lastblossom reviewed The Isolated Séance by Jeri Westerson (Irregular Detective Mysteries, #1)
A well-paced Victorian mystery that pays faithful homage to the Sherlock Holmes canon while introducing new characters. The young leads still have a lot to learn, leaving some of the solutions to feel more like luck than skill.
The author's notes briefly touch on the myriad Sherlock Holmes spinoffs that introduce new family members, include robot dinosaurs, or have him wake up in the 22nd century. To my pride/shame, I have seen all of those adaptations. And I am as surprised as the author that so few of them touch on the beloved Baker Street Irregulars (For completeness' sake, I will note I've seen the short-lived Netflix series "The Irregulars," but that one leaned very hard into supernatural elements and less into crime solving). And so I was delighted to see the start of a new series featuring Timothy Badger, a former irregular who was inspired to follow in Holmes' footsteps and become a private detective. His partner in crime solving is Benjamin Watson (no relation), a brilliant young man with a varied work history and the skills to show for it. Holmes believes in them enough that …
The author's notes briefly touch on the myriad Sherlock Holmes spinoffs that introduce new family members, include robot dinosaurs, or have him wake up in the 22nd century. To my pride/shame, I have seen all of those adaptations. And I am as surprised as the author that so few of them touch on the beloved Baker Street Irregulars (For completeness' sake, I will note I've seen the short-lived Netflix series "The Irregulars," but that one leaned very hard into supernatural elements and less into crime solving). And so I was delighted to see the start of a new series featuring Timothy Badger, a former irregular who was inspired to follow in Holmes' footsteps and become a private detective. His partner in crime solving is Benjamin Watson (no relation), a brilliant young man with a varied work history and the skills to show for it. Holmes believes in them enough that he's decided to sponsor them, and he's even sent them their first case - a complicated problem involving a man murdered in the dark of a seance.
This first book reads a lot like a pilot episode. The mystery is a tight one with a clean solution. Clues and reveals lead to more clues and reveals, with each piece fitting into the others very nicely. Our two leads still have the proverbial training wheels on, though. Holmes has to give them a hint more than once, and more reveals come from listening at the right time rather than the art of deduction. A few brief discussions about the racism, classism, and sexism common to this era don't come to any particular conclusion. The inclusion of a somewhat grating reporter (who's set up to maybe become a friend eventually) is also a point of frustration. The pilot-like feel of this book makes it a hard one to review on its own. There's a very purposeful "more to come" ending (despite it not being a cliffhanger), that makes this reader feel very dissatisfied. But it seems to be working, since I will definitely be tuning in for the next installment.
Edit: I've read the second book now, and I like it. Check out my full review here.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.