Reviews

The Three Monarchs by Anthony Horowitz

starthelostgirl's review

2.0

An unremarkable entry into Holmes’s illustrious career, with an utterly unworthy explanation for the parsley in the butter. Horowitz does have everyone’s voice down perfectly.

franklyfrank's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

nickleby_shepherd's review against another edition

3.0

Horowitz is one of favorite mystery writers these days. And 3Monarchs is a decent little SH story. I don’t know if the 3* comes from my expectations as a Horowitz fan or as a Sherlockian; probably both. The first few pages were a little irksome with some of the standard ‘look how much I know from the canon’ authors tend to do in SH pastiches. But once that’s through the puzzle is a good one. The other setback was that rarely did I hear Watson’s ‘voice’, (those moments probably made it worse for highlighting the fact that majority of the narrative I hadn’t been). Watson Voice is a hard thing to capture, so I don’t fault anyone too much on that so long as the spirit is there. I’m glad I read the story, I did enjoy it. And honestly you should checkout ‘Moriarty’.

floppytelex's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jenn_geeks_out's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

iam_griff's review

4.0

What a great Holmes & Watson short story written by Horowitz published just before his book “Moriarty” was released. I found myself having the remember that this story wasn’t written by Doyle. It just had that same feeling, which is what makes both “House of Silk” & “Moriarty” such great books.

sonham's review against another edition

1.0

Horowitz ist nicht Conan Doyle und das merkt man ganz besonders bei dieser Kurzgeschichte

martine3's review

adventurous informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

teriboop's review against another edition

4.0

I have not yet delved into the Holmes series by Anthony Horowitz, but it's on my radar. I found this short story while looking for a book for a reading challenge. Although the story likely comes chronologically after the first book of the series, this quick read is a good introduction to the rest of the books. I enjoyed Horowitz's writing and the mystery that Holmes, of course, was able to solve with his keen eye for detail. The story is told from Watson's point of view and gives us a nice profile of Holmes through his eyes.

The story involves an elderly man who supposedly shot an intruder in self-defense, but Holmes, who is summoned to the crime scene, suspects further foul play. A set of figurines discreetly adorning a couple of residences helps Holmes solve the mystery.

matissaflono's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0