THE GAMES AFOOT... It is November 1890 & London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued by the mans tale Holmes & Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling & sinister events stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston. As the pair delve deeper into the case they stumble across a whispered phrase the House of Silk: a mysterious entity & foe more deadly than any Holmes has encountered & a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society itself With devilish plotting & excellent characterisation bestselling author Anthony Horowitz delivers a first-rate Sherlock Holmes mystery for a modern readership whilst remaining utterly true to the spirit of the original Conan Doyle books. Sherlock Holmes is back with all the nuance pace & powers of deduction that make him the worlds greatest & most celebrated detective. ...

THE GAMES AFOOT.. . It is November 1890 & London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued Holmes & Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling & sinister events stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston & the mysterious House of Silk.. . See Judys Review See Richards Review Download A Sample Chapter Of The House of Silk Read about the Author Exclusive Bonus Content Write a Review for The House of Silk Judys Review Ive never read a Sherlock Holmes story. To be honest they didnt hold any particular appeal for me. Obviously Ive seen the various films & TV versions & mostly enjoyed them but the books themselves? No thanks. Anthony Horowitz has changed all that. I cant wait to get stuck in to the originals
- if theyre as good as The House of Silk Ive got a massive treat coming. This book evokes a powerful sense of late-Victorian London. It is winter 1890; handsome cabs clatter along the frosty cobbled streets gas lamps flare in the gloom & telegram boys run to & fro with urgent messages. At 221b Baker Street Holmes & Watson are taking tea by a roaring fire when Mrs Hudson the faithful housekeeper shows a clearly agitated gentleman in. He has a story to tell. He is being stalked by a menacing scar-faced man who stares malevolently at him. It has been going on for weeks & their visitor is at the end of his tether. He begs Holmes for help. The games afoot Watson! & indeed it is. Horowitz spins an ever-more dramatic & dangerous story. What begins as a puzzle swiftly becomes a mystery with deeply sinister overtones. As Holmes & Watson become immersed in their investigations they begin to hear the whispered words the House of Silk... what does the phrase mean? What links Londons foggy streets with the violent underworld that seethes in the American city of Boston? This is quite simply one of the best detective mysteries I have read for a long time. Congratulations Mr Horowitz. Can we have another one please? Richards Review "
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THE GAME'S AFOOT.. . It is November 1890 & London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at 221b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued Holmes & Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling & sinister events stretching from the gas-lit streets of London to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston & the mysterious ' House of Silk'.. . ...

Russia 1915: Sixteen year old farmers son Georgy Jachmenev steps in front of an assassins bullet intended for a senior member of the Russian Imperial Family & is instantly proclaimed a hero. Rewarded with the position of bodyguard to Alexei Romanov the only son of Tsar Nicholas II the course of his life is changed for ever. Privy to the secrets of Nicholas & Alexandra the machinations of Rasputin & the events which will lead to the final collapse of the autocracy Georgy is both a witness & participant in a drama that will echo down the century. Sixty-five years later visiting his wife Zoya as she lies in a London hospital memories of the life they have lived together flood his mind. & with them the consequences of the brutal fate of the Romanovs which has hung like a shroud over every aspect of their marriage... ...

Six million years ago at the very dawn of the starfaring era Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male & female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise & fall of countless human empires. They meet every two hundred thousand years to exchange news & memories of their travels with their siblings. Campion & Purslane are not only late for their thirty-second reunion but they have brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line & there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them & why
- before their ancient line is wiped out of existence for ever.
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The House of the Dead is a stark account of Dostoyevskys own experience of penal servitude in Siberia. In graphic detail he describes the suffering of the convicts
- their squalor & degradation their terror & resignation from the rampages of a pyschopath to the brief serenity of Christmas Day. Amid the horror of labour in the sub-zero work camp we hear the stories of the prisoners & live through the freezing isolation & pain of day after day of misery. We see a young intellectual forced to live eat & sleep with men from a background of cruelty coarseness & brutality. The Gambler is set in a spa town with its casino & international clientele. Alexey Ivanovitch is a young tutor in the household of a general. He is both observer & actor in the tempest which surrounds his impoverished employer as he envies & mocks the airs & pretensions of his supposed superiors. Everyone is waiting for the death of Granny the generals rich aunt but so far from dying she turns up alive & well & makes her way to the casino..
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Welcome to the house of the mosque... Iran 1950. Spring has arrived & as the women prepare the festivities Sadiq waits for a suitor to knock on the door. Her uncle Nosrat returns from Tehran with a glamorous woman while on the rooftop Shahbal longs only for a television to watch the first moon landing. But not even the beloved grandmothers can foresee what will happen in the days & months to come. In this uplifting bestseller Kader Abdolah charts the triumphs & tragedies of a family on the brink of revolution. ...

As a girl Clara del Valle can read fortunes make objects move as if they had lives of their own & predict the future. Following the mysterious death of her sister Rosa the Beautiful Clara is mute for nine years. When she breaks her silence it is to announce that she will be married soon to the stern & volatile landowner Esteban Trueba. Set in an unnamed Latin American country over three generations The House of the Spirits" is a magnificent epic of a proud & passionate family secret loves & violent revolution." ...

Spanning four generations Isabel Allende's magnificent family saga is populated by a memorable often eccentric cast of characters. Together men & women spirits the forces of nature & of history converge in an unforgettable wholly absorbing & brilliantly realised novel that is as richly entertaining as it is a masterpiece of modern literature. ...

A legendary ruin. An ancient mystery. Will unveiling the past transform the future? San Francisco 2007. Madeline Moretti is grieving for her fiance. Nothing brings her joy any more & Maddie's grandmother a fiery Italian sends her to Tuscany to heal. Here Maddie is immersed in the mystery of a ruined villa. Destroyed centuries ago in a legendary storm on the Eve of St Agnes it has been known ever since as the Casa al Vento
- the House of the Wind. Tuscany 1347. Mia hasn't spoken since her mother's death & lives in silence with her beloved aunt. One dark night a couple seek refuge in their villa. Used to welcoming passing pilgrims Mia is entranced by the young bride's radiance & compassion but mystified by her reluctance to reveal even her name. Where has she come from & why must her presence be a secret? Centuries apart each searching for a way to step into her future Mia & Maddie will be haunted by the myth of the woman who walked unscathed from the ruins of the House of the Wind.
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