Stevie‘s review of The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock, Book 4) by Sherry Thomas
Historical Mystery published by Berkley 15 Oct 19
This series has been really getting into its stride with the previous novel, and now this book, showcasing Charlotte Holmes and her friends very much in their own world, with only a few subtle nods to their origins as pastiches of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Sherlock himself gets nary a mention this time around, as Charlotte’s latest client discounts the possibility of hiring a bedridden and mostly non-communicative detective. The job on offer requires an able-bodied operative, who is capable of breaking into a highly guarded French château and stealing one of the larger paintings about to be auctioned off at a prestigious gathering of the great and good. Fortunately, Charlotte and her friends are able to persuade the reluctant lady to take them on their own merits, helped to a great extent by Mrs Watson’s past connections to their new client.
Mrs Watson, too, really comes into her own in this story. Early on, we learn of her holiday in Paris with her ‘niece,’ in which she has entertained admirers both male and female. Then, on her return to London, we discover that she was once the lover of a visiting Indian maharani – ruling her state as regent to her young son at that time – and this dignitary, now retired from office, is the one requiring Charlotte’s help in retrieving letters over whose content she is being blackmailed.
The blackmailers have issued an unusual demand. Rather than a specified sum of money, they require the theft of a particular painting by Van Dyke, which is soon to be auctioned at an invitation-only event in France. Charlotte and Mrs Watson recruit a selection of their friends and relatives to help with the case, and soon learn that they are not the only would-be thieves intending to attend the auction. Nor is their client the only notable person being blackmailed by the same gang.
Of course Moriarty and his associates – past and present – turn out to be at the bottom of any number of interconnected plots uncovered by Charlotte and her companions in the course of the case. The group’s path also crosses several times with that of Lady Ingram, the estranged wife of Charlotte’s friend, and one-time lover, the dashing adventurer Lord Ingram. That man’s domestic complications also feature heavily in the story as he receives a prospective proposal of marriage (anticipating his divorce being granted) from an unlikely source, and has to decide on the best course of action at each stage of the plot with regard to his children as well as his friends and co-conspirators.
And just as all the loose ends appear to be wrapped up, Charlotte and her friends receive two separate pieces of distressing news, leading to a rash action by one of them, as well as to a new case for Charlotte, no doubt to be revealed in more detail in the next book. I can’t wait.
Grade: A
Summary:
Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of The Hollow of Fear.
As “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.
But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.
Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia’s admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
