year-old boy contact his website, claiming to have found an original Watson manuscript among old library books. Meyer verifies the boy’s claim, does some minor editing, and, thus, Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing is born. I admire Meyer’s faithfulness to the Holmes oeuvre. His editing mostly consists of inserting footnotes that explain references to various people and places mentioned in the manuscript, including references to both other Doyle works and Meyer’s own previous Holmes stories.

Real Thing takes place in the late 1890s, shortly before the Boer War. Holmes agrees to take on what seems to be his most trivial case ever, helping a landlord track down a deadbeat tenant who abandoned his rented artist’s studio several months earlier and now owes considerable back rent. When Holmes and Watson visit the studio, they find evidence of a fight and bloodshed, leading Watson to believe that the artist was murdered. Shortly afterward, the artist’s body turns up in a highly unusual location, and a small claims rent case turns into a large-scale murder investigation.

Holmes and Watson soon learn that, in addition to creating his own works, the dead painter was involved in the practice of “art restoration” on behalf of one of London’s most prominent art dealers. Nicholas Meyer has carefully researched the practices of art restoration and forgery as they existed at the end of the 19th century. (Dating artworks to determine possible forgeries is a much more scientific and accurate process today than it was back then.) Unfortunately, the information he provides often comes in unwieldy dumps from Holmes or secondary characters. I found this material mildly interesting, but the frequent use of technical terms became confusing at times.

 Real Thing has some other awkward passages. When Holmes and Watson visit the artist’s studio, Holmes carefully notes the significant findings he makes. However, for some reason, Watson later writes them all down again for no apparent reason other than to add a couple of pages to the book. Holmes also pays a visit to his brother, Mycroft, at the Diogenes Club, an exclusive club where Watson would not be welcome. So, Watson stays behind as Holmes consults Mycroft and then visits several art dealers. When he returns, he informs Watson of his findings in a lengthy, awkward monologue. The author could easily have imparted this information to readers in a less cumbersome manner.

The actual mystery is good, and its solution involves all the clues that Watson notes twice in the book. However, Holmes realizes that solving the murder is one thing, and proving guilt is another. So, he and Watson set a trap for the killer that involves hiding in an apartment in the same building where Watson first witnessed Holmes solve a killing shortly after they first met, nearly 20 years earlier. That coincidence leads Watson to reminisce about the pair’s first adventure, as outlined in Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet. It’s also one more example of unnecessary and draggy padding in the book. Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing is a short novel, but I felt it originated as a novella that Meyer expanded to novel length. Unfortunately, the book would have been much crisper and livelier at 100 pages than at 200.

 Real Thing also contains one significant personal development for the characters that will come as a surprise to most Holmes fans. It’s also one for which I can’t find any support in any of Doyle’s or Meyer’s other work. Meyer has taken liberties here that he hasn’t previously in his various pastiches. Whether Holmes fans will be pleased or angered is a matter of personal taste. In the book’s Afterword, Meyer hints that Real Thing will be his last Holmes pastiche. (As I write this review in 2026, Meyer is 80 years old.) That decision may explain his shaking up the Holmes canon. It does explain his use of the subject of art forgery as a backdrop for the book. While maintaining the conceit that he only edited Watson manuscripts, Meyer notes he has been accused of forging Watson’s “genuine” manuscripts. The meta-references to Meyer’s earlier Holmes pastiches are one of the book’s best touches.

Like Nicholas Meyer’s other pastiches, Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing is faithful to the sound, feel, and relationships among the characters. It’s also a good mystery, worthy of the talents of Sherlock Holmes. However, readers’ enjoyment may depend to a large extent on their appreciation for fine art and the business of art dealership in the late 19th century (and their understanding of several technical terms). I felt the book had too much obscure technical material and other padding that diluted the entertainment value of what could be Nicholas Meyer’s swan song as a Sherlock Holmes “editor.” This book will be entertaining for Holmes fans, but it’s not quite the real thing.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.