This began with two Sherlock Holmes continuation novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty, followed by my entry into the world of James Bond with Trigger Mortis. Photograph: Bob Krist/Corbis Man of mystery … Anthony Horowitz's The House of Silk is the first official follow-up to Conan Doyle's last Sherlock Holmes case. which actually comes from Shakespeare’s Henry V and just made me roll my eyes for its obviousness here.

However inured we modern day readers may be to scandal and corruption, the truth about the House of Silk will still shock, if not surprise. Horowitz cites Dickens, Gissing and Mayhew amongst other sources for help with the atmosphere of nineteenth century London, which he makes convincing. 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. 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.Like the stories of Conan Doyle, there are plenty of clues scattered around, and the eagle-eyed reader may be able to piece together some of the solution.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes as a series of short stories, originally for publication in newspapers I believe (Wikipedia is down due to protesting SOPA so I can’t check my facts). Like, I suspect, many people of my generation, the abiding image I have of the man – and therefore the benchmark against which I compare all other Holmeses – is Jeremy Brett’s portrayal in the long-running ITV series. Holmes and Watson visit the school, Chorley Grange, and meet its headmaster, the Reverend Charles Fitzsimmons, and his wife Joanna. I hope, if you read it, you'll enjoy all the clues, the red herrings, the bizarre range of suspects and the occasionally violent twists.Holmes did not take ill after his food was poisoned at dinner time nor at breakfast but then ‘took ill’ after being poisoned at 11 am during morning tea. The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. Futhermore, the alleged assassin in the beginning of the book turned out to be a highly respected, diligent detective employed by the Pinkerton detective agency. Also an ill inmate died right on cue as required for the plot; Horowitz has obviously watched some Alfred Hitchcock and thought he’d outsmart the reader by adding a twist to an old prison escape story where the escapee hides in a coffin.

Holmes needed to get a message out of the prison so apparently he used the criminal network as casually as one might use a telephone to send a message. How Holmes ‘kept some back’ when all his personal possessions had been removed and he apparently hadn’t kept the bowl of soup was not explained.

He is afraid for his life, he tells Holmes, because a man wearing a flat cap has started standing outside his home, following him on evenings out; this man is, he believes, the sole surviving member of the Boston gang who has come to London to exact revenge on Carstairs for his involvement in the demise of his gang. Very entertaining and beguiling, Watson's tone convincingly adopted and the relationship between him and Holmes one of the most enjoyable parts of the book.

On entering the hotel, the three men find the man dead by the door of his room, stabbed in the neck. A person with connections such as Holmes should have at least been able to access a lawyer, especially when he had his first appearance in court, but Holmes was not allowed to speak at his own hearing nor did he have legal representation. But The House of Silk is in a class of its own: Horowitz's novel is the first Sherlock Holmes addition to have been written with the endorsement of the Conan Doyle estate. Horowitz pulls out all the stops, reintroducing us to a whole cast of characters that have become, over the years, part of the national – if not global – consciousness: apart from Holmes and Watson, there is the ever-present and often-ignored Mrs Hudson; Detective Inspector Lestrade; Holmes’ unofficial police force in the shape of the Baker Street Irregulars; the more-intelligent older brother Mycroft; and, of course, Holmes’ nemesis, Professor James Moriarty. New 'Alex Rider' Novel: Anthony Horowitz On Sherlock Holmes, Poirot And 'Russian Roulette' (INTERVIEW)".

Dorothy L Sayers understood the rules of the Holmesian game when she remarked that "it must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's: the slightest touch of extravagance or burlesque ruins the atmosphere".