Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly and Other New Adventures of the Great Detective

Henry James's The Turn of the Screw provides the inspiration for the lengthy title tale of Thomas's superb fifth collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches (after 2009's Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil). In 1898, Holmes and Watson intervene on behalf of Victoria Temple, a governess confined to an insane asylum after a verdict of guilty but insane for the murder of 10-year-old Miles Mordaunt, who was suffocated only days after his eight-year-old sister, Flora, died of diphtheria. The accused murderess is convinced that the ghosts of a valet and her predecessor as governess were trying to seduce both children into evil. The three other selections are nearly up to the same high standard. "The Case of a Boy's Honour," about a scandal at a boarding school, compels even without a murder to solve. Sherlockians will hope Thomas continues to turn out these faithful and imaginative recreations for years to come. (Dec.)