The Veiled Detective (or This Ain't Your Mama's Sherlock Holmes)

Just as a warning this is full of spoilers.

This is a deer in the headlights book. A watching an accident and just can't take your eyes off of it book. I hated it but just could not stop reading it. It sucked me in and kept me there, watching all sorts of absolutely WRONG things happening to some very beloved characters. So---I'm supposed to believe that just about everybody of importance in the Sherlock Holmes stories was in Moriarty's pay or connected to his diabolical organization in some way??? That Watson and Mrs. Hudson and MYCROFT are all on the Professor's payroll? That Moriarty OWNS 221 B Baker Street? Right. Yeah, I'm swallowing that one (or three or however many impossible things I'm supposed to believe--before or after breakfast). And, yet, I could not put the thing down. I finished it off in one afternoon. I suppose so I could have the dreadful thing done and off my hands. If you want a book you can't put down, then this may be the book for you. If you're looking for a good Holmes and Watson story that works well with what you know of the canon, not so much. Two stars out five.