This third episode, following The Acquaintance and Bloody Signature, finds Sherlock Holmes turning into a thief to sneak into the mansion of a professional blackmailer and retrieve certain scandalous documents for a duchess about to be married. Mycroft Holmes, acting as the intermediate between the duchess and his brother Sherlock, is introduced for the first time in the series. The heist staged by Holmes and Watson doesn't go exactly as planned however and they become the targets of unsuspecting Lestrade's search. In the end a peculiar letter signed with the monogram "M" arrives at 221 Baker Street and while I'm not sure, I believe it heralds the appearance of Holmes' arch nemesis, the diabolic Professor Moriarty, in one of the consequent entries.
The style and quality is consistent with the previous two movies. Filmed in rich colours, heavy on reds, blacks and browns, with a dark, baroque ambiance, although perhaps a bit too dark for visibility's sake in places (some day-for-night filming takes place too). Vasili Livanov and Vitali Solomin once again make for a terrific duo, in their respective roles as Holmes and Watson, undoubtedly making a strong candidate for the finest Holmes-Watson pair in the characters' history.
Overall, King of Blackmailers is an engrossing murder mystery, pleasing to the eye and not without a couple of funny moments either.