THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

A woman plunges to her death in icy water. Was it accident, suicide, or murder?

English expatriate Gemma Doyle, half-owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookstore and Emporium at 222 Baker Street, West London, Massachusetts, also has a quarter interest in Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room with her friend Jayne Wilson. Now that Jayne is about to marry chef Andy Whitehall, owner of the Blue Water Café, everyone’s scrambling to make their wedding perfect. Andy’s throwing a birthday party for Jayne six days before their wedding, but things don’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped. Gemma, who has the keen observational powers of Holmes himself, notices that Jayne’s former boyfriend, waiter Robbie Ellis, is definitely unhappy with the upcoming nuptials. To add to the problems, Andy is at odds with his new sous-chef, Martin, and his former girlfriend, Tina Armstrong, adds to his discomfort when she crashes the party. Going out on the deck overlooking the harbor, Gemma and Jayne notice that the gate to the dock is open and something’s in the water. Jumping into the frigid harbor, Gemma and Andy almost drown in their futile attempt to save Tina. Upon her arrival, Det. Louise Estrada locks everything down until she can investigate what might be a murder. Estrada, the partner of Gemma’s boyfriend, Det. Ryan Ashburton, is no fan of Gemma, who’s been involved in solving far too many murder cases. With the wedding approaching and Andy a primary suspect, Gemma goes into sleuthing mode and finds plenty of people at the party who might have wanted Tina dead.

A delightful mystery with plenty of suspects for the intrepid sleuth to investigate using her distinctive Holmesian methods.