Elementary, She Read: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery

In Vicki Delany’s Elementary, She Read, the first in her Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries, we meet Gemma Doyle, the owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, who has the same deductive mind and knack for finding trouble as the beloved classic character. She is helped by her friend and co-owner of the adjoining Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, Jane Wilson (I see what you did there Delany!), and her own Lestrade-esque detective, Ryan Ashburton.

Upon discovering a potentially rare and valuable edition of a Sherlock Holmes story hidden among the books on her store shelves, Gemma can’t stop herself from investigating, despite being number one on the suspect list after the discovery of the book owner’s body. She must put her powers of deduction to work to discover which of the suspects on her own list is the murderer before she ends up locked up–or worse!

Being a reader of A.C. Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels helps, but even the person who knows the character and his deductive detection methods only through the new television series will be able to follow along quite easily thanks to Delany’s vivid descriptions and non-obtrusive explanations. Who can resist a fast-paced, quick-witted, ripping good yarn? Certainly not a bibliophile like me!