Lackey also continues to buck the “romance” trend with the latter installments of this historical urban fantasy series. I appreciated that the major character conflict between Nan and Sarah was in regards to a client rather than over the affections of a suitor. As these characters age, I would not be adverse to seeing one or both of them with a happily ever after of her own, but I do hope Lackey does not make that a rift in the strong female friendship between the two women.
Lackey keeps teasing me with more hints about Nan’s abilities, and one day I hope we’ll get to learn the full story(ies) behind her other-wordly psychic projection/bodyguard. I’m worried that we’ve explored Sarah’s mediumistic abilities to their full extent in this novel, so perhaps that will be the subject of a future tale.
Despite the introduction of the familiar Sherlockian characters, the opening act of the novel dragged. I was much more interested once Sarah was hired by the opera singer, kicking off the ensuing conflict with Nan.
This continues to be a solid series, and I’m already looking forward to which fairy tale or familiar story Lackey will bend next year. While I did not mind the return to England for this story with its familiar characters, I hope she continues to branch away from such a much-used setting. There is so much more of Europe, and perhaps beyond, to mine for fairy tales to twist.
Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.
Currently reading: Home Birth (Kaiju Revisited #2) by Jessica McHugh
Currently writing: 77,561/90k words
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