By James Lovegrove

Titan, out now

Holmes and Watson search for a missing young woman, and discover an elaborate recreation of past glories…

The first of James Lovegrove’s Holmes stories not to feature an overtly genre premise, The Labyrinth of Death sneaks under the wire for the final third of the book which brings to mind the glories of some of the great adventure tales as our intrepid duo undergo a series of ordeals that brought instantly to mind the sequence in Ian Fleming’s book (and an extent the movie) Dr No.

Lovegrove has recently been partnering his writing on Holmes pastiches with a series of novels in which Watson reveals the “truth” behind some of their adventures – that they’re linked to H P Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos. Those books feature a rather exaggerated version of the characters, and for the first time, it feels as if that deliberately over the top characterisation has bled across slightly to the “standard” stories.

That’s not to suggest that this isn’t a highly enjoyable read, and Lovegrove introduces the potential of a new Mrs Watson in its pages, once again expertly layering into Watson’s narration elements that the bluff doctor fails to comprehend, but which the reader does. The missing young woman, Hannah Woolfson, is a worthy addition to the Holmesian ranks, and you have to hope that she might make an appearance – perhaps even obliquely – in a future tale.

Verdict: Not Lovegrove’s best Holmes tale, but even when he falls slightly below his own very high benchmark, Lovegrove is still streets ahead of so many pretenders to Conan Doyle’s pen. 7/10

Paul Simpson