I don’t know how I missed the eleventh Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery by Vicki Delany. But, darn her anyways. She killed off my favorite suspect in The Devil in the Details. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. Delany is much smarter than that, and her amateur sleuth, Gemma Doyle, is cleverer than the police. Of course, I wouldn’t figure it out either.
Gemma is the owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium in West London, Massachusetts.Her best friend, Jayne Wilson, owner of Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, is celebrating her birthday a week before her wedding to Andy Whitehill, owner and chef at the Blue Water Cafe. So many of Jayne and Andy’s family and friends are in town for the wedding that Andy closes the restaurant, and has a blowout party for Jayne’s birthday. When Gemma jumps into the water to save an uninvited guest from drowning, it sort of spoils the atmosphere. The arrival of police and an ambulance can do that.
Gemma’s boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton, is out of town, so Gemma’s frenemy, Detective Louise Estrada has the case. Gemma always seems to be able to uncover clues that the police miss, or people talk to her, so Estrada isn’t happy that she’s the one who rescued the victim. While, Estrada thinks the victim was murdered, Gemma gives the death the benefit of the doubt, and thinks it might have been an accident on a deck on a wintry night. However, when Gemma finds a body, and that one was killed, she inadvertently puts the focus on Jayne’s husband-to-be, Andy. Now, it’s up to Gemma to find the killer, freeing Andy to marry her best friend.
I always enjoy the cast in Delany’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries. Gemma is intelligent, and Ryan has grown to accept that she’ll always be one step ahead of him on these cases. This one was personal to Gemma, so she had reasons to investigate. Now that I’ve caught up with Gemma and her friends, I’m all ready for the January release of A Murder Most Irregular.
Vicki Delany’s website is https://vickidelany.com/
The Devil in the Details by Vicki Delany. Crooked Lane Books, 2026. 293p.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
