Unquiet Spirits
"You can almost smell London 1889 coming off the pages."
Synopsis:
Fresh from debunking a 'ghostly' hound in Dartmoor, Sherlock Holmes has returned to London, only to find himself the target of a deadly vendetta. He is distracted when beautiful Scotswoman Isla McLaren arrives with a tale of kidnapping, ghosts, and dynamite in the Highlands; but to Watson's surprise, he walks away in favour of a political mission for Mycroft in the South of France.
On the Riviera, Holmes and Watson have a dangerous encounter with rival French detective Jean Vidocq ... and make a horrific discovery which draws them up to the haunted McLaren castle in Scotland after all. There in the frozen Highlands, among ghosts, family secrets and the copper behemoths of a great distillery, Holmes discovers that all three cases have blended into a single, deadly conundrum.
In order to solve the mystery, the ultimate rational thinker must finally confront a ghost from his own past. But Sherlock Holmes does not believe in ghosts - or does he?
Purchase the book from Amazon.
Review:
There are many authors who have written novels starring Holmes and Watson. The majority are embarrassingly poor. Bonnie MacBird is an obvious fan of the original stories by Conan Doyle as she has captured the essence of the relationship between the detective and the Doctor perfectly. When reading a Sherlock Holmes novel, the crime sometimes takes second place for me as I have found the interplay between Holmes and Watson to be more rewarding. If Conan Doyle had written about the duo doing a crossword and nothing else I would have been enraptured. This is the reason why many Holmes and Watson books have failed. MacBird has succeeded and taken it to the next level by creating a unique story of intrigue that, at times, even the good detective may not be able to solve. 'Unquiet Spirits' is a dark and detailed story. There is a gruesome reveal about a third of the way through that will be giving me bad dreams for weeks to come. However, the description, the sense of place is all accurate. You can almost smell London 1889 coming off the pages. What MacBird has done best, which is what makes her take on the series work, is that she understands the narrative. John Watson is telling the story and he's telling it like he's always done. MacBird could possibly be Conan Doyle reincarnated. I hope this is a lengthy series. A perfect read as the nights draw in.