Audiobook Review: A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas

A Tempest at Sea
Author: Sherry Thomas
Narrator: Kate Reading
Series: The Lady Sherlock Series (Book 7)
Publication: Penguin Audio (March 14, 2023)
Length: 13 hours and 47 minutes

Description: Charlotte Holmes’s brilliant mind and deductive skills are pulled into a dangerous investigation at sea in the new mystery in the bestselling Lady Sherlock series.

After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking, and she might be able to go back to a normal life.

Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder takes place on the ship.

Instead of solving the crime, as she is accustomed to doing, Charlotte must take care not to be embroiled in this investigation, lest it become known to those who harbor ill intentions that Sherlock Holmes is abroad and still very much alive.

My Thoughts: The seventh Lady Sherlock mystery takes place on the HMS Provence. Charlotte, who faked her own death to get off Moriarty's radar, has a mission from the Crown to find some missing documents. If successful, she will get protection from Moriarty. 

Disguised as an old woman with Mrs. Watson disguised as her companion, Charlotte finds herself among a select group of passengers many of whom are known to her. In fact, the man who compromised her and cost her a place in society is traveling with his wife. Lord Ingram is traveling with his children. Her sister Olivia is traveling with her cousin. And her mother shows up unexpectedly traveling with her new maid. 

There are other passengers including Charlotte's target: a German nanny traveling with two young boys. And there are the Arkwrights: a brother and sister reunited after many years. Mr. Arkwright left England for Australia where he made his fortune. His sister was forced to make her own way in England and part of making her way may have included being naked at a house party - a thoroughly scandalous event. 

When Miss Arkwright is outed by Charlotte's seducer, attention is called to her. And when her brother is murdered Charlotte needs to solve the crime while keeping her identity secret and her search for the missing documents active. 

A Scotland Yard detective who has tangled with Charlotte and Lord Ingram before and who is traveling on the same ship is put in charge of the investigation by the ship's captain. Lord Ingram has to find a way to insert himself in the investigation in order to pass information on to Charlotte. 

The story is filled with twists and turns and lots of secrets. I enjoyed the complexity of the story. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

The Art of Theft
Author: Sherry Thomas
Narrator: Kate Reading
Series: Lady Sherlock (Book 4)
Publication: Penguin Audio (October 15, 2019)
Length: 10 hours and 17 minutes

Description: Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, is back solving new cases in the Victorian-set mystery series from the USA Today best-selling 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: The fourth Lady Sherlock mystery is starts out as a heist story. An old friend of Mrs. Watson's comes to "Sherlock Holmes" to get him to recover some indiscreet letters that are hidden behind a painting. Unfortunately, the painting is at a chateau in France that is exceptionally well guarded. 

The chateau is open once a year for an exclusive art auction which would seem to give Charlotte and her crew -- including Mrs. Watson, Charlotte's sister Livia, her friend Lord Ingram, Livia's romantic interest Mr. Stephen Marbleton, and Ingram's secret service friend - their opening to retrieve the letters. However, there are many more than one secret at the chateau and other factions are also planning to use the annual ball to further their own agendas.

Neither Charlotte nor the rest of her associates were expecting an encounter with Moriarty again or with meeting the soon-to-be-ex Lady Ingram. Those encounters have to be factored in as they execute their heist. 

This story was also filled with relationships. Livia and Stephen's seems to be star-crossed since he and his family have been on the run from Moriarty for a couple of decades and he isn't willing for Livia to join him in danger. Mrs. Watson and her old friend once had a relationship too, but Mrs. Watson left her when her lover couldn't guarantee the financial security that Mrs. Watson needed. And Charlotte and Lord Ingram have a very complicated relationship that almost defies description. Her goals and his are very far apart.

This was an engaging episode in the Lady Sherlock series. I enjoy Charlotte's character and her intelligence. She has clear goals and the determination to see them through. 

I bought this one May 26, 2023. You can buy your copy here.