The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth
A Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Book 3
Leonard Goldberg
Minotaur Books, Jun 2019
314 pages, ebook, hardcover, Audiobook, Audio CD
Historical Mystery
✭✭✭✭
eARC from NetGalley
The cover is lovely and shows Ms. Holmes looking just as unconcerned as her illustrious father as she gathers blooms for a bouquet of roses and lilies in a busy marketplace.
The story was interesting as Joanna and the Watsons put together bits and pieces of clues to figure out where the missing cryptographer is being held and what condition he is in. They seem to be able to use the smallest bits of evidence to tell that the missing Englishman is keeping his secrets and holding up to torture well and possibly where he will be moved to next. It’s not the newspaper that is left behind, but some little fact about the condition of it or such that tells them this. Then there is the information in the bathroom, behind the mirror, under the bed, in the closet, and a million other tiny things they seem to scent out. Oops, they almost missed the soggy tea bag. After a bit, it seemed to lag a tad for me as it seemed the clues were getting a bit far fetched and they just weren’t getting any closer to saving their cryptographer from the Nazis before he gave up his secrets or they killed him.
The pace, as I said, lagged a bit when the clues seemed to get a bit far fetched and the chase had gone on too long. But Joanna is a Holmes with the brain to prove it, and she always gets her bad guys in the end. I recommend this book to Sherlock Holmes readers, but don’t expect quite the same amount of suspense or drama. Joanna is a calmer person and doesn’t have quite the flair her father did. Still, it was a good read.
a thoughtful reveal 