July 3, 2017
Cozy fans fond of Conan Doyle are most likely to enjoy Delany’s second whodunit featuring Gemma Doyle, the proprietor of a Massachusetts bookstore specializing in Sherlockiana (after Elementary, She Read). Gemma scrambles when Renalta Van Markoff, a bestselling author, asks to hold a book signing in two days. Renalta’s romance series, featuring Mrs. Desdemona Hudson as Holmes’s lover, has a devoted following, and the event draws a huge crowd. But tragedy strikes when the flamboyant author is poisoned after drinking from a bottle of water Gemma supplied. Suspects include a Sherlockian outraged by the liberties Renalta has taken with the canon and a woman who alleges that Renalta stole the series idea from her. Gemma’s unable to resist risky amateur sleuthing, including a scheme to break into police headquarters that will leave readers who haven’t bought into the character and the conceit groaning. Gemma’s deductive skills fail to impress, given the shaky foundations for some of her conclusions. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary Agency.