HOLMES COMING opens with a premise that on the surface seems completely implausible and is submitted for the full buy-in of the reader: Sherlock Holmes was actually a real person by the name of Hubert Holmes, whose adventures were retold by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle via the diaries and notes shared by Dr. Watson.

The second and more unbelievable part is that Holmes, calling upon his masterful powers of deep meditation coupled with a great deal of chemical aid, has been in a form of hibernation stasis with orders to be awoken sometime a century after he was last seen in London. However, with the extremely knowledgeable and skillful guile of author Kenneth Johnson, a successful writer-producer-director of film and TV, this storyline is totally believable.

"There is much to savor in HOLMES COMING. The action is non-stop, and what could have been played purely as a comic theme regarding Holmes adjusting to the modern world is treated with respect and in such a way that accurately mimics how he actually might respond to this situation."

When the latest iteration of the Hudson family, Mrs. Hudson of San Francisco, calls on Dr. Amy Winslow to come to her house, she is confronted with a mummified and apparently deceased body that is entombed there. But after a deftly placed adrenaline shot, the white-eyed “corpse” slowly begins to breathe and awaken from his slumber, only to be revealed as Holmes, whose body was brought from London essentially to get him away from the relatives of his arch-enemy, James Moriarty, who were still seeking revenge for his death at Holmes’ hands at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.

Before this occurs, there is a startling bit of action that opens the novel. An SFPD captain is jogging along the streets of San Francisco, only to be attacked and mauled to death by what appears on surveillance cameras to be a large Bengal tiger. Once the now-awakened Holmes learns of this situation by familiarizing himself with the local newspaper, he fears that something more sinister may be at play. As you can imagine, the reanimated Holmes has a lot to catch up on when it comes to the 21st century --- the least of which is convincing his initially unwilling new caretaker, Amy, that he is indeed the Sherlock Holmes that the world knows so well and continues to love.

When a San Francisco court judge is killed inside a tank of piranhas at an aquarium, Amy begins to see a connection between these two high-profile murders. Holmes even tries to convince the SFPD of his theory, only to be laughed out of the office as a lunatic from London. With the assistance of Zapper, a local street thug, he finds a way to amass his own army against the combined lords of the San Francisco underworld: Pavon and Moriarty Booth, the latter of whom is a relative of the same Moriarty who he rid the world of a century ago.

Taking up residence with Amy at her flat, which ironically is sitting on Baker Street in San Francisco, the two of them join forces in much the same way that Holmes did with Watson to take on this case and its far-reaching criminal ties. When a third individual is killed by a bunch of tiger beetles, it is no longer a coincidence. Holmes and Amy must act fast --- with the aid of Zapper and his street gang, playing the role of modern-day Baker Street Irregulars --- to use all of their wit, guile and influence to stop the criminal baddies while also preventing a cherished member of the SFPD from becoming the fourth victim.

There is much to savor in HOLMES COMING. The action is non-stop, and what could have been played purely as a comic theme regarding Holmes adjusting to the modern world is treated with respect and in such a way that accurately mimics how he actually might respond to this situation. Johnson obviously knows his stuff regarding the source material, and there is plenty of historical references on the entire Holmesian tome to keep true fans leaping for joy. The plot is handled well, with plenty of surprises and opportunities for Holmes to do his stuff. We also are treated to the occasional sexual tension and potential romance between Holmes and Amy, which in no way takes away from the narrative.

Since Sherlock Holmes is my favorite literary character, I try to read everything that is written about him or inspired by him. Some of these works miss the mark, others contain the basic foundation of a Holmes mystery, and then there are those that hit the mark so squarely you would swear they were penned by Conan Doyle himself. HOLMES COMING clearly falls into the latter category. Not only does it keep the spirit of the original Holmes adventures, it deftly and quite successfully adapts them for our current century. I cannot wait to see what new adventures await Holmes in modern-day San Francisco!