Art in the Blood: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Bonnie MacBird



The first thing I noticed about this novel right from the start was that although it says, "A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" it didn't immediately feel that way. The novel's characters shared a lot of similarities and even posted at the famous 221B Baker Street address, but their attitudes, mannerisms and even dialogue was somewhat skewed. Not to discredit the author, the story in of itself was actually quite captivating and entertaining to boot. A mystery shrouding an Earl, art dealers murdering civilians and a very seductive damsel in distress.

Action flooded nearly every page in this story and the climate in the scenes help mask the shady-dealings happening on every page. Snowy nights muffling suspicious footfalls, shadows cast when no one is near, the cold ripping at the clothing of the characters as they battle to survive. I will give the author, Bonnie MacBird much praise in her set up for this story which is revealed to the reader in the first few lines of this book as "a Holmes story being found attached or folded into another book" a clever way to draw at least my attention into the story. I can honestly say that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have indeed been very impressed by the way Holmes, Watson and yes even Mycroft held themselves, even when they made mistakes, which were many while attempting to unravel this mystery.

I think this to be the one thing that differentiated the 2 authors. Doyle set up the readers to eventually figure out the crimes, mystery, etc... with a series of cues either Holmes or Watson brought up during a story. In this book however, everything the team, Holmes, Watson and Mycroft among others thought was correct in bringing them to the right path was only slightly off until of course the few remaining chapters when everything was finally revealed and came to light. I'll admit it blew my mind as to whom was really the culprit in this story. If Bonnie MacBird were to pen another Holmes book, I would pick it up without hesitation.

For more information on Art in the Blood: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery or Bonnie MacBird, please visit her Goodreads page. 
I received this book from GOODREADS for this review

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