Die Again, Mr. Holmes: A Sherlock Holmes/Lucy James Mystery

The teasing prologue to Elliott and Veley’s entertaining eighth pastiche featuring Sherlock Holmes and his detective daughter, Lucy (after 2018’s The Return of the Ripper), presents the shocking news that Holmes has been shot and fallen into the Thames. Flash back to 10 days earlier. Holmes and Dr. Watson attend a London courtroom as a jury renders its guilty verdict in the case of Thomas Newman, the head of the Bleeders, a vicious East End gang. Newman’s only utterance before being sentenced to hang is the ominous sentence, “I’m not done yet.” The meaning of that becomes clearer when Florence Janine approaches Holmes and Watson outside the Old Bailey asking for help tracing her fiancé, John Swafford. He’s a police detective investigating Newman and had told Janine that the gang leader was plotting to bribe his jailers and escape. Meanwhile, Lady Serena Lynley retains Lucy to find her missing maid, Alice Gordon. The authors provide a clever variation on a familiar theme by making the concept of Holmes as a parent plausible. (BookLife)