November 16, 2020
Someone fatally hits Anna Wentworth in the head with a rock while Anna, a leading light of the West London, Mass., garden club, is walking her dog one evening, in Delaney’s entertaining sixth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery (after 2020’s There’s a Murder Afoot). Garden club gossip soon pins the blame on Anna’s former friend and current rival, Sheila Tierney, and so do the police. When Lauren, Sheila’s 11-year-old daughter, pleads with Gemma Doyle, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop’s owner, to prove her mother’s innocence, Gemma, who recently helped Lauren find her lost kitten, can’t refuse. Digging deeper into the abundant West London dirt, Gemma discovers sexual peccadillos, marital discord, secret agreements, and a few consummate liars. “It still surprises me sometimes what a person with a bit of internet knowledge and a suspicious mind can find out,” she observes as she closes in on the culprit. Sherlockian lore enhances the easy-to-follow plot. Cozy fans and Holmes buffs alike will be satisfied. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary.