Sherlock Holmes: Masters of Lies

In 1898, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are summoned by Mycroft Holmes following the apparent suicide of Christopher Bastion, one of the Foreign Office’s most trusted—and most valuable—civil servants, in Purser-Hallard’s stellar third pastiche (after 2020’s Sherlock Holmes: The Spider’s Web). Bastion, who died at home of prussic acid poisoning, left behind a suicide note. The motive for his fatal act seems clear, as evidence suggests that Bastion was recently preparing to sell government secrets to a foreign spy. Mycroft asks his brother to find out to whom Bastion may have leaked sensitive information and the substance of those leaks. But the inquiry takes a different path when Holmes’s inspection of the crime scene points to Bastion’s having been murdered, which in turns leads to his suspicion that a master forger faked the suicide note and possibly the evidence indicating the dead man had betrayed his country. Purser-Hallard’s unusual fair-play puzzle will remind many of the sleight-of-hand novels of Anthony Horowitz. Fans of traditional Holmes stories will hope for more from this versatile author. (May)