A Curious Incident: 02/09/20

A Curious Incident by Vicki Delany is the sixth book in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery series. Gemma Doyle reluctantly tells eleven year old Lauren Tierney that she's not a consulting detective. The girl, though, can't be convinced. That night Gemma and Violet manage to find the girl's missing cat. But that's just the start.

The real mystery is the murder of a local gardening expert, Anna. Lauren's misanthropic mother, Sheila, is accused of the crime. While she's a grump and a mediocre mother, Lauren is still convinced she's not a murderer.

The astute reader will recognize the quote the title is referring to. It's taken from The Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892). If you don't get the significance, Gemma does and will explain it near the end as she realizes the solution to the crime.

While I've complained about the recent trend of serial mysteries opting for the obvious person to be the murderer, Delany makes it work here. There is enough other things go on to obfuscate the actual motive and clues to keep things interesting. On the other hand there aren't so many red herrings to be distracting or unbelievable.

Five stars

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