ARC Review: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

The Art of Theft 
Author: Sherry Thomas
Series: The Lady Sherlock Series (Book 4)
Publication: Berkley (October 15, 2019)

Description: Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today bestselling author of The Hollow of Fear.

As "Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective," Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.

But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.

Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia's admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake...

My Thoughts: Charlotte Holmes' next case comes to her by way of Mrs. Watson. When Mrs. Watson was young she had a romantic affair with the Maharani of Ajmer was the regent for her young son. The affair was ended when Mrs. Watson couldn't follow her back to India because of her own needs to secure her own security.

Now the maharani has come to London hoping to hire Sherlock Holmes to steal some incriminating letters back from the blackmailer who holds them. When she learns that Sherlock Holmes is unavailable, she wants to find someone else to help her. Mrs. Watson convinces Charlotte to take the case and Charlotte recruits her friend Lord Ingram to help. Her sister Olivia and her sweetheart Mr. Marbleton are also recruited.

The more they look into the situation the more they become convinced that the maharani hasn't told them the whole truth and the letters - supposedly in the back of an artwork by Van Dyck which will soon be sold at auction - might be the least of their worries.

This is a heist story. Charlotte and her colleagues need to learn about the Chateau where the art auction will be held, get invitations to the party, and find a way to remove a large piece of art out of a heavily guarded home perched on an island in a lake.

Charlotte begins to suspect that there is more going on than their potential art theft and old enemies of both Lord Ingram and Mr. Marbleton have some sort of role in the whole situation. Meanwhile, with Lord Ingram on the verge of divorce, his relationship with Charlotte is changing in ways that jeopardize their future. And Olivia's relationship with Mr. Marbleton is at least as precarious.

This is the fourth book in the Lady Sherlock series and in each we learn more about all of the characters who are complex and interesting people. And the ending clearly signals that more adventures are in story for Charlotte Holmes and her companions.

Favorite Quote:

Rather than feeling ashamed for having been so wrong in his assumptions, he had instead become annoyed by just how strange she was. And by the fact that he was and would continue to be friends with a girl so far from normality she'd need a sextant and an ocean voyage to find it. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.