://www.jupiterartland.org/

http://www.antonygormley.com/

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of all copyrighted material in this blog without permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to this blog’s author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Many thanks.

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February 6, 2015 7