A Conspiracy in Belgravia

September 4, 2017
The first in Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, A Study in Scarlet Women (2016), offered a clever a premise: that Sherlock Holmes is a fabrication created by Miss Charlotte Holmes and her coterie of accomplices, including Mrs. Watson, in order to allow her to practice her skills as a detective in the male-centric world of Victorian England. Potential clients are told they must consult Sherlock through his “sister” because of his ill health. In this entertaining sequel, Lady Ingram, the wife of Charlotte’s friend and benefactor, Lord Ingram, needs help with a delicate matter that she wishes to keep secret from her husband. Lady Ingram’s true love, whom she declined to marry because he wasn’t rich enough, has failed to show up for their annual rendezvous at London’s Albert Memorial. Charlotte takes on the case, but what seems like a straightforward search for a missing person soon spirals into something altogether more complicated and sinister. Could Professor Moriarty be involved? Thomas writes with brio and creates appealing characters. Sherlockians may get a kick out of Charlotte’s sister, Livia, an aspiring writer, who wishes to write a story based on Charlotte’s exploits—a story that sounds a lot like Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary.

September 15, 2017
A new adventure for Charlotte Holmes--the Victorian lady detective who poses as a man named Sherlock--brings old mysteries to light and buried passions to the fore.Picking up a few hours after the events of Thomas' A Study in Scarlet Women (2016), the novel starts with the misleadingly sweet-faced, golden-locked Charlotte being hired--through intermediaries--to track down a married client's missing ex-lover. The assignment poses a conflict of interest because of its connection to Charlotte's dear friend Lord Ingram, and it soon appears to concern Charlotte's family as well. Not only is there a mystery man who keeps seeking out her sister Olivia, but other players from the previous case seem to still be involved in a high-stakes game. As if this weren't enough, Charlotte is being wooed in unorthodox fashion by Ingram's brother, who's also a higher up in the British secret service. Coded messages are the theme of this episode, but the necessary technical explanations of ciphers and secret communication could lead a reader to skim. As a result, the mystery feels convoluted and might need a second reading to be fully understood. Fortunately, descriptions of the sleuth's self-defense lessons and devoted pastry consumption provide a lively counterweight. There's also an inevitable repetitive quality to passages that display "Sherlock's" powers of observation and deduction through a charade she and her team enact for new clients. More deliciously unpredictable is Charlotte's continuing association with Ingram; their unconsummated desire is held in check only by her lack of romantic inclinations and dispassionate knowledge of her flaws--and his mistakes. Several subplots serve to underline this motif that men may love women and yet harm them through arrogance or self-interest.This second mystery solidifies the lineup of our heroine's allies and nemeses while leaving matters intriguingly open-ended on the personal front. Readers of Victorian fiction, romance, and detective stories will each find something to draw them in.

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