Line #33 Literature/TheHouseOfSilk


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3	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_house_of_silk_7077.jpg]]
4	''The House of Silk'' is a ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' pastiche written by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz. It was published on 1st November 2011 and was officially commissioned and authorised by the Doyle Estate.
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6	Sherlock is dead, and Watson is old and alone. Only now can he write down one of the darkest and most disturbing cases the duo ever investigated. What starts with one seemingly banal case, develops sudden complications and becomes a much more complicated riddle, in the centre of which stands the mysterious House of Silk.
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8	Do not confuse with ''Film/SherlockHolmesAndTheCaseOfTheSilkStocking''.
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10	----
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12	!!The Tropes of Silk:
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14	* AllGaysArePedophiles: An unfortunate association made by the ringleader, comparing the practices of the Ancient Greeks and Persians with, well, [[spoiler:child prostitution.]]
15	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Mr. Carstairs, the client.]] Although not directly a victim, he certainly deserved being blackmailed and threatened, given [[spoiler:his frequent visits to a child prostitution ring and arranging for the murder of Ross to cover his involvement]].
16	* BakerStreetRegular: Holmes's reliance on them gets deconstructed when [[spoiler:Ross, one of the irregulars, gets killed, brutally, because they took a mission]].
17	* BurnTheOrphanage: Once all the legal formalities are done, Watson as good as admits that [[spoiler:Holmes burned down the OrphanageOfFear.]]
18	* ClearMyName: Holmes gets framed for the murder of [[spoiler:Ross's older sister]] halfway through the story while investigating the House of Silk.
19	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Catherine Carstairs]] had one carefully planned for [[spoiler:her husband]], although we don't discover what the plan was.
20	* DarkerAndEdgier: The Holmes canon certainly had quite a few depraved murderers and even a rapist, but not [[spoiler:a pedophile ring.]].
21	* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: At the end of the story, [[spoiler: the orphanage]] is burned to the ground. Watson mentions that [[spoiler: Holmes had been out alone that night, and came back smelling of smoke]].
22	%%* DetectiveDrama: Elementary.
23	* DirtyCop: The detective who arrests Holmes for murder is [[spoiler:a customer of the House of Silk]].
24	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
25	** Even [[spoiler: Moriarty]] draws the line at [[spoiler: child prostitution]], and gives Holmes and Watson information necessary to crack the case.
26	** The man who murdered [[spoiler:Ross]] says he didn't particularly enjoy beating him to death.
27	* FrameUp: [[spoiler:Holmes]] gets framed for a murder halfway through the story.
28	* FixFic: The book explains two problematic elements from the original Holmes stories: The Baker Street Irregulars no longer see use because [[spoiler:Holmes doesn't want any more of them to die as one does here]], and Watson forgetting about [[spoiler:Moriarty]], at [[spoiler:Moriarty's express demand, in exchange for information on the House of Silk]].
29	* HeKnowsTooMuch: The BigBad assures Holmes that he has too much photographic evidence of his rich and famous clients to be prosecuted. Sure enough, [[spoiler:he's killed in prison.]]
30	* HeroicBSOD: Holmes when he realizes he put [[spoiler: Ross]] in harm's way.
31	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Edmund Carstairs]] is never prosecuted for his role in events, and returns to his old life with [[spoiler:his sister.]] Watson also considers [[spoiler:Catherine]] this, since although she's spending life in jail, pretty much anyone else in her position would have been executed.
32	* [[KnightTemplarBigBrother Knight Templar Big Sister]]: After [[spoiler:Ross]] disappears, Watson and Holmes go looking for [[spoiler:his]] sister, who becomes enraged and stabs Watson. [[spoiler:She thought Watson was from the House of Silk and wanted to take Ross back there.]]
33	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A gang of robbers ruins an art dealer's paintings → [[spoiler:a child prostitution ring]].
34	* NeverSuicide: Eliza Carstairs believes her mother's death in an "accidental" gas leak was suicide out of shame at her son marrying Catherine. [[spoiler:She was actually murdered as part of Catherine's plan to kill the whole family and inherit their fortune.]]
35	* NorthernIrishAndNasty: Although the plot takes place long before The Troubles, the O'Donoghue twins fit this trope, since it's mentioned they are from (and their mother still lives in) Belfast.
36	* NotMeThisTime: When [[spoiler:Ross]] was killed, it's first suspected that the person blackmailing Mr. Carstairs was responsible directly or indirectly. At the end of the book, it's revealed that [[spoiler:''Mr. Carstairs'' himself had Ross killed to cover up his involvement in a child prostitution ring]].
37	* ObnoxiousInLaws: Eliza and Catherine Carstairs hate each other, the former accusing the latter of being a GoldDigger taking advantage of her dear innocent brother, the latter endures her constant criticisms and thinks Eliza's too used to being able to boss around her brother. [[spoiler:It turns out Eliza was right, but her "dear innocent brother" isn't any better.]]
38	* OrphanageOfLove: What the Chorley Grange House for Boys looks like at a first glance. It's actually [[spoiler: an OrphanageOfFear that supplies young boys to rich pedophiles.]]
39	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Why Watson has hesitated to publish the story because he felt it was too shocking for the public to handle without some years' remove from the actual events.
40	* SherlockScan: Used several times, not surprisingly. For example, at the very beginning of the book Holmes deduces that Watson has recently fired his servant, that his wife is not at home, and that he missed his train, all from a quick scan of his appearance.
41	* SweetPollyOliver: [[spoiler:Keelan O'Donoghue]] turns out to have been [[spoiler:Catherine, who disguised herself as a man so she could run a criminal gang with her brother.]]
42	* UnholyMatrimony: The [[spoiler:Carstairs']] marriage. She [[spoiler:is an ex-criminal]] who swore vengeance on the man who was partly responsible for bringing down [[spoiler:her gang]] and [[spoiler:her beloved twin brother]], and did so by [[spoiler:marrying him, murdering his mother and trying to kill his sister as well as a detective]], he's [[spoiler:a pedophile and indirectly ordered the murder of his victim]]. Even Holmes comments on how well-suited they are for each other.
43	-->It occurs to me that, in some ways, your marriage was not perhaps as ill-judged as might be thought. The two of you are made for each other.
44	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Watson goes into some detail in the way he hides a prison key and a coded message inside a book for Holmes. Not only does he not get the chance to use it, Holmes had already escaped.
45	* WhatTheHellHero: Lestrade to Holmes about the way he uses his Irregulars.

Context Literature / TheHouseOfSilk