Sherlock Holmes: The Red Tower

Dr. Watson takes center stage for much of Latham’s superior second Holmes pastiche (after 2017’s A Betrayal in Blood), just as he did in The Hound of the Baskervilles, of which this is a clever variant. Watson travels from London to remote Crain Manor in Berkshire at the request of a friend, James Crain, a marquess’s son who became a spiritualist after the death of his beloved mother. Watson is grieving as well, following the death of his wife, Mary. He doubts that Crain’s medium, Madame Farr, is legitimate, but his skepticism is tested when an apparition that resembles Mary appears in his room. The plot thickens after Watson learns of a family curse stemming from a 17th-century matricide, which led to part of the manor being dubbed the Red Tower and being placed off limits. Watson proves to be a capable and sympathetic lead until Holmes arrives to sort out an apparent locked-room murder, which claimed a member of the Crain household in the tower. Sherlockians are in for a treat. (Mar.)