Publishers Weekly
11/06/2023
Delany’s ninth mystery featuring Cape Cod bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Gemma Doyle (after 2023’s The Game Is a Footnote) is the series’ best yet. London, Mass., is hosting a new psychic fair that has attracted many visitors to the town, and to the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. During the event, Doyle is invited by her friend, Bunny, a former teenage pop star whose daughter, Ashleigh, assists Doyle in running the store, to a séance held by a medium named Madame Lavalier. Despite Doyle’s skepticism about the supernatural, she agrees to attend. When she joins the small gathering, however, Madame Lavalier excludes Doyle from the locked library where the group will attempt to contact the dead, citing the bookseller’s skepticism. The evening ends tragically, when one of the 12 people in the room is killed by a hatpin inserted precisely at the base of their skull. After elbowing her way into the police inquiry, Doyle utilizes her Sherlockian attention to detail to crack the case. The closed-circle setup is brilliantly executed, and will appeal to golden age mystery fans and Holmes fans alike. Delany’s series has plenty of gas left in the tank. Agent: Kimberly Lionetti, BookEnds Literary. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Sign of the Four Spirits:
“Fans of Holmes and the occult will enjoy following the Great Detective along the trail.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Brilliantly executed . . . Will appeal to golden age mystery fans and Holmes fans alike.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[A] satisfying addition to the cozy Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series.”
—Booklist
“Does not disappoint.”
—San Francisco Book Review
“Readers will love this series and everything there is within the books.”
—Cozy Mystery Book Reviews
“This is the ninth book in the series, and they keep getting better . . . Delaney writes such fun, small-town mystery novels.”
—Red Carpet Crash
“A nice addition to her comfortable series.”
—The Red Circle
Praise for the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries:
"A must read for lovers of all things Sherlock Holmes."
—Jenn McKinlay, NYT and USA Today bestselling author
"Vicki Delany is one of my favorite mystery authors and with Elementary, She Read, she has outdone herself."
—Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author
"Cheers for a charming, intelligent heroine as observant as The Great Detective himself.”
—Carolyn Hart, New York Times bestselling author
“Thoroughly delightful. I defy anyone to read this book and not fall in love with the uber-observant Gemma Doyle."
—Laura DiSilverio, bestselling author
“Huzzah for Vicki Delany who’s created vivid characters, a setting that will whet the appetite of mystery readers, and a who-dun-it well worth investigating.”
—Kylie Logan, nationally bestselling author
"A treat for Holmes fans with plenty of twists and turns in the best Sherlock-ian style."
—Kirkus Reviews
“Gemma is a delightful sleuth, and the tidbits of Sherlockiana will engage both cozy fans and Holmes devotees.”
—Booklist
“Suggest for fans who enjoy humor in the Sherlock Holmes pastiches or readers of Carolyn Hart’s ‘Death on Demand’ mysteries.”
—Library Journal
“Delightful…Cozy fans fond of Sherlock Holmes will have fun.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A charming combination of history and mystery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A love letter to classic mysteries with suspense, sleuthing, and humor.”
—Manhattan Book Review, 5-star review
Kirkus Reviews
2023-10-21
Just because Sherlock Holmes is no longer among us doesn’t mean his methods can’t be used to solve crimes.
Gemma Doyle, a transplant from England who shares a home and business with her globetrotting great-uncle, runs the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium at 222 Baker Street in Cape Cod’s West London. Now that a psychic fair’s in town, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books on spiritualism are flying off the shelves. Gemma has no interest in such things, but many of her friends do, especially Sherlock devotee Donald Morris and former pop star Bunny Leigh, who go to the fair and end up inviting several friends to a séance. Somehow Gemma and her friend Jayne Wilson, half-owner, manager, and baker at Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room at 220 Baker Street, get talked into attending along with Donald, Bunny’s daughter, another employee, and two couples Gemma met at her store. Before the séance begins in the library at the home of wealthy Rebecca Stanton, Madame Lavalier asks Gemma to leave: “Your skepticism is not wanted here,” she says. Gemma sits outside the door but finds it difficult to hear everything inside because a storm is raging overhead. When Madame is killed, chaos ensues, and Gemma calls the police, who arrive in the form of her boyfriend, Det. Ryan Ashburton. Given Gemma’s reputation for solving murders and the very limited group of suspects who could have stabbed Madame with a hat pin, it might seem an easy mystery to solve, but nailing down the motive is anything but.
Fans of Holmes and the occult will enjoy following the Great Detective along the trail.
