A Ruse of Shadows / Sherry Thomas

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Book 14 of the 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge

Sherry Thomas writes a delightful historical mystery. I was concerned that the eighth book in this series would be tired, but instead it pulsed with intrigue. Charlotte Holmes embodies the canonical Sherlock Holmes very well. Her use of disguise is prominent in this installment and her plans within plans match or exceed those of the original Holmes.

Where she differs from her progenitor is in her ability to love, albeit in her own way. This whole book was devoted to the possibility of uniting her sister Olivia with her beloved Stephen. The plot of the book was intricate: it alternated between the interrogation of Charlotte in the present concerning the death of Lord Bancroft following his escape from prison and the elaborate back story of what actually happened. It was the gift of a loving sister, to give her sibling happiness and hope.

Also unlike Sherlock, Charlotte has her devoted Ash. We know from early volumes of the series that she has always sought his company and that he has come to feel deeply for her. I think it is safe to say that this is the book where their relationship levels up. Indeed, he is among the most important people of the circle of friends that Charlotte has built for herself. Although she appears emotionless at times, Charlotte obviously feels deeply and values friendship and loyalty.

I love books that feature found family as this series does. I find more of this in fantasy literature so it is a treat to find it in the mystery genre. As Moriarty is still on the loose, I assume that at least one more book will be forthcoming. Bring it on!

The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl / Theodora Goss

4 out of 5 stars

Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club...especially when one of their own has been kidnapped! After their thrilling European escapades rescuing Lucinda van Helsing, Mary Jekyll and her friends return home to discover that their friend and kitchen maid Alice has vanished— and so has their friend and employer Sherlock Holmes!

As they race to find Alice and bring her home safely, they discover that Alice and Sherlock’s kidnapping are only one small part of a plot that threatens Queen Victoria, and the very future of the British Empire. Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine save their friends—and save the Empire? Find out in the final installment of the fantastic and memorable Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series.

Forget the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because now we have The Athena Club. I guess we could call it the League of Monstrous Gentlewomen. Another of the feminist versions of the Victorian time period with plenty of girl power (although the main characters do get justifiably huffy about being called girls when they are full grown women).

Even the female villains outsmart their male counterparts in this particular volume. The women of the Athena Club may sometimes doubt their abilities, but they pull off the caper (with the help of Ayesha of course). Just like most women, they doubt themselves unnecessarily. Plus, they get to rescue Sherlock Holmes!

I know that this series is technically wrapped up with this third book, but it seems to me that there are enough loose threads and unexplored avenues that further adventures could follow, if the author can persuade the publisher to continue. Fingers crossed that there will eventually be another book about the Athena Club!

The Art of Theft / Sherry Thomas

4 out of 5 stars

As "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective," Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.

But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.

Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia's admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake...

One of the best aspects of my 2019 summer reading list (The Summer of Sherlock) was the discovery of this charming series, the Lady Sherlock series. I’m really enjoying a lot of these feminist revisionist Victorian adventures! The Victorian age as it should have been.

I love Charlotte Holmes as a character and I relate to her when she would rather be at home with a cup of tea and a pastry than out in the world pursuing criminals! I rather favour coffee and popcorn, but it’s the same idea. I have to laugh at her concept of Maximum Tolerable Chins, which is the point at which she restricts her pastry consumption until her clothing fits more comfortably. Been there, done that, my dear Charlotte!

My only disappointment with this book was that it did not deal with the Treadles’ plot line until the very last pages! I really want to know what happens between Inspector and his wife, but it seems that I must wait for the next book.

In the meanwhile, I have to applaud the author for being able to bring Charlotte and Lord Ingram together and then separate them so skillfully, retaining the romantic pursuit and it’s accompanying plot tension into the fourth book of the series. Of course I am also interested in the Livia and Stephen Marbleton situation, but it is Charlotte & Ash who command my attention in terms of relationships.

Ms. Thomas also uses the Maharani’s character deftly as a way to explore colonialism and to introduce a person of colour into the very white, upper-class world that the main characters inhabit.

All in all, I will be very excited when Book 5 is published, hopefully next year.

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.

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.

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. 

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!

A Scandal in Battersea / Mercedes Lackey

2.25 stars out of 5

Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki’s eyes.

It is also special to others...for very different reasons.

For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.

It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear—because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.

But then, the shadows reach for other victims—girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of Magic, Psychic Powers, and the worlds greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all. 


***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

Well, I called A Study in Sable a weird tribute to Sherlock Holmes. This book is even weirder. Not only does it continue to represent John & Mary Watson as magical practitioners, it joins them, Nan & Sarah, and Sherlock Holmes himself to battle eldritch horrors out of H.P. Lovecraft! 

The mash-up doesn’t work for me, but it may work for folks who are more into Lovecraft than Mr. Holmes. Both books, to my way of thinking, are far outside of the detective’s wheelhouse and his presence really isn’t appropriate.

The evil magician who starts the whole situation going isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and the tentacle monster has pretty banal requests of him. Said evil magician is so pitiful at covering his tracks that it’s amazing that he wasn’t apprehended almost immediately!

If you are a dyed-in-the-wool Mercedes Lackey fan, you will probably enjoy this. To my way of thinking, Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft fans are better off avoiding it. What it may accomplish is sending inexperienced readers to Doyle and Lovecraft if they fancy this novel and haven’t read those two authors. 

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter / Theodora Goss

3.75 out of 5 stars

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.


***The Summer of Sherlock 2019*** 

I’m giving this book 4 stars simply because it combined so many of the Victorian things that often get written about (plus one I’d never heard of before). Obviously, from my Summer reading list, I’ve read a LOT of fiction involving Sherlock Holmes. He is very attractive to modern writers (and I’ve got some ideas why).

But this book throws in so many things! Firstly The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror. Then add The Island of Doctor Moreau, Frankenstein, with a little bit of Draculathrown in for good measure. And there is the irresistible lure of Jack the Ripper! Plus I must now track down Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Rappaccini's Daughter, to learn more about the poisonous Beatrice.

So much fiction right now is based on Victorian London--it really holds appeal for the modern writer & reader. I wonder if it’s because we live in a time of uneasy change, just like the Victorian era. The industrial revolution was in full swing, just as we are seemingly immersed in the Internet age. The traditional role of women was being challenged just as the Me Too movement has shaken things up in our society. There were more & more people who actually wanted to help those less fortunate rather than maintain their low status, just as we are starting to realize that more & more people are wanting to come to more prosperous countries to start new lives. I think that these similarities draw us to updated Victorian tales. For me, it is especially the feminizing of popular Victorian literature that appeals. Inserting more independent women or women striving for independence.

Perhaps there is also some nostalgia for the times before DNA and forensics, back to when police had to have their wits about them in order to solve crimes. Our tendency to idealize the Good Old Days, which I don’t have to point out weren’t so good for everybody--particularly anyone who was not a wealthy white man. 

Still, I enjoyed this combination of so many literary works and I can certainly see it’s roots in the author’s dissertation. I’ll be interested to read the next book to see where she takes these characters that she has forged into the Athena Club (which is an excellent name, by the way).

His Last Bow / Arthur Conan Doyle

4 stars out of 5

Sherlock Holmes's fearless chronicler Dr Watson once again opens his notebooks to bring to light eight further tales of some of the strangest and most fascinating cases to come before the enquiring mind of London's most famous detective.

These mysteries involve the disappearance of secret plans as well as of a lady of noble standing; the curious circumstances of Wisteria Lodge and of the Devil's Foot; as well as the story His Last Bow, the last outing of Holmes and Watson on the eve of the First World War.

I believe that I have now read all of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Plus I have read a lot of fiction that uses his great detective as a character--largely novels. I am truly impressed with Doyle’s skill--he manages to give such detail and delight in the short story format. We come away from his fiction feeling like we know all about Mr. Holmes and like John Watson would be our friend if we ran into him. No wonder people show up at their iconic address in London, as if expecting the famous duo to still be there.

In this collection, we get a better sense of Mycroft Holmes and his importance to the government. One wonders what he would think of Boris Johnson and Brexit. No doubt both brothers would have opinions on the matter! Whether they would share those opinions is another question.

I’m glad to have read the entire Holmes canon and now I think I may turn my attention to a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle and some of his other fiction. 

The Return of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle

4 out of 5 stars

Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holmes returns triumphantly to his dear companion Dr Watson. And not before time! London has never been in more need of his extraordinary services: a murderous individual with an air gun stalks the city.

Among thirteen further brilliant tales of mystery, detection and deduction, Sherlock Holmes investigates the problem of the Norwood Builder, deciphers the message of the Dancing Men, and cracks the case of the Six Napoleons.

***The Summer of Sherlock 2019*** 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have been reluctant to raise Sherlock Holmes from the dead, but he certainly provided some entertaining stories after his sudden return.

I confess that I was quite chuffed when I had figured out what was going on in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons before the great detective was ready to reveal the motivation of the criminal. And I still have some nagging memories concerning The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, as I am sure that I have previously encountered this plotline and I cannot remember where! Most likely in a more recent book in which someone has borrowed from the master, but I am being driven mad because I cannot recall the source.

I am so glad that Doyle brought Holmes back if only because we gotThe Adventure of the Dancing Men out of the deal. What an excellent story of code-breaking and villain-catching!

I hold the author to blame, however, for the idea that men should be cold, intellectual, and detached from society. I think that our society would be much better if more men aspired to be John Watson, rather than Sherlock Holmes!

A Study in Scarlet Women / Sherry Thomas

4 out of 5 stars

With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. 

When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.

But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.

***The Summer of Sherlock 2019*** 

”With your penchant for diminishing a man to little more than a shell of his former manhood, it never ceases to amaze me that you managed to receive all the proposals you did.”
She had indeed reaped her fair share, including one from his brother, Lord Bancroft, her favorite proposal of them all.
“It’s my decolletage--when gentlemen stare at my bosom they don’t hear a word I say. I strongly believe that if trees sprouted breasts tomorrow they would soon be wearing wedding rings.”
He chortled.

What a pleasant surprise! Of all the Holmes pastiche that I have read this summer, this was by far the most original and entertaining. I loved Charlotte Holmes, a young debutante who sees no future to be desired in marriage and has difficulty mastering the small talk and calorie control that is expected of her. She accidentally scares many people with her observations and has a tendency to eviscerate the men who dare to approach. Despite this, she received numerous proposals, all of which she has refused to her parents great unhappiness.

Charlotte makes a deal with her father--if she reaches 18 without finding a man she wishes to marry, he will foot the bill for her education as she attempts to become the administrator of a girls school. When Charlotte reaches that age and tries to obtain her desire, her father reneges. 

This novel consists of the adventures of a young Victorian woman discovering a way to support herself and remain independent of the men in her life. Part of this is the development of her alter-ego, Sherlock Holmes. With the widow Mrs. Watson by her side (John Watson, as it happens, was killed and buried in Afghanistan). 

Books like this one are wish-fulfillment stories for those of us women who choose to remain single and support ourselves. I wish there had been more of this kind of imaginative history available when I was a much younger woman. As it is, I still enjoyed it a great deal and I can hardly wait to get my hands on the next book.

The Last of August / Brittany Cavallaro

3 out of 5 stars

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter-break reprieve after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But Charlotte isn’t the only Holmes with secrets, and the mood at her family’s Sussex estate is palpably tense. On top of everything else, Holmes and Watson could be becoming morethan friends—but still, the darkness in Charlotte’s past is a wall between them.

A distraction arises soon enough, because Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring. The game is afoot once again, and Charlotte is single-minded in her pursuit.

Their first stop? Berlin. Their first contact? August Moriarty (formerly Charlotte’s obsession, currently believed by most to be dead), whose powerful family has been ripping off famous paintings for the last hundred years. But as they follow the gritty underground scene in Berlin to glittering art houses in Prague, Holmes and Watson begin to realize that this is a much more complicated case than a disappearance. Much more dangerous, too.

What they learn might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other. 

***The Summer of Sherlock 2019*** 

The next logical step from where A Study in Charlotte left off. Jamie and Charlotte (Watson and Holmes) alternate between bickering and huddling together for comfort. Mostly under the watchful eye of August Moriarty, who is officially dead and unofficially working for Charlotte’s brother, Milo. 

If I was a high school student who longed to be treated like an adult, this would be the book for me. As it is, I am well over 50 and found it to be a trifle over-the-top for my tastes. Rather like many of the spy thrillers that I read last year during my Summer of Spies. How else would teens end up chartering helicopters and booking hotels in Berlin? 

Jamie Watson retains his great-grandfather’s role as the chronicler, but seems to get beaten up a little more frequently than that medical gentleman. August has been trying, unsuccessfully, to patch up the rift between the Holmes and Moriarty families. I had erroneously supposed there was only one more book--is it bad that I was dismayed to find two of them? I’m unsure whether I will finish the series this summer. There’s an awful lot of Sherlock Holmes pastiche out there and I would prefer to sample other writers rather than finish up this series.

A Study in Charlotte / Brittany Cavallaro

3.5 stars out of 5

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they

can trust are each other.

***The Summer of Sherlock 2019*** 

This is a cute and somewhat melodramatic version of a Holmes story. Time has moved on, James Watson is the great-great-great grandson of Dr. John Watson. He has been exiled from his beloved London to a boarding school in Connecticut, only to find Charlotte Holmes already there and with quite the reputation for herself. Of course, they end up trying to solve a mystery together, mostly in self defense as either one of them has a motive for killing their classmate. 

In some ways, this reminded me of The Name of the Star. Charlotte’s room-mate, Lena, reminded me of Rory’s roomie in that book. There isn’t the same paranormal aspect to this novel, but the whole boarding school vibe definitely made me link them in my mind.

I found it interesting that the author made all of these families (Watsons, Holmes, and Moriartys) work into the story, but also mentioned the Doyles. Mixing the fictional and the real, but with heavy emphasis on the fictional. And of course it makes sense that there would be descendents of all of the families available to interact in the modern world.

I’ve already requested the next volume to see where this series takes Charlotte and Jamie.