#BookReview ‘Sherlock Holmes And The Venerable Tiger’ by Sam Siciliano

About the book…

Sherlock Holmes acquires a new client when a beautiful young woman, Isabel Stone, faints on the steps of his Baker Street rooms. She has come to beg his assistance in reclaiming some priceless jewels kept from her by her tyrannical stepfather, Captain Grimbold Pratt. But shortly after agreeing to take her case, Captain Pratt comes to Baker Street, not quite so tyrannical as Isabel would have them believe. Holmes and his cousin, Dr Henry Vernier, must unravel a tense family mystery dating back to the Indian Mutiny, where neither of them is sure who to believe…

The latest in the Titan continued adventures of Sherlock Holmes tales is Sam Siciliano’s ‘The Venerable Tiger’, out now in paperback and ebook formats. Huge thanks to the awesome Titan team for my gifted ebok review copy!

Narrated by Dr Henry Venier, with echoes of ‘The Sign Of Four’ and ‘The Adventure Of The Speckled Band’, this romp through Victoriana is an engaging and pleasing escape from reality. Wronged orphan Isabel Stone is hoping that Holmes can restore her mother’s fortune, purloined by her father from Indian Mutiny. These jewels, taken and split 3 ways, were hidden from her, her father has died and her widowed mother has taken with Captain Grimbold Pratt, an unforgettable potential villain who took another third of these jewels.

The fainting Miss Stone followed swiftly by the appearance of Pratt juxtaposes innocence and villainy and this is the hook which peaks Holmes interest with Vernier taking the sidekick role.

The tiger of the title is one of several animals that Pratt has brought back with him from India, much to the consternation of the local villagers-I can imagine their arrival sent pretty much everyone into a state of anxiety! Especially as it seems as bad tempered as its owner…

Soon Holmes and Vernier are on the trail, especially as Pratt’s first and second wives have died in less than straight forward circumstances. Is he really the villainous thief that Isabel is leading the reader to believe? Or is there a more sinister undertone present to her wanting these jewels found? A neat throwback to a time of the British Empire when our history was less than stellar, these jewels do not really belong to either Pratt or Isabel, rather to the Indians they were taken from. The bait and switch of who, or what, is responsible for a series of deaths and disappearances,keeps you on your toes as much as it does the investigating pair.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, it is a book to dive into and enjoy if, like me, you feel that Holmes tales need not necessarily have stopped with Conan Doyle’s death.

About the author…

Early on, Sam developed a taste for fantastical worlds better than the one he was stuck with. He grew up reading the golden-age juvenile science fiction of Heinlein and Andre Norton, the Mars and Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Baum’s Oz books and Brooks’ tales set on a New England farm where Freddy the Pig had his adventures.

And of course, last but not least was the London of Sherlock Holmes.

Siciliano has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa and did some college teaching, but because of the terrible academic job market, he worked many years in business as a database administrator.

His reading tastes remain diverse, with a special fondness for genre fiction. Jane Austen may be his all time favorite author, the Victorian writers and Raymond Chandler his inspiration, but he is also a big fan of Tim Powers and Alastair Reynolds.

Siciliano was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.  After undergraduate work at the University of Utah, he went on to the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

There he met and married fellow English graduate student Mary Slowik.  The two defended their dissertations, the last step in their doctorates, on the same memorable day.

They have raised three children and several cats together.

They attribute their long and happy marriage to the fact that neither of them believes in ironing.

Links-https://www.samsiciliano.net/

Twitter @TitanBooks