I love Michael Chabon's life and work. Working at the creative fringe of multiple genres, and succeeding at most of them. I can think of few contemporary authors who would write a new Sherlock Holmes mystery with Holmes as a crotchety 89-year-old beekeeper. It's a delightful concept.But that doesn't mean that the book is equally delightful. The writing is fine, and certainly consistent with Chabon's work elsewhere. The images of an aging Holmes are memorable. But the mystery is pedestrian, and the ah-hah moment of its solution lacks the thrill that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have evoked. It is a worthy read, but falls short of truly emulating the best of Doyle and of Holmes.