all your Reads in Here

Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Jana B. from Smyrna, TN and Marie R. from Horseheads, NY won copies of Dig Your Grave. Charlotte W. from Covington, GA and Bill T. from St. Clair Shores, MI won the copies of The Guilty Dead. The books are going out in the mail today. This week, I'm giving away mysteries with a Sherlock Holmes connection. I have one ARC of Sherry Thomas' latest Lady Sherlock mystery,  The Hollow of Fear . Charlotte Holmes uses the cover of "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective" to investigate crimes. This time, the estranged wife of her dear friend Lord Ingram is found dead on his estate, and all of society suspects him. Charlotte disguises herself to find the truth. I have two copies of Bradley Harper's A Knife in the Fog. The debut mystery brings a young Arthur Conan Doyle to London where he teams up with his mentor, Professor Joseph Bell, and a journalist, Margaret Darkness to search for the killer who will become known as J...

It's always a treat to catch up with Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. Vicki Delany has given us a delightful, idiosyncratic character whose brain resembles Holmes'. She lacks empathy and social skills, though, and just doesn't understand why people don't appreciate her matter-of-fact comments. She's doing a little bit better in the fourth in this charming series,  A Scandal in Scarlet . Gemma is walking her dog late one evening when they discover the Scarlet House, a local museum, is on fire. Because so much of it is destroyed by the fire, the museum needs to host a fundraiser. Gemma's friend Jayne Wilson, co-owner of Mrs. Hudson's Tearoom, offers to hold an auction there. Before the auction even starts, the chair of the Scarlet House board, Kathy Lamb, has an argument with one of the shop owners, Maureen Macgregor. When Gemma finds Kathy murdered int he backroom, all the witnesses point to Maureen. Gemma and Maureen dislike e...

I've read the second, and now the third Lady Sherlock mystery by Sherry Thomas. I'm afraid I'm just not the right audience for these books, although I'm a big fan of the original Sherlock Holmes stories and some of the pastiches. I found The Hollow of Fear difficult to follow at times, and I'm not as in love with Charlotte Holmes as many readers are. As I said, though, I think I'm not the right audience. When Charlotte Holmes helps her half-brother escape from men who are after him, she senses there is a plot in motion. Her sister, Livia, is an unwitting pawn. Livia annually visits Mrs. Newell, a distant relative. When the cisterns fail at Mrs. Newell's house, all her guests move to Lord Ingram's estate, Stern Hollow. Livia is aware that all society speculates about Charlotte's friendship with Lord Ingram, guessing that it's more than friendship. Then Livia, along with two of the worst gossips in London, find Lady Ingram's body in the estate...