The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth: A Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mystery

Set in London in 1915, Goldberg’s enjoyable third Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery (after 2018’s A Study in Treason) finds Holmes’s daughter, Joanna Blalock, searching for cryptographer Alistair Ainsworth, who has been kidnapped by Germans. Joanna, Dr. John Watson, and the doctor’s son (and her husband), John Jr., join forces with the police and naval intelligence officers to scour the city for Ainsworth, who, they discover, is part of a high-ranking unit charged with ensuring that the Germans can’t decipher British naval codes. Like her late father (who died in 1903, according to Goldberg), Joanna works through the logic of any puzzle presented, large or small, and fans of traditional mysteries will appreciate the way each clue is laid out for Joanna to piece together. John Jr. does an able job as narrator as the action builds to a satisfying finale. The many references to the original Sherlock Holmes adventures will please Conan Doyle fans. Agent: Scott Mendel, Mendel Media Group. (June)