Author : Mitch Cullin
What is it about : Our well-known crime solver approaching his old age and spending more time with his apiary (bee yard) than figuring out another whodunit. Yet there were more mysteries in life when an invitation arrived and he embarked on a journey to Japan to help solve a Japanese man's life-long puzzle - the disappearance of his father in London, after meeting Sherlock Holmes more than forty years ago. On a completely different front, Holmes had to muster all his intellectual and logical deduction powers to figure our the death of his apiary apprentice along with Life's other bigger questions - love, loyalty and its very own meaning.
Some thoughts after having read the book : This book was really about Life as one reached old age and our intellect, memory retention and energy began to fade, what would one make of his/her life ? Of course, the readers still had good glimpses of the Old Holmes in action as he nimbly solved puzzles and accidental deaths and we even had a taste of how our matter-of-fact logical man used his tricks-of-the-trade to tail an alluring beauty. All these descriptions made this book a very worth while read as it differed from all previous versions of the Holmes crimes format.
Would I recommend this book to you : I would highly recommend this book not for its crime-solving suspense but more a book about an old man coming to terms with the loss of loved ones as well as his own fallibility. The parts describing his relationship with his young apprentice were at times joyful and yet heart-breaking. Well worth a read !
