Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein’s Diary

The pseudonymous Grant’s overly busy fourth mystery featuring a revived Sherlock Holmes (after 2012’s Sherlock Holmes and the Swedish Enigma) takes Holmes and his Watsonian sidekick, James Wilson, on a mission for Scotland Yard to Switzerland, where Holmes was frozen for nearly a century in a glacier. Holmes and Wilson visit Dr. Jan Droon, a mad scientist complete with an Igor-like assistant, at his Swiss chalet. Dr. Droon, who despairs of man’s murderous nature, wants “to create a new man, a new life form!” To demonstrate his theories, he tortures a caged ape with a blowtorch. This over-the-top encounter may be related to a hacking scandal the Baker Street duo investigate involving tabloid newspaper magnate Gerald Gurloch. As befits the 21st-century setting, the diary of the title turns out to be a blog by a hacker. Grant does give Holmes scope to demonstrate his deductive brilliance, but the disparate plot elements fail to gel. Agent: Al Longden, Albert Longden Associates. (July)