Sherlock Holmes and the Somerset Hunt

Rating:
Summary: It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!
Review: This short tale is deceptively complex, holding the reader'sattention to the very end. Mystery fans will find it a true brainteaser, full of plot twists, eccentric characters, and of course, Sherlock Holme's flawless detecting skills. An old friend beckons Sherlock Holmes to East Quantock in the West Country in England to investigate a horseback riding accident involving Andrew Hewitt, his niece's fiancé. The youngest son of Colonel Lawrence Hewitt, Andrew is the family black sheep, the only son uninterested in making money or joining the military. Andrew is set to marry Jane, the Colonel's niece. Inexplicable mishaps have befallen Andrew throughout his entire life, whenever he dared defy the Colonel's plans. Now, it appears that the stirrup on Andrew's saddle was cut, causing him to tumble from his horse while hunting with his father and two brothers. Oddly, no trace of the stirrup's remnants can be found at the accident scene. Coincidentally, Jane has received an anonymous note trying to scare her off the marriage and back to London. Jane engages Holmes and Watson to find out: Who is trying to kill Andrew? Who is trying to prevent their marriage? Why would anyone go to this trouble? What is really at stake? Step by step, Holmes' uncanny powers of deduction unravel the mishap. In getting to the bottom of Andrew's fall, Holmes and Watson encounter a far more intriguing mystery: What caused the disappearance of family matriarch Bess Hewitt three years ago? Each character has a different theory. Sons Ned and Laurence feel she abandoned the family to be with a secret lover; Andrew fears that she is dead, probably murdered. Meanwhile, Colonel Hewitt's apparent stoicism about his wife's disappearance makes him a prime suspect. Who done it? Colonel Hewitt, the cold and forbidding husband? Laurence, the materialistic eldest son? Ned, the manipulative middle son? Andrew, the seemingly naive youngest son? Or, someone else? The reader, like the Hewitt family, remains in the dark until the very end. Not so, Sherlock Holmes, who pieces together innocuous details to reveal the killer and prevent the nefarious assailant from killing again. Suddenly, Holmes's superior powers of deductive reasoning make this puzzle seem "very elementary" after all.