“Imagine the awesome mind, and awful morals, of Professor Moriarty in a more attractive, equally lethal package. Impossible, you say? Not at all, for Dick Gillman has uncovered a fact that seems to have escaped Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: the professor had a younger sister! Now she’s back, bent on resurrecting her late brother’s criminal network, wreaking havoc on the British Empire and—far worse—gaining her revenge on Sherlock Holmes. Gillman introduces Julia in three interwoven stories, published as a trilogy in this slim but entertaining volume. In “The Shadow of James Moriarty,” his feminine shadow inserts a horrifying intermission into a play by Oscar Wilde, leading to an initial confrontation with our heroes Holmes and Watson. “The Highgate Magician” raises the diplomatic stakes, for a young woman’s seemingly simple disappearance masks an international intrigue. Finally, in “The Severed Finger,” Julia engineers a kidnapping that could cost Great Britain the Boer War before it has begun. Throughout the trilogy, Holmes dazzles with deductive brilliance, Watson provides strong support, and Mycroft is caught between conflicting loyalties. It can be said, without revealing spoilers, that this new Moriarty proves as dangerous a nemesis for Holmes as the original. She is also, alas, far more elusive. Bad news for our detective, but good news for readers, who can look forward to Mr. Gillman bringing Julia back to fight another day.”

Reviewed by Thomas A. Turley

Sherlock Holmes and The Julia Moriarty Trilogy – 2nd Edition is available from all good bookstores including The Strand Magazine, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK and for free shipping worldwide Book Depository .In ebook format it is in Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks (iPad/iPhone).