Sherlock Holmes and the Sandringham House Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Another quick, fun read by Andrews!
Review: A trip to Sandringham House, this time out, and Holmes, Watson and Lestrade have to find a stolen painting. Just when you think it's all over, "the game's afoot" again, and Holmes faces one of the toughest tests of his life. Enjoyable, and a page-truner, especially towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: Another quick, fun read by Andrews!
Review: A trip to Sandringham House, this time out, and Holmes, Watson and Lestrade have to find a stolen painting. Just when you think it's all over, "the game's afoot" again, and Holmes faces one of the toughest tests of his life. Enjoyable, and a page-truner, especially towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: Typically brisk Holmes pastiche
Review: Despite their brevity there is often an element of padding in the Sherlock Holmes novels by Val Andrews ,and this is no exception .There are ,within its less than 200 large print pages ,3 plot strands .
It begins with the great detective accepting an assignment from a noted stage magician , Golden , to investigate the theft of a Rembrandt painting from King Edward the Eighth's Summer residence at Sandringham Palace ,the painting having gone missing during a private performance by the conjurer before the King and other distinguished guests including Kaiser Wilhelm .Golden is not suspected of complicity in the theft but is anxious to remove any lingering doubts about his innocence by having the mystery resolved .Disguised as magician's assistants Holmes and Watson accompany him on his next trip to the Palace .
They quickly resolve the mystery and restore the painting to its rightful ownwr ; the theft is not entirely unconnected to certain of the distinguished visitors .
Soon thereafter Holmes goes missing and we move on to phase 2 of the plot when Watson and Lestrade hunt for the missing Holmes in a race against time .The final part of the book is a neat but wholly superfluous piece of non -criminous deduction from the great man .

Andrews has tackled international politics in other books in the series and it rears its head again this time around ,and again as previously the author shows an interest in stage magic.

Brisk and enjoyable for what it is this is a passable time-filler