ARC Review: A Locked Room Mystery

The Final Problem by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Translated by Frances Riddle

Publication Date: February 10, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

June, 1960. Rough weather at sea leaves a group of strangers stranded on the idyllic Greek island of Utakos, all guests of the only local hotel. Nothing could prepare them for what happens next: Edith Mander, a quiet British tourist, is found dead inside a beach cabana. What appears at first glance to be a clear suicide reveals possible signs of foul play to Ormond Basil, an out-of-work but still well-known actor who in his glory days portrayed the most celebrated detective of all time. Accustomed to seeing him display Sherlock Holmes’ amazing powers of deduction on the big screen, the other guests believe that the actor is the best equipped to uncover the truth.

But when a second body is discovered, there is not a doubt in Basil’s mind: a murderer walks among them. What’s more, the killer is staging each crime as a performance, leaving complex clues that bear an eerie resemblance to those found in the pages of Conan Doyle stories. This is a criminal who knows every trick in the book and is playing a deadly literary game. As the storm rages, Basil must become the genius detective he has only pretended to be.

This clever, whip-smart, locked-room mystery from internationally bestselling author Arturo Pérez-Reverte is a love letter to golden-age detective novels. The Final Problem delights in exploring the tension between an investigator and his suspects, as well as a writer and his reader, delivering a revelatory twist that will shock even the sharpest of mystery fans.

ARC provided by Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

This was a very clever and enjoyable cozy locked room mystery, although I do think there were a few things lost in the translation. I did like the main character quite a bit, even though he was very arrogant, and the setting was beautiful. The time period was also a really nice touch as it made the story a bit nostalgic for the golden age of mysteries.

Ormond Basil is a retired actor who played the infamous Sherlock Holmes in many movies. Basil is a bit arrogant, but also a bit humble, about his ability to think like Holmes. He kept insisting that he wasn’t up to the task of being the detective, while in his thoughts he certainly felt at times that he was excellent at it. I loved the references to the movies, and the moments when he struck some poses or made comments, that any one who has read or seen any of the movies or shows, would recognize. However much I liked Basil, I also found him a bit irritating. He was very condescending to the other guests, even the people he had arrived with.

The rest of the cast of guests and hotel employees were well done, and even though we don’t get to know them well, we know enough for this story. I liked many of them, but I especially liked Foxa, a spanish mystery writer, who played the role of Watson to Basil’s Sherlock. He did a great job of being a sounding board for Basil, while stroking the actor’s ego at the same time.

The mystery was very well done, with many suspects and clues, there was no big parlor room reveal however, which I was totally expecting given all of the talk about golden age mysteries and how they worked. I thought I had it figured out, but there was a bit of a surprise twist at the end that I didn’t see coming which was marvelous and totally made sense.

If you are looking for a locked room mystery that is set towards the end of the golden age of mysteries, this is a book you should consider reading. If you just like brilliant mysteries that are reminiscent of the Sherlock Holmes stories this is also a book that you might think about picking up.