Who Killed Sherlock Holmes

Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? (2016) Paul Cornell (Shadow Police)

This is the third Shadow Police book, and finds the group in sad shape.

The three other members of his team were standing apart from one another, looking off in different directions, like they were an indie band posing for an album cover.

Quill is troubled by his sojourn in Hell, Ross is listless, having given up all her future happiness on the possibility of saving her father from Hell, and Costain is struggling with the guilt of having betrayed Ross. Only Sefton’s life is going well, but that’s in spite of their work.

When a man is found poisoned, with the phrase “Rache” written in blood above his body, it looks like someone is recreating Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet. The production groups for all three shows Sherlock Holmes shows are in town, so it looks like someone wants attention, but Quill’s group discovers that there is something more than just an insane fan looking for attention.

All three actors were surprisingly short, and thinner than human beings were meant to be. It was, Quill thought, like addressing a group of Hobbits.

And then there is their boss, Detective Superintendent Lofthouse. She’s got her own troubles that she can’t even share with the group best able to help her.

It was still true, thought Lofthouse, that if you wanted the world to know something, the best person to tell was a senior civil servant.

This series is dark. I suppose that should be obvious from Quill going to Hell, but still, it’s best to be clear sometimes.

Not that there aren’t funny bits.

“It breaks the law of threes, lead lead up, lead up, then pow. But now I say it out load, I think that’s actually a rule of comedy, not this shit.”

That quite amused me.

I do like this series.

Published by Pan

Rating: 8/10

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