Sherlock Holmes and the Knave of Hearts

The capable second Sherlock Holmes pastiche from western authors Hayes and Whitehead (after 2012’s Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of Diamonds) finds the sleuth shut away in Baker Street, bored and depressed, with no cases to intrigue him. Watson comes to his rescue by insisting they take a holiday in France, where a friend—politician Henri Gillet—has a country villa. Holmes agrees to go because he’s eager to meet a correspondent he much admires, novelist Jules Verne, who lives in Amiens, which is near the villa. On arrival, Holmes and Watson are horrified to see a masked man shoot Verne in the leg during a street brawl, but Holmes soon subdues the gunman, who turns out to be Verne’s mentally disturbed nephew, Gaston. After interviewing Gaston in jail, Holmes gets on the trail of a sinister organization with the cryptic initials V.D.C. that may want Verne dead. The plot builds slowly to a satisfying, if predictable, ending. (Oct.)