‘The Hound of the D’Urbervilles’ by Kim Newman

The Hound of the D’Urbervilles

(Audiobook)
Professor Moriarty and his new sidekick Colonel Sebastian (Basher) Moran take on a whole series of dastardly deeds in this tale of Victorian ne’er-do-wells. They team up with a variety of villains, including the wicked Irene Adler (when she turns up with an interesting proposition), encounter the likes of Black Michael (The Prisoner of Zenda), jewel-thief Raffles and his daft side-kick and end up doing battle with the Thin Man and Doctor Watson in a showdown at the Reichenbach Falls.

Taken from the secret journals of sharp-shooter Colonel Moran, Kim Newman has taken a clever idea and given it a fairly decent outing. I say fairly decent, as it didn’t quite hit the mark for me, and while I enjoyed the seven adventures (especially the fake Martian invasion), the narrative did become a tad repetitive, which might otherwise have prompted me to skip along to the next story. However, it’s a lot of fun and I really liked this version of Moriarty and his various quirks.