The Final Solution
Michael Chabon, Fourth Estate, £10
Think of this as Sherlock Holmes vs The Nazis. But bear in mind that, by 1944, Holmes is 89 and keeping bees in Sussex, and only ever named as “the old man”. And his only contact with the evils across the channel is a ten-year-old German Jewish refugee whose pet parrot recites secrets. Good faith and intelligent pastiche style redeem what could have been a sick joke.