The Devil’s Due: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure

Set in 1890, MacBird’s solid third Sherlock Holmes adventure (after 2017’s Unquiet Spirits) poses a clever mystery for the master detective to solve. London is being afflicted by a series of strange deaths, including that of medical research donor Horatio Anson, who was found “dry, clean, and in his nightclothes, upright in his bed, yet drowned, a ‘Devil’ Tarot card in his hand.” Another victim, paper magnate Sebastian Danforth, was stabbed to death with a letter opener. Holmes learns that Anson and Danforth were both members of the Luminarians, a secret group of self-made men who use their fortunes to “bring light to the world,” and that their deaths and others may be the work of a serial killer working his way through the alphabet. The inquiry is made harder by the antipathy toward Holmes on the part of the new head of the Metropolitan Police, Titus Billings, who has vowed to “make London safe from the hordes of foreign criminals flooding our city.” Fans of traditional pastiches will want to see more from MacBird, who convincingly recreates the characters and prose style of Conan Doyle’s originals. Agent: Linda Langton, Langton International. (Oct.)