The Case of the Hijacked Moon

 The Case of the Hijacked Moon (1981) by Thomas Brace Haughey

The Hijacked Moon is the fifth of Haughey's Christian-themed pastiche of the Sherlock Holmes style. Geoffrey Weston is the grandson of Mycroft Holmes and, like his great-uncle Sherlock, has set himself up as a consulting detective in Baker Street (not at 221B, however). His side-kick John Taylor is more of a true partner in detecting than John Watson was. He may be admiring of Weston's abilities, but Taylor is just as capable--performing laboratory tests, developing photos, and helping Weston look for clues at the crime scenes. The Christian themes are very strong--Weston and Taylor pray before setting out on a case and Weston challenges several of suspect's philosophies and counters with lessons from the gospel.

This outing initially finds Weston and Taylor investigating the fiery death of a Scotsman who had sent an appeal for Weston to help him find his missing inheritance--but not money and not jewels; a whole island has gone missing. Unfortunately, the letter was buried under a stack of papers (Weston's mess in his Baker Street digs rivals that of his illustrious great-uncle) and it comes to light too late to prevent Angus Murdoch's death in a house fire. When a Scotland Yard Inspector appears to spontaneously combust while escorting a neo-Nazi into the Yard, Weston suspects a connection. But things only get more complicated--not only is an island missing, but so is a cargo carrier and a NATO missile. What started as a matter of inheritance has turned into a national and, possibly, world-wide emergency. Can Weston prevent the onset of WWIII?

As a well-worn phrase puts it: Well, that escalated quickly. One minute we're wondering how an entire island can just disappear and the next we're hoping Armageddon isn't getting ready to commence. But Weston, true to his Holmesian roots, manages to save the day and it's clear we're not quite ready for the Book of Revelations just yet. This later entry in the series doesn't have the solid mystery set-up that the first book of the series (The Case of the Invisible Thief) did. It's really quite obvious who the bad guys are, it's just a matter of figuring out how they managed to get two people to go up in flames without shooting anything at them or any other visible means of ignition. So, I guess this is a howdunnit rather than a who dunnit. I gave this ★★★ back in the mists of time when I read it from the youth library at church. I'm not going to argue with my younger self.

First line: I stole a glance out the window and surveyed the activity along Baker Street.

Last line: "Ah," Weston grinned, "I thought you'd never ask."
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Deaths = (one natural; two burned to death)