Want to guess what Horowitz canonized in his House of Silk? [Sherlock Holmes spoilers from the introductory section]

BLOT: (23 Jan 2012 - 06:01:47 PM)

Want to guess what Horowitz canonized in his House of Silk? [Sherlock Holmes spoilers from the introductory section]

The bulk of The House of Silk, an officially approved [and commissioned?] Sherlock Holmes novel, written by Anthony Horowitz, is set about seven weeks after the "The Red-Headed League" (see: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes). Which puts it prior to "The Final Problem", marking this as a somewhat youthful Holmes and Watson story [fan dating puts them at about 29 or so at the time of "Red-Headed"]. However, the introductionary and some narrative passages are of an older Watson talking about what it means to write about Holmes, the liberties he took with the stories, and so forth. There is a particularly touching moment about Lestrade given right before they go on a round of Lestrade bashing, etc. One piece of information, though, is particularly fascinating for the canon, and it is a spoiler:

Fureybpx Ubyzrf vf fnvq gb unir qvrq n lrne orsber gur jevgvat bs gur abiry naq Ubhfr bs Fvyx jnf choyvfurq 655 lrnef nsgre vg'f "erny" jevgvat. Gung jbhyq chg gur abiry jevggra ng 6466 naq Ubyzrf qrnq va 6465. Ng gur ntr bs 94. Zna yvirq yvsr uneq. V unir ab vqrn ubj guvf vzcnpgf sna cnfgvpur naq fhpu.

[SPOILER is ROT13+ROT5'd. Copy above paragraph and paste it into my cipherkey/rot13 tool thingie and click "rot13+5"]

Since this novel is approved by the estate, it should be considered at least soft-canon (official, but not written by original author). I'm sure fans will debate this at some point in time, and most already have an opinion, but I personally am going to consider it standing.

Sherlock Holmes

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: January 2012