2023 mystery story, seventh of the Lady Sherlock series. Charlotte
Holmes is taking a sea voyage, both to assist the Crown in recovering
some missing files and to spend time with her lover. But as always
murder supervenes.
The overarching plot continues, and it's thoroughly diverged from
the Sherlock Holmes stories by now, but this book stands alone better
than many: the overall situation is summed up in the opening pages,
and there's less need for a thorough knowledge of the characters and
their history than in most of the series.
What we get this time is a locked ship mystery, of course with no
shipboard radio (it's 1887), but with a handy policeman who happened
to be on board. And because the setting is almost entirely aboard ship
rather than in London, Thomas's usual infelicities of American vs
British usage don't kick in; I'm not convinced that the place to
minister to unwell passengers and crew would be called the surgery
rather than the sick bay, but that's the only one I tripped over, and
I may well be wrong.
It's pleasing to get a break (mostly) from the ongoing Moriarty plot,
and there's progress for some of the side characters. Definitely a
pleasing continuation of the series, if a little light on action
compared with some of them.
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