Changes

|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Star of India

|author=Carole Bugge

|reviewer=John Lloyd

|buy=Yes

|borrow=Yes

|pages=224

|publisher=Titan Books

|date=August 2011

|isbn=978-0857681218

}}

A woman with a distinguished scent about her appears flustered at a concert recital. A famous landlady gets kidnapped while on an innocent holiday to the west country. A malformed, brilliant modern-day alchemist gets murdered. There is only one person, who famously went over a certain Alpine waterfall, who could piece all this and more into a threat to the Royalty and Empire itself. But there is also only one person, who famously seemed to have stayed dead in going over the same Alpine waterfall, with the strength of mind to put the whole game into play.

It's a pity then that a lot of the time we can see the instances of Holmes' brilliance too easily - we learn too readily to tell when he's inviting a character to say something incriminating, for example; also we can spot the mole a mile off, as well as a couple of contrivances. Clearly, Ms Bugge is not on a par with the genius of Holmes' original creator, but that's not to say she hasn't absorbed enough of his brilliance, and has added that to a mostly well-fashioned little saga. It's not the best revisiting of this world, but is still recommended to those who seek new Holmes to visit.

The most forensic look at Holmes' real-life world we know of is [[Close to Holmes: A Look at the Connections Between Historical London, Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Alistair Duncan]].

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