A Conspiracy in Belgravia

The first in Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, A Study in Scarlet Women (2016), offered a clever a premise: that Sherlock Holmes is a fabrication created by Miss Charlotte Holmes and her coterie of accomplices, including Mrs. Watson, in order to allow her to practice her skills as a detective in the male-centric world of Victorian England. Potential clients are told they must consult Sherlock through his “sister” because of his ill health. In this entertaining sequel, Lady Ingram, the wife of Charlotte’s friend and benefactor, Lord Ingram, needs help with a delicate matter that she wishes to keep secret from her husband. Lady Ingram’s true love, whom she declined to marry because he wasn’t rich enough, has failed to show up for their annual rendezvous at London’s Albert Memorial. Charlotte takes on the case, but what seems like a straightforward search for a missing person soon spirals into something altogether more complicated and sinister. Could Professor Moriarty be involved? Thomas writes with brio and creates appealing characters. Sherlockians may get a kick out of Charlotte’s sister, Livia, an aspiring writer, who wishes to write a story based on Charlotte’s exploits—a story that sounds a lot like Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary. (Sept.)