The Web Weaver

February 13, 2012
Despite some gratuitous shots at Dr. Watson, Siciliano's second pastiche is an improvement over his first, The Angel of the Opera, presenting a non-canonical view of Holmes that remains persuasive. Once again, the narrator is another doctor, Holmes' cousin Henry Vernier. On a visit by Vernier to Baker Street, Holmes reveals that "Watson's stories to the contrary, most crimes and criminals are stupid," and that the Moriarty of "The Final Problem" was a "complete fiction." Notwithstanding that, the detective has begun to believe that a real mastermind is at work behind the scenes of London crime. Holmes is consulted by Donald Wheelwright, heir to a potted meat business, who wants him to look into an incident from two years earlier; a female gypsy crashed a society ball, and cursed the attendees with a prophesy of ruin and early death, which preceded at least one violent death. The author's alterations in Holmes' personality might have had more power with Watson as storyteller, but there are enough positives to make this enjoyable.

Starred review from February 22, 2016
Siciliano skillfully utilizes plot elements from an obscure Bram Stoker novel in his stellar fourth Sherlock Holmes pastiche (after 2013's The Grimswell Curse). Adam Selton, the young heir to a large estate, comes to Baker Street after getting a note warning him away from his fiancée, Diana Marsh; the letter was accompanied by a copy of the legend concerning her family curse, originated by a woman who had the ability to transform herself into a gigantic serpent. The family's lands at Diana's Grove in Whitby are rumored to be haunted by such a creature. Holmes and his friend and cousin, Dr. Henry Vernier, travel to the region, where they meet Diana and her aunt, Lady Verr, whose husband recently blew his brains out. Despite the incredible nature of the reports, they're lent credence when the half-devoured corpse of a missing cow is found floating at sea and the cousins spot a glowing green light in the grove. The explanation is ingenious and plausible. Siciliano again offers a Holmes who will be familiar to fans of the canon.

Starred review from May 15, 2017
Siciliano continues to excel in the niche he’s created for himself in the ever-growing universe of new Sherlock Holmes novels. Like most of his previous pastiches, his fifth (after 2016’s The White Worm) is inspired by a well-known work of suspense fiction—this time, Wilkie Collins’s seminal The Moonstone. About 50 years after the events of that book, the legendary curse of the diamond known as the Moonstone casts a pall over the life of Alice Bromley, whose great-great-uncle stole it from India in 1799. Alice has inherited a life-interest in the jewel, but views that as a burden and now fears that a mysterious Indian man she has spotted lurking outside her London home has designs on it. Her attentive husband, Charles, seeks out Holmes for help, and the detective agrees to assess the safety measures that Charles has taken to safeguard the gem from theft before one last public display. Siciliano has devised an intelligent challenge for the iconic character, who’s faithful to Conan Doyle’s original, notwithstanding the use of a Watson substitute for the tale’s narrator.

Starred review from May 4, 2020
At the outset of Siciliano’s excellent seventh Holmes pastiche (after 2018’s The Devil and the Four), which takes its inspiration from Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” 21-year-old Isabel Stone, who lives with her stepfather, Capt. Grimbold Pratt, calls on Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street. Miss Stone has discovered a note from her late mother stating that Pratt and her father, Maj. Hubert Stone, who were stationed in India together, each returned to England decades ago with a share of a treasure-trove of jewels. After the major died when Miss Stone was five, Pratt married her mother and demanded custody of her mother’s share of the gems. When Miss Stone recently asked Pratt about the gems, the eccentric captain, who maintains an exotic menagerie at his Surrey home, including a tiger, denied their existence. Miss Stone hopes Holmes will help her get her rightful inheritance. Siciliano plants suggestions early on that the new client may not be who she seems and that the story line will deviate from that of “The Speckled Band.” This clever mystery is further proof that Siciliano is one of the best contemporary pasticheurs.