Let the Right One In / John Ajvide Lindqvist

4 out of 5 stars 

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik's Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night.

Do you despise vampire stories? Do you find the living dead to be depicted as too beautiful, too powerful, too rich, too sexy altogether? Then this, my friend, is the vampire story for you!

Yes, Anne Rice had the child-vampire Claudia, but Lindqvist shows us a more realistic existence for a tween vampire. Struggling to find enough sustenance, making deals with unscrupulous humans in order to procure a meal, needing adult help to acquire & pay for shelter. On the one hand, Sweden would be a good choice of location, at least during the winter. Long nights, short days. But the summertime would be a misery of sunshine, lasting until well after midnight and beginning again shortly after the sun finally sets.

If you’ve read Scandinavian mysteries, you are already familiar with the mood of this book: dark, bleak, cold, with a clear, unromantic view of life. Scandinavian detectives are most often divorced, at odds with any children they may have, often drinking more alcohol than they should be, overworking in order to avoid their problems. Lindqvist brings a similar population to this book: a bullied tween boy who is fixated on murder stories, the bullies who are an unhappy and neglected part of a broken home, a group of older alcoholic men who merely exist from day to day, a grocery store clerk who cares about one of these men in a hopeless kind of way, a boy who is unhappy about his father’s death and now with his mother’s choice of boyfriend, and a pedophile who has taken in a tween vampire in an uneasy, unequal relationship. There is plenty of alcohol abuse, existential angst, cold weather, snow, darkness, and despair. Not the usual surroundings for the Lords of the Night!

And you know what? It works. Really well. Lindqvist takes the vampire tale back to its roots, back to being revolting corpses, with an extra dose of bleakness and cold. There’s absolutely nothing sexy about vampirism here--but a bracing dose of what their existence would actually be like. You know, if they actually existed.

An excellent book to prepare myself for the plunge into this year’s Halloween Bingo on Booklikes.

The Valley of Fear / Arthur Conan Doyle

4 out of 5 stars

In this tale drawn from the note books of Dr Watson, the deadly hand of Professor Moriarty once more reaches out to commit a vile and ingenious crime. However, a mole in Moriarty's frightening criminal organization alerts Sherlock Holmes of the evil deed by means of a cipher.

When Holmes and Watson arrive at a Sussex manor house they appear to be too late. The discovery of a body suggests that Moriarty's henchmen have been at their work. But there is much more to this tale of murder than at first meets the eye and Sherlock Holmes is determined to get to the bottom of it.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

And so ends my Summer of Sherlock. While reading a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, I realized that I had missed this installment of Holmes and set about correcting that deficit. It reminded me a lot of A Study in Scarlet--with the action originating in North America, leading to a puzzling ending in England.

ACD is wordsmithing at his best in this tale. Holmes receives a cipher, but not the key. Does this dissuade our sleuth? Of course not.

”There are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha of the agony column.”

Within minutes he has produced the correct volume and he & Watson have translated the string of numbers into a message. No need to parse the agony columns in the newspapers this time!

Plus, Holmes shows his usual understanding of the human psyche when the murder victim’s wife and friend do not respond appropriately:

”It was badly stage-managed for even the rawest of investigations must be struck by the absence of the usual feminine ululation.”

The authors of this time period had the most amazing vocabularies and weren’t afraid to use them!

Now, I bid Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson a dieu for a while. I will no doubt see you both at some point in the future.

A Letter of Mary / Laurie R. King

4 out of 5 stars

It is 1923. Mary Russell Holmes and her husband, the retired Sherlock Holmes, are enjoying the summer together on their Sussex estate when they are visited by an old friend, Miss Dorothy Ruskin, an archeologist just returned from Palestine. She leaves in their protection an ancient manuscript which seems to hint at the possibility that Mary Magdalene was an apostle--an artifact certain to stir up a storm of biblical proportions in the Christian establishment. When Ruskin is suddenly killed in a tragic accident, Russell and Holmes find themselves on the trail of a fiendishly clever murderer. Brimming with political intrigue, theological arcana, and brilliant Holmesian deductions.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

Whatever I may think of the whole Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell relationship hook that King has used as the basis for this series, she is a masterful writer of the mystery genre in my opinion. I am perhaps biased, as I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a university student and studied three courses in Ancient Greek as well as a fair bit of Classical history (mostly influenced by H. Rider Haggard’s She: A History of Adventure, I confess) and during that period I was severely tempted by Biblical historicity and documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls--I can envision myself being just as immersed in theological studies as Mary Russell.

Since reading the first two Theodora Goss novels (The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter and European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman), I am also developing an affection for cross-pollination between fictional works and King provides that in several examples. I was amused when Mary returned from a research day in Oxford, mentioning that she had met a man named Tolkien who was involved in runes, mythology and linguistics.

But the pièce de résistance was an encounter by Mary during an “undercover” adventure with Lord Peter Wimsey! He is never directly identified, but she does call him Pete and his behaviour is unmistakable. She has just been diverted from the buffet by the presence of two women who will unwittingly unmask her and has wandered back to a music room to contemplate her options. There she discovers Wimsey improvising “a three-way hybrid of Schubert’s “March Militaire” performed as a Goldberg Variation by Bach with Scott Joplin occasionally elbowing in,” based on Yes, We Have No Bananas. Mary enjoys watching him, “witnessing one of nature’s rare creatures in its own habitat.”

He screwed his monocle into place with a gesture of buckling on armour, then glided smoothly out into the crowd. I watched with amusement as he greeted his hostess, kissed the fingers of a matched brace of dowagers, shook various hands, greeted the colonel and said something that made him laugh, scooped up three glasses of champagne from a passing tray, and finally, with the ease of a champion sheepdog, cut out his two victims from the flock. Within four minutes from leaving my side, he was strolling down the terrace stones, one fluttering female on each arm, and I stepped out to take a plate. Rule, Britannia, with an aristocracy like that.

King, to my way of thinking, has perfectly nailed the spirit of Dorothy Sayers in this vignette. It made me ridiculously happy. It’s the sheepdog reference that cinched it for me--that is Sayers to the nth degree.

My Summer of Sherlock is drawing to a close, but I am sure that I will continue reading this series for some time to come. 

The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes / Andrew Lycett

4 out of 5 stars

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

Reading a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle seemed like a necessary thing during my Summer of Sherlock. Last summer, I read Andrew Lycett’s bio of Ian Fleming during my Summer of Spies and found that it greatly enhanced my enjoyment of Fleming’s Bond novels. Perhaps I should have tackled this biography earlier in my summer and it might have given me more insight into the man’s writing. 

ACD was born in the Victorian era and lived until the British Interwar period. He saw a lot of change during his lifetime, some of which he could embrace and some of which made him angry. So really, just like most of us! In many ways, he was a man of contradictions: a man with scientific training who was fascinated with mysticism; a deeply conservative man who nevertheless held some very progressive opinions; a Victorian gentleman who strove to become modern.

According to his eldest daughter, Mary, “He didn’t concur with the Victorian view that women should marry at all costs--for he thought the un-married woman, with her freedom, was a whole lot happier than a woman married to the wrong man and, he added, ‘The worst of it is, the poor things can never tell till they have married the chap!’” This is somewhat ironic, as he obviously considered himself one of the good ones, which might have been disputed by Mary’s mother, his first wife Louise. ACD spent the last 6-8 years of her life cavorting around with the woman who became his second wife one year after Louise finally expired of tuberculosis. He then proceeded to be absolutely abominable to his two children from his first marriage, until his son’s death after WWI from the Spanish flu, when he seemed to become a little more sympathetic to Mary and the two were reconciled. Until then, he seemed like the worst sort of child support avoiding cad. In all fairness, his letters & papers appear to have been pruned by the children of the second family, who seem to have wanted Mary & Kingsley to disappear from history, so who knows what the true state of affairs was?

It can’t have helped that Mary looked very much like her mother (at least from the photos included in the book, there is no mistaking their relationship to my eyes). But it does speak volumes that Mary had to arrange the funeral and burial of her brother, a task better suited to their well-to-do father. 

By contrast, his 3 children from his marriage to Jean seem to have been spoiled rotten. ACD made his own good fortune by working hard, first as a doctor, then as an author, all the while being very careful of his finances. And he can’t be said to be miserly, as he assisted and supported a whole fleet of family members and frequently contributed to causes and campaigns that he valued. It must have been rather frustrating to him to see his younger children behaving in irresponsible and spendthrift ways.

ACD seems to have been an extroverted person, a real networker before networking was a thing. He knew a tremendous number of authors: Oscar Wilde, J.M. Barrie, H. Rider Haggard, H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, among others. He couldn’t always maintain cordial relationships with all of them, but he was aware of them and probably read their works, as they seemed to read his. He was also very much a sportsman, enjoying cricket, golf, billiards and car racing. In those ways, he was very much a man of his time.

Would he be disappointed that the 21st century knows him almost exclusively for his Sherlock Holmes stories? Would he be surprised at the number of modern authors who have made use of Holmes and Watson to spin more stories of their own? It’s funny how we are too close to our own output to realize which aspects of it are the best--he seems to have always viewed Holmes as a distraction from his more “substantive” writing and as a way to make some quick money when it was needed. Another irony here, when a man who devoted his last years to spiritualism used the ultra-rational Sherlock Holmes to raise a few bucks to support that cause! 

Its too bad that his estate, especially the letters and manuscripts, got divided up like some kind of pie between his youngest 3 children and then the early deaths of the sons left some of it to daughters-in-law. One observer noted that they were glad not to be involved in the debacle, as all of the people involved were decidedly unpleasant to deal with. As a result, ACD’s papers are scattered between quite a large number of institutions, making the life of the researcher more difficult. Lycett in his afterword describes his trials and tribulations in trying to access, utilize and obtain permission to quote ACD. Lycett may the the first biographer to be able to use these documents, but someone else undoubtedly will take another stab at it when the dust (and the estates) are settled.

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman / Theodora Goss

4 out of 5 stars 

Mary Jekyll’s life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary’s sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, the members of the Athena Club get along as well as any five young women with very different personalities. At least they can always rely on Mrs. Poole.

But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation. Where is Lucinda, and what has Professor Van Helsing been doing to his daughter? Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, and Justine reach her in time?

Racing against the clock to save Lucinda from certain doom, the Athena Club embarks on a madcap journey across Europe. From Paris to Vienna to Budapest, Mary and her friends must make new allies, face old enemies, and finally confront the fearsome, secretive Alchemical Society. It’s time for these monstrous gentlewomen to overcome the past and create their own destinies.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

The second book of this series is every bit as delightful as the first one was. This is the continuing adventure of Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Justine Frankenstein, Catherine Moreau, and Beatrice Rappaccini. The delight, for me, came with all the late Victorian references that the author throws into the salad. I’m starting to wonder which ones I overlooked out of sheer ignorance of the literature of the time period.

Needless to say, since She: A History of Adventure is one of my all time favourite books, I was thrilled when Ayesha, Leo Vincey, and Horace Holly made their appearances. Of course, the men need to be taken down a peg or two, as Goss is very determinedly puncturing the inflated egos of the men of the era. 

Of course, the Athena Club (consisting of our main female characters) is bent on rescuing Lucinda Van Helsing, another young woman being experimented on my her hubristic scientist father. This firmly connects the Dracula novel to this story line, as was begun in the first volume. Also expect to see Le Fanu’s Carmilla and historic figures such as Sigmund Freud.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson appear at the beginning of this story, but are rapidly left behind when the action moves to the continent. I’ll put money on them being more involved in the third novel, which comes out this October. I for one will be looking for it and I’m considering adding more late Victorian literature to my reading docket so as to be better able to recognize the references that Ms. Goss throws into her fiction.

Joe Country / Mick Herron

4 out of 5 stars 

If Spook Street is where spies live, Joe Country is where they go to die.

Like the ringing of a dead man's phone, or an unwelcome guest at a funeral . . . In Slough House memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him an outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears himself apart in the process.

Meanwhile, in Regent's Park, Diana Taverner's tenure as First Desk is running into difficulties. If she's going to make the Service fit for purpose, she might have to make deals with a familiar old devil . . . And with winter taking its grip, Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible breaks cover at last, Lamb sends the slow horses out to even the score.

I was thrilled when my hold on Joe Country came in at the library. Because what is better than spending time with the Slow Horses of Slough House?

Once again, Jackson Lamb lets some of the horses out of the barn. They’re off to Wales in a snow storm to search for Louisa:

”We know Louisa was here,” he said. “We know she dumped her phone nearby...I think she got rid of it on purpose. She was going dark.”
“Which is protocol,” said J.K. Coe, “after hostile contact.”
“And she’s got her monkey wrench with her,” said Shirley. “Which means the hostiles might have suffered some contact themselves.”

This novel has all of the things that readers of the Slough House series have come to expect: backstabbing, deceit, ill conceived rescue plans, and general obnoxiousness of certain characters.

Lamb broke wind loudly. Nobody moved. “Did I misfart? That’s your signal to leave.” They left.

Herron also has an excellent way of weaving the real events of our world into his nearly contemporary Britain.

”If Frank Harkness only went places he was welcome,” said Lamb, “he’d have the social life of Julian Assange.”

“He’s already Kevin Spaceyed his career,” Lamb said. “If he wants to go for the full Rolf Harris, he’s a braver man than me.”

If you haven’t met the failed spies of Slough House yet, by all means proceed to the first book, Slow Horses, and start to enjoy their despair.

So many different ways to die arising from the same mistake. That could almost be a mission statement. If not for the Service as a whole, at least for Slough House.

A Scandal in Scarlet / Vicki Delany

4 out of 5 stars 

Walking her dog Violet late one night, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, acts quickly when she smells smoke outside the West London Museum. Fortunately no one is inside, but it’s too late to save the museum’s priceless collection of furniture, and damage to the historic house is extensive. Baker Street’s shop owners come together to hold an afternoon auction tea to raise funds to rebuild, and Great Uncle Arthur Doyle offers a signed first edition of The Valley of Fear. 

Cape Cod’s cognoscenti files into Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, owned by Gemma’s best friend, Jayne Wilson. Excitement fills the air (along with the aromas of Jayne’s delightful scones, of course). But the auction never happens. Before the gavel can fall, museum board chair Kathy Lamb is found dead in the back room. Wrapped tightly around her neck is a long rope of decorative knotted tea cups—a gift item that Jayne sells at Mrs. Hudson’s. Gemma’s boyfriend in blue, Ryan Ashburton, arrives on the scene with Detective Louise Estrada. But the suspect list is long, and the case far from elementary. Does Kathy’s killing have any relation to a mysterious death of seven years ago? 

Gemma has no intention of getting involved in the investigation, but when fellow shopkeeper Maureen finds herself the prime suspect she begs Gemma for her help. Ryan knows Gemma’s methods and he isn’t happy when she gets entangled in another mystery. But with so many suspects and so few clues, her deductive prowess will prove invaluable in A Scandal in Scarlet, Vicki Delany’s shrewdly plotted fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

I enjoyed this fourth installment of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries much more than the last one. Either I was more forgiving of Emma Doyle’s idiosyncrasies or Ms. Delany toned them down just a titch. Either way, this was a pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon.

I’m not usually a cozy mystery fan, but I have been enjoying this series. It seems that Emma may have managed to patch up her private life and is behaving with a bit more compassion to others as a result. I am also encouraged by her improved relationship with Detective Estrada, which has been unnaturally strained from book one. A woman as bright and ambitious as Louise Estrada should not be as threatened by Emma as she was portrayed in the first three books--Louise definitely had grounds to be grumpy, but not vindictive toward the amateur sleuth.

I am pleased to know that Vicki Delaney will be coming to my hometown writers’ conference next August and I will be pleased to hear what she has to say about writing. I’ll also look forward to reading books in some of her other series in preparation for that event.

A Monstrous Regiment of Women / Laurie R. King

4 out of 5 stars

It is 1921 and Mary Russell--Sherlock Holmes's brilliant apprentice, now an Oxford graduate with a degree in theology--is on the verge of acquiring a sizable inheritance. Independent at last, with a passion for divinity and detective work, her most baffling mystery may now involve Holmes and the burgeoning of a deeper affection between herself and the retired detective. Russell's attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, Margery Childe, a charismatic suffragette and a mystic, whose draw on the young theology scholar is irresistible. But when four bluestockings from the Temple turn up dead shortly after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot? Holmes and Russell investigate, as their partnership takes a surprising turn. 

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

So after the first book of this series (The Beekeeper's Apprentice), I wasn’t sure what I thought of this iteration of the Sherlock Holmes story. But this book is so much more appealing. I surrender, I like this series.

The biggest part of my change of mind may be the obvious feminism in this volume. I love Mary Russell’s refusal to be hemmed in by the mores of the day. Cross-dressing when that’s better for getting things done, pursuing investigations not sanctioned by any man, and just generally being in charge of her own life (especially now that she’s inherited her family’s wealth and can reorder as desired).

I think I also enjoyed this book more because Mr. Holmes played such a small part in it. I mean, yes, he’s there, but Mary is undoubtedly the main character and she is the one driving the plot. King has ramped up the female presence in the detective story by orders of magnitude. I’m also fond of Mary’s friend, Veronica (Ronnie). There’s a woman who knows how to get shit done!

I was also interested to read in the afterword that the third book in the series was actually written second. Ms. King needed to know where Mary was headed before she could write the book that actually got her to the destination. So this may be volume 2 of the series, but it was volume 3 in the writing process. Information like this about the writer’s process is fascinating and I wish more authors would write afterwords about their novels.

Siege of Darkness / R.A. Salvatore

2.5 stars out of 5

"Let the damned drow come!"

All about me I saw excitement, in the dwarves, in Cattibrie, even in Regis, the halfling known more for preparing for lunch and nap than for war. I felt it, too. That tingling anticipation, that camaraderie that had me and all the others patting each other on the back, offering praises for the simplest of additions to the common defense, and raising sour voices together in cheer whenever good news was announced. What was it? It was more than shared fear, more than giving thanks for what we had while realizing that it might soon be stolen away. i didn't understand it then, in that time of frenzy, in that euphoria of frantic preparations. Now, looking back, it is an easy thing to recognize.

It was hope.

I notice that I neglected to review the last volume of Drizzt, but really I think I could write the same review for every single book. The names are either tongue twisters or pretty silly. I mean really, how does one even pronounce Drizzt? The other dark elf names tend to have apostrophes in them and impossible consonant combinations. Doing these as audio books must be difficult. And consider names such as King Schnicktick. How can one take him seriously with a name like this?

All of Drizzt’s adventures are melodramatic--he is pushed to his limits, but suddenly finds new reserves within himself or is saved by a friend, who he vows to cherish even more. It’s a very black and white world of good & evil with very few nuances. I presume that Salvatore is writing for a young audience, as the man-woman relationships are basic at best. This book comes the closest to giving Drizzt a romantic partner, his old friend Cattie-Brie (that’s right, cheese girl, as I think of her). Fresh off of losing her fiance, Wulfgar, Cattie-Brie comes in contact with a sentient sword which flings her into Drizzt’s arms. Of course, Drizzt is a gentleman (gentledrow?) so Cattie-Brie’s virtue is uncompromised. Nevertheless, they set out together at the end of this book, leading me for the first time to be actually intrigued as to where the author intends to take them in the next volume.

Somehow, the last volume (Starless Night) seems to have been quite pointless--Drizzt didn’t accomplish much and the planning of an invasion of Mithril Hall by the denizens of Menzoberranzan continues apace. Readers may be intrigued to see how the dark elves of the Underdark are defeated by the noble alliance of friendly races (and their own frailties). Enough of the known characters remain that there is potential for more dark elf mischief in the future. For the time being, I am glad that Salvatore plans to move the next volume into the daylight of his world.

Book number 326 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

Good Night, Mr. Holmes / Carole Nelson Douglas

3.5 stars out of 5 

Miss Irene Adler, the beautiful American opera singer who once outwitted Sherlock Holmes, is here given an unexpected talent: she is a superb detective, as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker can attest. Even Holmes himself must admit--albeit grudgingly--that she acquits herself competently. 

But in matters of the heart she encounters difficulty. The Crown Prince of Bohemia--tall, blonde, and handsome--proves to be a cad. Will dashing barrister Godfrey Norton be able to convince Irene that not all handsome men are cut from the same broadcloth?

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 


I must confess that I went into this mystery not expecting very much and I was pleasantly surprised. I checked out the author’s biography after finishing this novel and found that she has published over 60 books, so I guess that I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was. This was a decent mystery story, but I have to ask myself why someone who can write this well feels it necessary to include the Irene Adler/Sherlock Holmes aspect to their novel?? Ms. Nelson Douglas must be a true fan of the Holmes stories.

Once again, we have a modern female author taking a female character that Conan Doyle didn’t spend much time on, and giving her her own backstory and fleshing out her motivations. I can definitely see why Irene Adler (“the woman”) would be a tempting target for this treatment.

However, I found my sympathies lying much more with Penelope Huxtaible, Irene’s room-mate and partner in investigation. Nell, as Irene calls her, is an impoverished orphaned parson’s daughter and reminded me strongly of Jane Eyre, with her ideas of propriety and morality. She very much fills a John Watson-like role, recording Irene’s adventures. I know enough Sherlock Holmes lore to realize that Irene would end up married to Godfrey Norton, but I couldn’t help, in this version, wishing that he would choose Penelope instead. Sadly, the author stuck to the canon in this regard.

I loved Irene’s and Nell’s independent ways--supporting themselves quite well and avoiding dependence upon men in the beginning. Godfrey ruins them both by being a wonderful employer to Nell and eventually husband to Irene. In between, Irene has her fling with the Crown Prince of Bohemia and Nell provides the description of the relationship’s ending. Despite knowing how things would turn out, it was a tense, exciting portion of the book.

Opinion seems to be all over the map on this one, but I found that the author managed to insert enough novelty into an old story to make it enjoyable. 

The Hollow of Fear / Sherry Thomas

4 stars out of 5

Under the cover of “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” Charlotte Holmes puts her extraordinary powers of deduction to good use. Aided by the capable Mrs. Watson, Charlotte draws those in need to her and makes it her business to know what other people don’t.

Moriarty’s shadow looms large. First, Charlotte’s half brother disappears. Then, Lady Ingram, the estranged wife of Charlotte’s close friend Lord Ingram, turns up dead on his estate. And all signs point to Lord Ingram as the murderer.

With Scotland Yard closing in, Charlotte goes under disguise to seek out the truth. But uncovering the truth could mean getting too close to Lord Ingram—and a number of malevolent forces…


***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

I realize now that I neglected to review the second volume of this series, but suffice it to say that I was excited to get my hands on volume three and that I refused to go to bed until it was finished.

I’m enjoying Ms. Thomas’ interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes story. The autism spectrum in nothing new, despite the fact that it wasn’t named until the 1930s, and undoubtedly it would have been swept under the rug exactly as Bernadine is in this series. Charlotte is depicted as having some of the same tendencies, but she is very verbal and highly observant. But her dislike of being touched and her use of food to calm herself plus her confessed lack of understanding of “normal” emotion seem to indicate her presence on the Spectrum.

What truly captivates me are the overarching plots that run through all of the books. Are Charlotte and Lord Ingram going to become a couple? What will become of the remaining Holmes sister, Livia? Will Charlotte be able to support Bernadine and Livia so that they can escape from their emotionally abusive parents? And what of Inspector Treadles and his wife Alice--can Treadles escape his societal training enough to appreciate her ambition?

I think the Treadles plot line is the most poignant one for me personally. The Inspector has smugly considered his marriage to be perfectly harmonious until the day that his wife reveals that she is disappointed that her father did not leave the running of his manufacturing company in her hands, but rather in the incapable hands of her brother. Rather than ignoring this revelation, it poisons the Inspector’s soul. He also observes that other women that he interacts with do not respond positively to him and he is further dismayed. It is a difficult moment when he begs Charlotte to tell him where he is going wrong and she tells him that although he looks like an open, nonjudgmental person, he reveals himself through his actions to be prejudiced against the aspirations of women and thoroughly disappoints them. It is to his great credit that he listens to her and makes some effort to change. I am quite anxious to see where Ms. Thomas takes him from here. 

It will feel like a long wait until the next book comes out in October. 

The Cat of the Baskervilles / Vicki Delany

3 out of 5 stars

The show is coming to town on Cape Cod. The West London Theater Festival is putting on a stage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Gemma Doyle is excited and participating with her friend Jayne Wilson, whose mother, Leslie, just happens to be volunteering with the company. Leslie arranges a fundraising tea party at the home of the festival organizer, catered by Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room. The tea is a rousing success, but Sir Nigel Bellingham, the famous star cast as the lead of Sherlock, goes missing. And Gemma finds him at the bottom of the cliff. Dead.

Before the tea, Sir Nigel had come by the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, only for Gemma to realize that he’s not at all suited to the role. But as Gemma and Jayne investigate, the list of suspects just grows longer. Long past his prime, Sir Nigel was second to a younger actor who had first been given the role. The festival’s executive director also expressed that he had been hired over her objections. Then there are the slew of people to whom Sir Nigel was rude. They all have motive, but then a scrap of Leslie’s apron caught on a bush by Sir Nigel’s body is found. And the police are set to pounce as she becomes suspect #1.

It’s up to Gemma and Jayne to team up again and clear Jayne’s mother’s name in The Cat of the Baskervilles, the delightful third Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery. 


***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

The third volume of this series and I have come to the conclusion that I don’t like Emma Doyle much as a main character. I understand that being more observant than others is a trait that links her to the Great Detective, but her bluntness and lack of understanding of other people doesn’t endear her to me. What I do enjoy are the details of her relationships with Ryan and Grant, her friendship with Jayne, and the ongoing saga of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop.

Delany writes a decent cozy mystery. She plants appropriate red herrings and throws in small twists & turns, making the reading experience quite enjoyable. I can’t help, however, feeling sorry for Emma’s dog, Violet. I’m not a dog person, but even I feel like the poor beast is left alone at home an awful lot. Although Delany assures us that Emma loves Violet, sometimes actions speak louder than words--it seems like the dog gets short shrift on many, many evenings. My other bugaboo is Detective Louise Estrada, who seems to dislike Emma even more than I do. In fact, to an unreasonable extent. In small communities like West London, it just isn’t that strange to have the same people involved in multiple community activities and her over-done suspicions of Emma are just unrealistic.

Despite my complaints, I did enjoy the mystery and I’ve requested the next book in the series. I’m interested to see how Delany moves the story arc forward, whether I admire her main character or not.

Silent on the Moor / Deanna Raybourn

4 out of 5 stars 

In Grimsgrave Hall, enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane has inherited a ruined estate, replete with uncanny tenants and one unwanted houseguest: Lady Julia Grey. Despite his admonitions to stay away, Lady Julia arrives in Yorkshire to find Brisbane as remote and maddeningly attractive as ever. Cloistered together, they share the moldering house with the proud but impoverished remnants of an ancient family: the sort that keeps their bloodline pure and their secrets close. Lady Allenby and her daughters, dependent upon Brisbane and devastated by their fall in society, seem adrift on the moor winds, powerless to change their fortunes. But poison does not discriminate between classes.... A mystery unfolds from the rotten heart of Grimsgrave, one Lady Julia may have to solve alone, as Brisbane appears inextricably tangled in its heinous twists and turns. But blood will out, and before spring touches the craggy northern landscape, Lady Julia will have uncovered a Gypsy witch, a dark rider, and a long-buried legacy of malevolence and evil. Deanna Raybourn spins a gripping tale of loyalty and lust, set against the wild beauty of the Yorkshire moors.

I had to order this book through interlibrary loan, but I am glad that I did. I read all 465 pages in one day--I really didn’t want to set the book down. Raybourn writes a really good Gothic murder mystery/romance. 

Lady Julia Grey is part of that movement that I sense in fiction right now to feminize the story of Victorian times. The role of women was definitely undergoing change during this time period, what with Margaret Sanger’s championing of women’s rights and birth control, plus the Rational Dress and the women’s suffrage movements. Upper class women’s desires to be able to move, to not be subject to restrictive social mores, and to control their own bodies. What must it have been like to have all your choices subject to parents or brothers? 

Julia is a very sympathetic character to the modern female reader. We identify with her desire to pursue what she wants (Brisbane) without having to answer to her stuffy eldest brother. She is fortunate to have a father who is willing to aid and abet. I was also glad to see that Raybourn spreads the restrictions around, writing Julia’s brother Valerius as a frustrated medical doctor. Gentlemen aren’t allowed to “practice trade,” preventing Valerius from becoming what he is meant to be and showing that even men were hemmed in by the social contract of the time.

I’m disappointed that I will once again have to specially request the next volume of this series through interlibrary loan. Plus, I am unsure where Raybourn will be able to take it after the conclusion of this installment, but I am willing to give it a try.

A Dance of Cranes / Steve Burrows

4 out of 5 stars

A trail of murder leads Domenic Jejeune across a vast continent.

Newly estranged from his girlfriend, Inspector Domenic Jejeune returns to Canada, where he soon receives news that his brother has gone missing in Wood Buffalo National Park while conducting field research on Whooping Cranes. Jejeune immediately heads out West to try to find him. 

Meanwhile, back in the U.K., Jejeune’s plan to protect his ex-girlfriend from a dangerous adversary has failed, and she has also gone missing. In Jejeune’s absence, it falls to his trusty sergeant, Danny Maik, to track her down. But there is far more to the situation than either of them anticipated. And time is running out for all of them.


Well, this book was a treat--I had a volunteer job long ago where I exercised Whooping Crane chicks, which were subsequently released to the wild in Florida. I spent many hours doing what I came to call my walking meditation, wearing a baggy white costume which covered my head and interacting with the chicks using a hand puppet. Left to their own devices, the chicks would linger by the food bowl and grow so fast that their long toes would curl. My job was to convince them to go walking with me, wearing off some calories and keeping their limbs and toes nice & straight. It could often be hot, boring work, but I considered it my personal National Geographic moment and thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

I have also visited Wood Buffalo National Park, where Domenic Jejune ends up in this installment of the birder murder mysteries. My time was spent merely on the safe periphery, rather than out in the muskeg, where Jejune seeks his brother, but it is a large, lonely land and the bugs are out of this world! Between mosquitoes and black flies, my friend and I came to regret that we were camping!

I enjoyed the book very much, despite the pattern that seems to be developing of Inspector Jejune nearly dying in each story. His investigations take him into wilderness and the associated risks of those locations can support this plot device to some extent, but I hope there aren’t any near-death experiences in the next book. 

That is, I’m assuming there will be a next book, as Mr. Burrows seems to have left us with enough unanswered questions about the general story arc to require another volume!

Sherlock Holmes and the Lady in Black / June Thomson

3.5 stars out of 5

By the summer of 1908, Sherlock Holmes has left the Baker Street days of crime and detection behind to take his retirement in a small Sussex cottage overlooking the sea. Holmes extends an invitation to his old colleague and confident, Dr Watson, to join him for a week's holiday. Accepting the summons, Watson arrives anticipating long coastal walks and pub lunches in the local village.

But his holiday takes a darker turn when they spot a shadowy figure below the cliffs one night; Holmes cannot resist the temptation to solve one more mystery and Watson realises he was never invited to the country for recreation. Against the backdrop of the stormy Sussex coast, suspicious men, tragic family history and a crafty theft weave an engaging and complex case that only Holmes and Watson can crack.

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

In my opinion, Ms. Thomson comes the closest of anyone to capturing the voice of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sometimes I could forget that I wasn’t reading an original Holmes story. The big difference? Doyle could accomplish his mission in a short story. This author required a (short) novel. 

This was a pleasant entry in my Summer of Sherlock. Holmes purists probably won’t be too offended by this offering, but I doubt it will ever be recommended reading. A reasonable mystery story with good twists and turns. I quite enjoyed it, but feel like I am damning it with faint praise!