Fiction, Cozy Mystery

5*****

Review: I had a lot of fun with this story. I don’t know if you’re too young to remember, but years ago, there was a TV show called “Remington Steel” where a young woman created an imaginary man to be the head of her detective agency. This book has a similar premise in that the two sleuths – Marty (Martha) Hudson and her friend Irene Adler use Sherlock Holmes as their boss, but he is conveniently always out of the country. Oh, and the Moriarty siblings are Marty and Irene’s rivals in the PI business (thought technically, Marty and Irene are not PIs).

Marty is a barista on a college campus and she inherited a run-down Victorian that needs extensive repairs while she lives in an equally run-down apartment building. Irene, on the other hand, has all kinds of money thanks to being a genius and computer expert. Add in a paroled plumber and an ME who is very interested in Marty (and isn’t bad to look at either).

The characters are fun, the world building interesting, and the mystery satisfying with lots of suspects and clues throughout. And a satisfying ending that leaves a string dangling so we know there are going to be more stories in this series (considering this is #3, that’s a given). You don’t need to have read the others to understand all this, but I suggest that you do.

Recommended.

Blurb: Martha “Marty” Hudson thought her lie about working for a great detective named Sherlock Holmes was supposed to be a onetime thing. Okay, maybe two times, but when her best friend Irene Adler drags Marty along to meet “Sherlock’s” latest client, Marty is pretty sure they’re in over their heads at playing private eye.Cordelia Westerbury is a wealthy widow… one who is certain that one of her no-good family members is trying to bump her off for their inheritance. While her evidence is less than convincing, she’s willing to pay generously to have the ladies of Holmes Investigations attend a cocktail party where all her “suspects” will be assembled. At first Marty thinks maybe the woman has read a few too many Gothic novels. But when the cocktail party ends in an actual dead body, Marty begins to realize that batty or not, Cordelia is right about one there is a killer in their midst. Is it the pompous nephew with expensive habits and shallow pockets? His gold-digging wife who may be more scheming than her flighty persona suggests? The brooding millennial granddaughter who uses her disdain for just about everything as the perfect cover-up? Or the long-lost cousin who conveniently shows up just as Cordelia’s contemplating a change in her will? Marty isn’t sure, but the stakes only go higher when a new private detective firm, Moriarty Investigations, sets themselves up as Sherlock’s arch nemesis, trying to poach his clients.Between juggling a family of suspects, the distractingly gorgeous Medical Examiner, Dr. Watson, the annoyingly competent Moriartys, and an investigative reporter bent on outing Sherlock Holmes as a fake, Marty has her hands more than full. But when the killer sets his sight on Marty and Irene, Sherlock’s biggest case just may end up being their last…

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58653831-sherlock-holmes-and-the-case-of-the-wealthy-widow