It’s been three years since Charlotte Holmes struck a decisive blow against Moriarty’s operations in Britain, three years of relative calm and benign developments. In a buoyant mood, everyone gathers at Lord Ingram’s seaside cottage in North Devon for what promises to be a perfect summer holiday. Until Mrs. Watson receives an invitation from Mrs. Carstairs, her long-estranged sister, to attend a house party nearby.
Mrs. Carstairs has married spectacularly well. She is the mistress of a great manor, a doyen of all domestic arts, and still an unforgettable beauty. Now she clamors for a reconciliation with her sister. Mrs. Watson does not trust Mrs. Carstairs’s motives. Yet she cannot help but feel tremors of the old admiration for this once-beloved sister.
Then Mrs. Carstairs disappears without a trace. The next day a woman is discovered floating on the waves, her build and coloring matching those of Mrs. Carstairs. But her husband insists that the corpse fished out of the Bristol Channel cannot be his wife. So where is the real Mrs. Carstairs? Would she have purposely dragged Mrs. Watson into a murder investigation? Or was it Sherlock Holmes’s involvement that she needed from the very beginning?
Release Date: Sep 29, 2026
Series: The Lady Sherlock Series
Book: 9
Heat Level: Warm
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $12.99
One down, and one to go… Thomas builds the suspense and starts the wrap-up to Charlotte Holmes adventures.
Let me start out by saying, from reading this book, I can sense the end. Charlotte, Mrs. Watson, Lord Ingram, Livia… honestly, this entire cast of characters has grown and changed so much over the course of years and the books themselves. They are reaching the point that it’s almost time to move on, but their enemy Moriarty is still eluding them. Though for Sherlock fans heads up that the spectre of Moriarty although present in this story, doesn’t play a front and center role. No, this book is all about Mrs. Watson’s sister, Justina.
Justina married well, and she’s played a big role in Mrs. Watson’s life, with various interactions that have occurred over the years. There are few flashbacks to illustrate such, and the mystery is as much as Justina requesting Mrs. Watson’s appearance at a house party along with Justina’s sudden disappearance a few days later. When a woman’s body washes up on the shore, looking similar to her sister, but almost unidentifiable, Mrs. Watson asks Charlotte to help her discover the truth. A truth that may not bring peace but could bring with it suffering. Unearthing secrets and mysteries isn’t always a happy affair.
Thomas strikes again with a fabulous mystery, with many twists and turns. Halfway through, I had so many questions, and whenever I believed I had discovered the mystery itself, I was then shown how I had no real idea. This book didn’t produce winners, per se. Though I do believe it helped shape Mrs. Watson and Charlotte’s futures, with them making decisions on how to move forward based on the circumstances and events they were exposed to. This book has a big emotional toll, a reminder of how choices we make, even with the best intentions, can shape and form relationships with the ones we care the most for in horrible ways.
Overall, this is a great entry in the series, and I can start envisioning an endgame. For those who read this wondering who Charlotte Holmes is, you must refrain from reading this book without starting at the beginning. This is probably the closest to a standalone Lady Sherlock you could read, but you’d do yourself a disservice. For those who love historicals and mysteries.
~ Landra
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