April 1, 2024
Thomas's eighth "Lady Sherlock" mystery (following A Tempest at Sea) has heroine Charlotte Holmes looking like the prime suspect in the murder of Lord Bancroft. But the story goes back further, to the disappearance of one of Bancroft's underlings, aptly named Underwood. By threatening Charlotte's sister, Bancroft pressures Charlotte into looking for Underwood. She enlists her usual crew (Mrs. Watson, Lord Ingram, et al.) to investigate Underwood's vanishing. Multiple disguises, a couple of daring rescues, a secret tunnel to a bank vault, plus a touch of romance make for an exciting adventure. Still in the picture is Professor Moriarity, a clear and present danger to the Holmes family and their loved ones. Thomas carefully structures her novel with multiple flashbacks, but there is too much recapping of events and telling (rather than showing) what happens. On the plus side, Thomas's intricate story is populated with complex and engaging secondary characters both new and returning. They are the draw, more so than the plot. VERDICT Understanding this historical mystery requires thorough knowledge of the rest of the series, so it's best for devoted fans.--Laurel Bliss
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May 15, 2024
A mystery that unwinds in reverse adds new twists to Thomas' Sherlock Holmes-inspired series. The new Charlotte Holmes novel continues the tense chess game that the gender-flipped Sherlock is playing with Moriarty and an incarcerated acquaintance turned villain. The events are narrated as a series of flashbacks interspersed with an interrogation in which Charlotte is under suspicion of murder. While her friend Inspector Treadles nervously observes, a senior policeman grills the unflappable detective about her recent movements. Even as she gives him a bland account of why she's crisscrossed the English Channel in recent weeks, readers get drips of information about what she and her family and friends have been up to, all building to a reveal. Two other seemingly unrelated mystery subplots enter the picture, but it's evident that new events and characters are connected to familiar ones from the past. With allusions to previous novels in the Lady Sherlock series and hat tips to Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem" and the Guy Ritchie movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the plot can be hard to follow, especially for new readers. The consistently well-drawn characters serve as an anchor, and the occasional glimpse of Charlotte's love for her family and her lover, Lord Ingram Ashburton, adds a needed touch of warmth to the clever but clinical jigsaw structure of the mystery. Demands a careful reading and knowledge of the Victorian lady detective's history.
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May 16, 2024
Posing as Sherlock Holmes, Charlotte Holmes has solved more than her fair share of challenging mysteries. However, her latest case may be her most important yet. Given that she was not only the last person to meet with the imprisoned Lord Bancroft Ashburton, but also that he left behind a letter stating that in the event of his untimely demise investigators should look no further than Miss Holmes, it isn't surprising that the police have Charlotte pinned as their number one suspect. Now if she doesn't provide the police with a plausible alternative as to who killed Bancroft, she could very well be doing her consulting detective work behind bars. Thomas wields the English language with exquisite finesse and possesses remarkable gifts for dexterous plotting and populating her imagined world with nuanced and intriguing characters. A Ruse of Shadows is the witty and wonderful eighth entry in Thomas' exemplary Lady Sherlock mysteries, a series definitely worth starting from the beginning.
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