If you are unable to make it during one of their scheduled guided tours, but really want to visit the only Guild House in Barcelona open to the public then you can also book a private visit for €220 per group. Private Events (Weddings, Presentations etc) However Horrowitz has pulled it off beautifully. I always thought of him as being a children's author as my son used to read the Alex Rider series, but it would appear that Horrowitz writes for TV, film and adult audiences. He is a what one could term a professional author, able to turn his hand to most forms of writing.

Much game has been afoot post-dating Arthur Conan Doyle’s brilliant creation. As everyone knows, countless movies, books and shows have been produced featuring the great detective with varying degrees of consistency. But before Anthony Horowitz, none had had the blessing of the ACD estate. Why him, you may ask? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that he’s very good – a professional writer since the age of 20, an OBE honoree, creator and writer of one of my favorite TV series ever ( Foyle’s War), and the one commissioned by the Ian Fleming estate to write the next Bond novel. The ending (who-dunnit) was quite clever. But the subject matter (the denouement) was very disturbing. As Dr. Watson had shared earlier, this was a dark tale that needed to be put away for a long, long time. And Horowitz shines a light on some of the darker elements of Victorian life that Doyle never would have approached. Thus, the crux of the mystery lies in one of those dark corners, which some readers may find hard to read. Holmes had made it clear that the adventure of the man in the flat cap was over, the case solved and all that remained was for him to launch into one of those explanations that would leave me wondering how I could have been so obtuse as to have not seen it for myself from the start. One of the most harrowing and dangerous cases that Holmes and Watson have ever come up against! "He had entered a veritable miasma of evil, and harm, in the worst possible way, was to come to us all to soon."As “The House of Silk” opens, Mrs. Watson has decided to retire with some friends in the country, and Dr. Watson has decided to come stay with Holmes at 221-B Baker Street in his old rooms. As the book opens, Holmes is dead and Watson is an elderly man who's decided to write up one of his friend's old investigations - a case so hush-hush that it can't be released for 100 years. Thanks are extended to the author who has thrilled both Jan and I on many occasions. If you haven't read a Horowitz book, best get busy. They have all been wonderful. So, all of the elements are there: the data, the data, the data. Nothing of consequence overlooked. And yet can Horowitz, like Holmes, make from these drops of water the possibilities of an Atlantic or a Niagara? Can he astonish us? Can he thrill us? Are there "the rapid deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis" that we yearn for? Emphatically, yes. [4] [5] Allusions to other literary works [ edit ] Holmes tells Carstairs that he will not be able to help him, but the next day, he receives word that Mr. Carstairs's house was robbed. Holmes reveals that he anticipated this, so he and Watson go to the house to investigate. There, they meet Catherine, Mr. Carstairs's wife. She has an American accent, and she explains that they are newly married, having met on a recent voyage from America to England. They also meet Eliza, Mr. Carstairs's sister; she warns them that Catherine is only after her brother's money.

As complicated as Horowitz tried to make the story, the crimes of the House of Silk were obvious to me, as were some of the connections between the characters. Holmes and Watson call in the Baker Street Irregulars (the street urchins) to locate the elusive and threatening American with the livid scar on his face. The plot is also very much in the tradition. It starts with a smaller story and the tentacles of the mystery spread out to create a far wider tale with grave implications for welfare of the nation.He had entered a veritable miasma of evil, and harm, in the worst possible way, was to come to us all too soon.” Rent them before you see this book because Horowitz worships at this altar. The introduction contains a nod to the Granda production that featured Brett. He rushed out, leaving me alone with my misgivings. At lunchtime he returned but did not eaty, a sure sign that he was engaged upon some stimulating line of enquiry. I had seen him so often like this before. He put me in mind of a foxhound, running upon breast-high scent, for just as an animal will devote it's entire being to one activity, so could he allow events to absorb him to the extent that even the most basic human needs — food, water, sleep — could be set aside."

Emphatically, yes. The characters are, as Conan Doyle himself would have them, as close to cliché as good writing allows. Horowitz's Watson cleverly excuses himself right at the start from any complaints about style or content by reminding us of Holmes's oft-stated judgment of the stories: "He accused me more than once of vulgar romanticism, and thought me no better than any Grub Street scribbler." We must take them on their own terms, then: Mr Carstairs, the troubled dealer in fine art, who is being watched by a mysterious stranger in a flat cap with a "livid scar on his right cheek". Carstairs's wife, the mysterious foreign adventuress. Cornelius Stillman, the bumptious American millionaire. The dastardly Boston Irish gang, led by the ruthless O'Donaghue twins. The madwoman in the attic. The creepy reverend who runs a home for boys. The big set-pieces: the train robbery; the escape from prison; the freak show; the high-speed horse-drawn carriage chase.My introduction to was the audiobook, Magpie Murders, which I really loved. I'm thrilled to report that this didn't disappoint in any way. As in Magpie Murders, there are some cleaver twists involved in this book and it's one of the things that I love about this talented author.