About the book: 2024 / June 1960. Thirteen people, a hotel on a small Greek island, the suddenly discovered corpse of one of the guests. While the storm is raging around, no one will sail away from the island and no one will sail to the island, including the police. However, as fate would have it, among those stuck on the island is Hopalong Basil, a movie star from the golden age of Hollywood who played Sherlock Holmes in fifteen films. And if you have been playing the famous London detective on the big screen for years and know all Conan Doyle’s stories about him by heart, it doesn’t matter so much that you are no longer young, your heyday has probably passed, new stars have come to replace you, and Sherlock Holmes has replaced you – hardened anti-heroes of noirs. If there is a murder, who will investigate it if not you? Arturo Perez-Reverte is a former military journalist, renowned author of brilliant historical, military, adventure and detective novels translated into forty languages, creator of the series about Captain Diego Alatriste, winner of the most prestigious literary awards. “Holmes's Last Case” is his nod (hopefully not his last) to the classic detective genre, where investigation requires a cold mind, imagination and a talent for deduction, and not spectacular shooting from a revolver, fights in dark alleys, flashing neon signs outside the window and the inevitable bourbon in the desk drawer. There is a battle of wits going on here. Holmes, Watson, Professor Moriarty will be here - it is possible that Irene Adler will also be here. And there will, of course, be a love of books here too, because reading remains one of the few—perhaps the most important—our weapons against evil, death and chaos. For the first time in Russian!