About this item
Sherlockians will delight at the latest charming installment of national bestselling author Vicki Delany's fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery. Gemma and Jayne donate their time to raise money for the rebuilding of a burned out museum -- but a killer wants a piece of the auction.Walking her dog Violet late one night, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, acts quickly when she smells smoke outside the West London Museum. Fortunately no one is inside, but it's too late to save the museum's priceless collection of furniture, and damage to the historic house is extensive. Baker Street's shop owners come together to hold an afternoon auction tea to raise funds to rebuild, and Great Uncle Arthur Doyle offers a signed first edition of The Valley of Fear. Cape Cod's cognoscenti files into Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room, owned by Gemma's best friend, Jayne Wilson. Excitement fills the air (along with the aromas of Jayne's delightful scones, of course) . But the auction never happens. Before the gavel can fall, museum board chair Kathy Lamb is found dead in the back room. Wrapped tightly around her neck is a long rope of decorative knotted tea cups -- a gift item that Jayne sells at Mrs. Hudson's. Gemma's boyfriend in blue, Ryan Ashburton, arrives on the scene with Detective Louise Estrada. But the suspect list is long, and the case far from elementary. Does Kathy's killing have any relation to a mysterious death of seven years ago? Gemma has no intention of getting involved in the investigation, but when fellow shopkeeper Maureen finds herself the prime suspect she begs Gemma for her help. Ryan knows Gemma's methods and he isn't happy when she gets entangled in another mystery. But with so many suspects and so few clues, her deductive prowess will prove invaluable in A Scandal in Scarlet, Vicki Delany's shrewdly plotted fourth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.
About the Author
Vicki Delany is one of Canada's most varied and prolific crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. Most recently, she is the author of the Year Round Christmas cozy mysteries from Berkley, The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series from Crooked Lane and (writing under the pen name of Eva Gates) the Lighthouse Library mysteries also from Crooked Lane.Although she's loving writing cozy mysteries these days in the past she's written standalone novels of suspense (MORE THAN SORROW, BURDEN OF MEMORY) , a traditional village police procedural series (The Constable Molly Smith novels - the eighth of which is UNREASONABLE DOUBT) and the lighthearted Klondike Gold Rush Series (Incl GOLD DIGGER and GOLD WEB) She also writes Rapid Reads novellas for Orca Books including the mulit-award-nominated JUBA GOOD and BLOOD AND BELONGING.Vicki's work has been nomiated for Arthur Ellis Awards, the Derringer, The Bony Blithe, and the Ontario Library Association's Golden Oak. Vicki is a past-president of the Crime Writers of Canada, a member of Capital Crime Writers, and Sisters in Crime and a founder and organizer of Women Killing It! A festival of female crime writers held each year in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where she lives among the tomato and sunflower fields.
