In the tenth book in Vicki Delany’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series, The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime, the author packs up bookstore owner Gemma Doyle and her friends and sends them to London. You would think West London, Massachusetts would be quiet without Gemma and her crew, but her Uncle Arthur easily stirs up trouble when the gang’s away.

Gemma’s older sister Pippa is getting married, so the group that went to London in There’s a Murder Afoot, returns for the wedding. It’s Gemma, her boyfriend, Ryan, Gemma’s friend, Jayne and her boyfriend, Andy, and the store’s eager Sherlock Holmes customer, Donald. The wedding and reception go off without a hitch, but a jet-lagged Gemma runs into her ex-husband, Paul, as she leaves the hotel. Paul, who bought out Gemma’s share of their London bookstore, assures her he has a book that is priceless, and asks her to meet him at the bookstore in the morning.

Gemma doesn’t trust her ex, who cheated on her. She recruits Pippa’s new husband, Grant, to accompany her since he’s a book dealer and would know more about rare books than she does. Donald tags along. But, it’s Gemma who finds Paul’s strangled body in his office.

Now, Gemma feels obligated to look for Paul’s killer, along with the priceless book that he mentioned. Several of her friends join in the hunt, one that takes them all over the city.

Secrets. While those of us who read the series knew Gemma had an ex-husband, her boyfriend, Ryan, did not. Whoops. And, Paul seems to have had many of them after the divorce, many secrets and many women. But, no one knew of a priceless book.

While many of us don’t enjoy cozy mysteries that take the amateur sleuth from their environment, The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime works because Gemma takes her friends with her. And, we do have the normal humor due to Uncle Arthur’s activities in West London. I’ll admit, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the ones that incorporate the bookstore and tea shop, but it works better than many cozies set outside the normal environment.

Vicki Delany’s website is http://vickidelany.com/.

The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime by Vicki Delany. Crooked Lane Books, 2025. ISBN 9781639109265 (hardcover), 288p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley to review for a journal.