Book Log 2010 #38: The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr

Written with the blessing of the Arthur Conan Doyle estate, this is a new adventure of Sherlock Holmes. Two men working on renovations to Holyrood House, a royal residence in Scotland, are killed, and Holmes and Watson are called in to investigate. Their investigation takes a turn for the supernatural when some locals ascribe the killings to the ghost of one of Queen Mary's retinue, the Italian secretary of the title.

It's been some time since I've read any of the Holmes stories, but based on my memories I think this addition holds up relatively well to the originals (moreso than Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, which wasn't bad but was too non-traditional for me). I suppose the real question is if it compares well to the other book-length stories, which I've not read in a good 20 years, so I won't make that call. But I did enjoy the book, for the most part, which I suppose is what matters.

One thing this book does do is make me wonder when (or if) we'll get a new book from Carr using the characters from The Alienist.