If you have to be sick, as I was last week, you should at least be comforted by lashings of hot tea, a snuggly blanket, and a book that transports you from the bleaugh of your circumstances to somewhere far more engaging. 221B Baker Street, for instance. Enter The Last Confessions of Sherlock Holmes by Kieran Lyne.

I love Holmes pastiches that are faithful to the canon. I’m not a fan of Holmes the Basset Hound, or Holmes the Spaceman, so I was delighted to receive a review copy of this terrific book from MX Publishing. I should specify that the novel involves a retelling of some original Conan Doyle tales, but does take some liberties that purists may tut at.

Here’s the tale in a nutshell:

In the dawn of 1891 Sherlock Holmes is locked in a deadly game of wits with the sinister Professor James Moriarty, but events…