The fascination with Sherlock Holmes has endured across time and generations. Fans cannot have enough of this great fictional detective and his associate, John Watson. More recently, their adventures have been adapted and recreated for television and cinema, sometimes with a very modern upgrade. Every spin-off has worked remarkably well, a testimony to the genius of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original creation. So it is that Holmes has been dragged into even more adventures, four of which have been penned by the authors of The Sherlock Holmes Connection, created specially for the reading pleasure of teens. The adventures in this book are set in two countries, India and Sweden, and span a period of over a century. Martin Widmark’s story is set in Stockholm towards the end of the First World War. The distraught 12-year old, Stefan, has just discovered that his mother, who was believed to have committed suicide, was actually murdered. Employed as an engineer, his mother was requested to build a machine that would assist in the cure of certain diseases. To her utter horror, she discovers a ghastly conspiracy where innocent lives were being staked at the altar of profit. Before her murder, she leaves behind clues across Stockholm, which Stefan is intent upon discovering, even as his own life stands threatened. The magnifying glass that he finds under the Christmas tree at home helps him on his quest. The second story brings the reader to India, 1976. Anushka Ravishankar weaves a thriller into the events of the Emergency. Varun’s parents have mysteriously packed him off to stay with their friends, while they themselves disappear. The bored youngster starts a Sherlock Detective Club with some of his new friends. They are mostly solving unimportant mysteries till a real one hits them— why did Varun’s parents disappear. Times are turbulent for journalists like Varun’s father. Not only are they being stopped from reporting truthfully, but being turned into criminals for doing so. Varun and his clever friend Jyotsna, discover a sheaf of recipes tucked away in his luggage, and while playing with a magnifying glass loaned to them by an elderly foreign lady, they stumble upon a world of secret codes that leads them to Varun’s parents. The third adventure takes the reader back to Sweden in the 1990s, but this time, the mystery takes place in the Swedish countryside. Julia is feeling ...