Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Race to Stop a German Spy Plot in REMEMBER, REMEMBER

The game is afoot in the latest entry into post-Doyle Holmesiana. Daughter/father team Anna Elliott and Charles Veley migrate Veley's former Sherlock Holmes endeavors, expanding the Holmes and Watson force by one -- American-born actress Lucy James. And before you get all in a huff about how Sherlock would never let a young lady work with him on important cases, let me assure you he has a good reason for keeping Lucy close, and it's not a romantic one.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER continues the plot begun in Veley's THE WILHELM CONSPIRACY, as England finds itself infiltrated by German spies. The book gets off to something of a slow start as, for several chapters, Lucy -- who is also the first-person narrator -- awakens on the street in front of the British Museum with an aching head and a blank slate for a memory. With no idea of who she is or how she got there, it's hard for newer readers to latch onto the character as she follows her instincts and finds herself on the run from some master of disguise whom she perceives to be a threat. Fortunately, her keen sense of observation, honed in who-knows-what kind of training, helps keep her mostly safe as she propels herself into deathly danger.

Fortunately, after a handful of chapters, she regains her full memory, and we readers are brought, fully illuminated, into a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

The book also takes a turn for the romance, as Lucy James encounters a handsome constable, Jack Kelly, who helps Lucy during her amnesiac phase and who, against orders, believes her story about an attempted assault on her person. Kelly is a former gang member who entered the police force to make a better life for himself and his younger sister, whom he raises alone and who is an avid reader of Dr. Watson's stories about Sherlock Holmes.

As the days get closer to November 5 -- Guy Fawkes Day and a celebratory ball at the British Museum -- Sherlock, Lucy and Jack must find out who is behind framing Jack for murder, and stop a terrorist plot to blow up the museum while it is filled with dignitaries.

There are a few scenes of the famous Holmes deduction method -- interestingly enough applied by Miss James upon an early confrontation with Constable Kelly. However, there's not much in the way of solving a crime using these methods. Holmes is on hand during the climactic scenes, but it's Lucy and Jack who deal with the mastermind and his muscle. Holmes is put into the uncomfortable position of having to give relationship advice to Lucy, and reminds us more than once that he isn't one to be given over to aphorisms, given the reasoning intellectual that he is. This more human and paternal vision of Holmes may not necessarily jibe with the image of Holmes set in the minds of fans during his prior adventures, but that isn't to say that it's an unwelcome evolution of the character.

The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James are set to conclude in the upcoming THE CROWN JEWEL MYSTERY. Fans of both Holmesian stories, historical fiction, and Victorian romance will all find something to enjoy in the Sherlock Holmes / Lucy James Mystery series.