pub: Titan Books. 256 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-85768-933-7).

check out website: www.titanbooks.com

Watson is involved with Holmes again. Now a widower, Watson has fallen back in with his clever companion. Trying to get him interested in a case seems like an impossible task as everything, even murder, seems so trivial to Sherlock. But it is the intervention of Mycroft, Holmes' mysterious brother, which starts them off on a case that leads to the dark underbelly of London and a wild chase. With dog-like persistence the pair sniffs out the clues until they can face the snarling beasts.

From the off, 'Sherlock Holmes: The Army Of Doctor Moreau', feels right. The narration style of Doctor Watson is spot on as, I perused his personal journal, I instantly warmed to his words. As this is apparently unpublished, Watson can be frank and honest about all things, including Mycroft and how the investigators encounter the gruesome creations of Doctor Moreau. The author freely brings in characters not only from HG Wells' Moreau but others which you may recognise but are handily referenced in the notes at the back of the book. Nothing feels bolted along though and the story rattles along at the pace of a sturdy hansom.

Unusually for a Holmes, this has multiple narrators but they follow in sequence and only to ensure that we don't have an omniscient chorus popping its head up and to keep us in the thick of the action.

This fast-paced novel kept me entertained and intrigued enough to devour it in large chunks. In fact, it's full of meaty goodness. I may have overdone the dog references here. Guy Adams' style, based on the original Holmes stories, is conversational and down to earth. It keeps us at the centre of the plot and turning those pages which is essential in a mystery.

Sue Davies