A Tempest at Sea

January 15, 2023
Murder on the high seas adds a twist to a bigger game of international intrigue in the new Lady Sherlock novel. Still in hiding after having faked her own death in Cornwall, secret sleuth Charlotte Holmes is on the RMS Provence, working a shipboard mission whose successful completion will let her return to her life. Lord Ingram Ashburton, her friend and now lover, is onboard, too, as are some other allies and family members. Thomas also adds a new group of characters to the chessboard, any of whom may be in the criminal syndicate run by Holmes' nemesis, Moriarty, or have ties to a homicide that occurs on the ship on a stormy night. Told from a third-person perspective that largely stays by Lord Ingram's side as he is drafted into the investigation while trying to keep Charlotte from being discovered, the novel occasionally switches to Charlotte's sister Livia's anxious point of view. Charlotte herself is more of a cipher in this installment, with the reader as ignorant of her thoughts or actions as most of the people onboard. While her personality and behavior remain consistent with the earlier books--though she's more expressive about her feelings for Lord Ingram--the nonlinear plot and the numerous scenes without her keep the reader at a distance. We do not always know what Charlotte has done and learned in the process of looking for clues until the final reveal. Reminiscent of forced-proximity stories like Christie's Death on the Nile or the game and miniseries Clue, the novel is an entertaining read for its wheels-within-wheels structure and the drips of knowledge we are given. Fans of the Victorian lady detective will enjoy her resurrection.

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January 30, 2023
Set in 1887, Thomas’s routine seventh Lady Sherlock mystery (after 2021’s Miss Moriarty, I Presume?) finds Charlotte Holmes, who has pretended that there was a Sherlock Holmes whom she assisted while actually conducting the inquiries herself, still faking her death following a confrontation with Professor Moriarty in the previous book. While keeping her survival a secret, Charlotte accepts a request from Lord Remington, the man responsible for most of the British Empire’s intelligence-gathering, who wants her to trace a sensitive missing dossier. The trail leads her to the RMS Provence, a vessel traveling from Southampton to Gibraltar. On board, her assignment takes a different tack when a passenger is shot to death; the killer left some graffiti on an adjacent wall, including the words common and vulgar. The need to solve the murder complicates the initial mission. The prose can be awkward (“How incompetent must a man be, to turn a simple hymen breaching into one of the biggest Society scandals in years?”), and the characters aren’t much more than stock types. Readers interested in a gender-flipped Holmes will be better served by Claire O’Dell’s more imaginative Sara Holmes novels. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary.

February 1, 2023

Charlotte Holmes has been tasked with finding stolen documents, with the promise of returning to her regular life if she succeeds. No problem--until she has to follow the main suspect onboard a cruise ship heading for Bombay. Also on the ship is her lover, Lord Ingram; her sister Olivia; Mrs. Watson; and a most unwelcome surprise, her mother, Lady Holmes. Fortunately Charlotte is adept at disguise. She came prepared with another identity. The situation becomes even more complicated, however, when a passenger is murdered and everyone goes under the microscope. Charlotte can't help but get involved. VERDICT Who doesn't enjoy a murder mystery at sea? While this seventh "Lady Sherlock" mystery (after Miss Moriarty, I Presume) does not advance the larger series plot in any way, it is still an amusing look at characters fans have grown to love. Readers of authors such as Deanna Raybourn should give these novels a try. While this could work as a stand-alone, best to start with book one to fully appreciate the skillful character development.--Laurel Bliss

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