All the world is reading Dr. John Watson's blog about his adventures with Sherlock Holmes, stunned at the doctor's revelation that the great detective couldn't care less whether the Earth goes around the sun or vice versa.

But then a massive explosion rocks central London, heralding a deadly game of wits between a criminal mastermind and his archrival, Sherlock. Here's how the game works: an innocent hostage gets strapped with explosives, then is forced to call Sherlock and read a message posing a mystery for the detective to solve. As the match proceeds, Sherlock is given increasingly less time to crack the case before the detonator is triggered. The motive? "I'm bored," says the bomber, adding, "we were made for each other, Sherlock!"

The first challenge involves a boy who drowned under suspicious circumstances twenty years earlier. The only clue Sherlock has is the boy's pair of sneakers. Next, he is faced with an abandoned car splattered with a missing man's blood. Then, it's a TV makeover celebrity who had a gardening "accident." And how about a corpse by the Thames that is somehow connected to a recently rediscovered Vermeer painting? Solve that one before the count of ten, Sherlock!

Like a good chess match, the game is not without its setbacks for both sides. Or its gripping end game, which brings together a larger-than-life assassin and a seemingly unrelated case of stolen missile plans. Consulting detective, meet consulting criminal.