I've read the entire canon, many of the pastiches and quite a lot of the fanfic as well as owning a box of various tv adaptions on dvd. So I think I've got a fairly good grasp on what makes a good Holmes story.

And this is very well done, certainly a lot better than some of what I've read. I was wary of the main female character at first because it would have been very easy to go down a Mary-Sue route with her. Luckily the author was better than that and a far more realistic character emerged, and a much more fully-fleshed female than is usually found in a Holmes story.

I loved the insights into the younger Holmes, evidently a lot of thought on the authors part has gone into the Holmes family dynamics. These bits in particular held my attention.

I would have liked to see more of Watson as the relationship between them is my favourite part of the original stories but given where this story falls in canon it is understandable that Watson is not as closely involved as he is in other cases. And the scenes that did involve him I enjoyed.

So in short, a very well written piece of work, offering a lot of interesting little looks into the murky past of the Great Detective. Was well ended, making it complete in and of itself but with hints that lead into the authors other works. Which I have no doubt I will be buying later... :)