Tag: Sherry Thomas

A Conspiracy In Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

On By BarbaraIn Audiobook, Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock, #2)A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Lady Sherlock #2
Publication Date: 9/5/17
# of Pages: 336

This is an outstanding, excellently written, well plotted, well-paced mystery populated with equally outstanding characters. This author has taken Sherlock Holmes and turned him inside out and made him her own. I want to tell you everything – because everything is so good – but I also don’t want to spoil the mystery for you. My advice – skip this review, go out and buy it right now and read it immediately – you won’t be sorry. One thing I will suggest though – read the first book first because it explains exactly who Charlotte Holmes is – her history, her family and her beginnings as Sherlock.

This book begins the day after the first book, A Study In Scarlet Women, ends. In that book, Charlotte, along with Lord Ingram Ashburton and Inspector Treadles solved a triple murder. Inspector Treadles of the Criminal Investigation Division of Scotland yard is having a very, very hard time dealing with the fact that Sherlock Holmes, a male, is actually Charlotte Holmes, a female. Turns out Treadles may not be as accepting as he thought himself to be. He’s also learned that his wife has aspirations in addition to just being his wife. He’s begun to separate himself from his wife and has no desire to consult with Sherlock any longer. He’s also being cool toward his esteemed friend Lord Ingram. I have a feeling that Inspector Treadles has a grand epiphany coming up in a future book.

Mrs. John Watson and Charlotte have devised a way for Charlotte to act as Sherlock Holmes, consult with clients and actually make a living from it. It works out wonderfully well and they are off to a really good start with a profitable business. Mrs. Watson has a unique set of household employees and we meet them in this book. We also meet Mrs. Watson’s niece, Penelope Redmayne, and you will love that young lady. I hope she becomes a regular, recurring character.

Charlotte is astonished when she receives an envelope addressed to Sherlock Holmes – and it has been typed on Lord Ingram’s typewriter. Charlotte knows it can’t be from Lord Ingram because he has no reason to request an appointment – he could just come to see her. So, Charlotte deduces that it has to be from Lady Ingram. Uh-Oh. Should Charlotte refuse to see her? Well, to Charlotte’s logical mind, she thinks she should see her and help if she can.

These stories are all fast-paced, exciting and they have a lot going on – so – settle in, put your seatbelt on and prepare for the ride! We learned in the last book that Lord and Lady Ingram share nothing except the same address. In this book, we learn so very much more – and we learn what a perfidious woman Lady Ingram is.

Lady Ingram has a case for Sherlock and it is a doozie. When she was younger, she was desperately in love with a young man her family deemed unsuitable. She was then forced to marry the wealthy lord who had proposed to her. Her parents knew that he loved her so they couldn’t understand what her problem was. She and her young man made a pact that they would never, ever have contact again after she married, but once a year, at an appointed time, they would each walk past the Albert Memorial, just so they could each assure that the other was well. This year, he didn’t show up and she’s frantic with worry for him. Did he lose interest after all these years? Is he hurt or sick? Has he died? She just has to know. The name of this long ago love? Myron Finch. That is also the name of Charlotte’s illegitimate half-brother. – the plot thickens.

Charlotte and Mrs. Watson set about their investigation of the lost love and at the same time, Charlotte is dealing with the second proposal of marriage from Lord Bancroft. He had proposed before and she’d turned him down. This time though, she’ll give it some thought. She’s afraid that she won’t have enough to do to keep her mind occupied if she marries. Bancroft has a solution for that – he starts giving her some very, very difficult ciphers to solve – and some of those lead to even bigger mysteries – such as an address where a murder has just occurred and she encounters a very aloof Inspector Treadles. Is the victim the missing Myron Finch? Then – who is the Moriarty that even Bancroft seems to be wary of? Is either of them – or both – related to the murder victim? Well – you’ll just have to read the book to see.

The end – the wrap-up – of this very creative and exciting book will not only surprise you – it will shock you. I usually have the whole thing figured out very early on, but I sure didn’t see that one coming. Well done Ms. Thomas!

There is a budding romance for Livia and I’m excited to see where that goes. What happens so far is really sweet. There isn’t any ‘advancement’ of the romance between Lord Ingram and Charlotte because – well – he’s married and Lord Ingram is much too honorable to do anything outside the bounds of his vows. We do learn more about him and the relationship that he and Charlotte have. He even encourages her about Bancroft’s proposal – not happily, but he does encourage her.

I love historical mysteries, but, for me, they have to have a wonderful love story included. So, I’ll be interested to see if this author delivers that. If she does, it will be interesting to see how she has non-sentimental, touch-averse, logical Charlotte handle it. We are well aware that Charlotte loves Lord Ingram and that he loves her – the interesting part will be how Charlotte handles anything that happens. If it doesn’t work out for them, I’ll probably soon lose interest in the series no matter how interesting the mysteries are.

This is a very busy book. I believe that is probably a hallmark of this author and her writing style and I really like that about the books. You definitely won’t get bored and start skimming pages because if you do, you’ll miss something really important.

I very highly recommend this book because it is excellently done. I do, however, recommend reading the first book in the series before you read this one.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Victorian Era (1837-1901)6 Comments

A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock, #1)A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Lady Sherlock #1
Publication Date: 10/18/16
# of Pages: 323

What an idiot I am! I am not normally a fan of ‘take off’ books, so I had totally skipped reading this series until a friend whose opinion I value, highly recommended it. I am totally, and completely blown away! This isn’t a ‘take off’ of Sherlock Holmes – this is a total reimagining – flip it on its head and make it the author’s own book. I haven’t ever read anything by this author, but that is quickly changing – I have already bought all of the published books in this series and plan to read them in rapid order and then wait, impatiently, for each new release.

Charlotte Holmes is the youngest of four daughters. Her parents are of the aristocratic poor variety. Her older sister is married and the next older one will never be able to care for herself because of mental impairments. That just leaves Charlotte and her older sister Livia living at home. The whole family is very eccentric, but Charlotte is definitely the most eccentric of the lot. She didn’t speak until she was four because she didn’t have anything important to say and her first words were to solve a puzzle the rest of her family was looking at and trying to figure out. Everyone was astonished and when asked why she hadn’t spoken before, she told them that she hadn’t had anything important to say before then. Charlotte isn’t a fan of touching, hugging or talking, so she’s a bit hard to deal with, but to Livia, she is wonderful.

Charlotte is also her father’s pet and he spoils her rotten. He was vastly amused by her combination of great intelligence, great oddity, and great silence. On the other hand, her mother was overbearing, imperious, and cold. Neither parent really loves their children as they should – it is all about what those children can do to benefit the parents. Charlotte’s mother despairs of her ever becoming a proper young lady who is acceptable to society.

I’ll not tell you all about Charlotte because this review would get much too long – and – besides – you need to read the book to find out all of the details about her – especially when she was a young child. This book takes a fair and appropriate amount of time to show you who Charlotte is and her development from a mute 4-year-old to being renowned as one of the best minds of a generation.

While Charlotte is extremely brilliant, her judgment isn’t necessarily always brilliant. She is a very young woman with no world experience at all. She’s made it plain to her family – all of her life – that she has no intentions of marrying. So, her father makes a pact with her – learn to be a young lady, participate in the Season and if, by the age of twenty-five she still hasn’t found someone she wishes to marry, he’ll send her to school to prepare her for her chosen field. Livia has told her all along that her father will not honor that promise – and Charlotte knows that is a probability – but when the actuality of it presents itself, Charlotte makes a grievous error. Then she is ruined – and she is on the street and on her own.

As Charlotte searches for lodging and employment, she learns some real truths about living on her own. It doesn’t deter her, but she gets smarter about things. Then she meets Mrs. Watson who offers Charlotte employment as her paid companion, Charlotte immediately accepts. Mrs. Watson is a wonderful character and is so much fun to read. Together, she and Charlotte come up with a way that Charlotte can earn money by helping to solve ‘mysteries’ for people without them realizing it is a female doing it.

While all of that is going on, the mother of the man who ruined Charlotte is found dead. Just before that death, the woman her father had once proposed to also dies – but they seem like natural deaths. When Charlotte notices the third death in the paper, her encyclopedic memory cycles through all of the connections of the ton and realizes that the three are probably not natural and are all related. She writes a letter (as Sherlock Holmes) to the coroner of the latest death connecting the three and asking them not to declare it a natural death.

Inspector Treadles from Scotland Yard is dispatched to begin the investigation. The investigation is slow going and the deadline for providing the evidence is looming. Can Treadles put it all together? He hates to continue to consult with Sherlock (in writing), but he needs Sherlock’s unique insights.

I haven’t mentioned Lord Ingram yet. He and Charlotte have been friends since they were children and they have a really unique relationship. They love each other and probably have since they were children – but they came to know that too late. Lord Ingram is married – unhappily, but married none-the-less. He is very, very proper and would never act on his love for Charlotte (even though she tries to seduce him), but he will do his very best to protect her. ** I just know that in some future book, the wife will be gone and Charlotte and Lord Ingram will be together **

There is a lot more happening during this investigation and lots of wonderful supporting characters are either introduced or mentioned. I’ve mentioned Livia and Mrs. Watson, but we also get Lord Bancroft (a play on Mycroft?) who is Lord Ingram’s brother and also the head of the spy agency for England. We hear mention of Moriarty, but don’t see him and we meet the Marbletons.

This is a wonderful book. The characters are unique, likable, and engaging. The mystery is well done, the pacing is excellent and I love the ‘nods’ to the original Sherlock. For instance, I wonder how long it took her to rearrange the letters in LeStrade to get Treadles. Then there is the Bancroft/Mycroft thing, etc.

I highly recommend this series!

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