I love Sherlock Holmes books, no matter who wrote them; I am no purist, and just want more! There is a certain comfort in knowing his character already when reading spinoffs from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and this author keeps to it. Holmes related a 4-year period of mysterious adventures when he was "dead", after fighting Moriarty at the Falls, to Watson that fills in the gap. I read Laurie Miller's new Russell/Holmes work that supposedly took place later in Holmes' life (when he was married) in Japan, so reading about these earlier mysteries when he was single was fun. In the Oriental Casebook, we learn the origins of Moriarty and his brother, and the relationships and deaths of some of Moriarty's associates. The four years worth of stories are not related in chronological order, and therefore not presented that way in the book; there is circling and going ahead or jumping back between stories, and mentions of events in stories yet to be told, so it may be confusing for some readers. There are some nasty characters and dangerous situations for Holmes, who finds an Asian "Watson" in some tales to help him, so of course, the game is deliciously afoot. ( )

Pretty good. You need to read the book twice, once in the order its presented, then a second time after you have solved the mystery of the sequence in which the events happened. Many of these are adventures rather than mysteries. Very good seque from Reichenbach falls to the mission to Tibet. You can figure out the order of each story by recording 1. location. 2. Holmes' alias 3.Holmes friend or ally and 4. the villain. The book presents these tales as Watson heard them from Holmes over a 4 year period, when S. was in a mood to share.