By Tessa Pulyer Posted on

The Lady Sherlock Series | A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas #BookReview #SherlockHolmes #Mystery

Charlotte Holmes’s life is in peril when her brilliant deductive skills are put to the test in her most dangerous investigation yet, locked aboard a ship at sea.

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.

Thank you to Berkley publishers for sending me a free copy of Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas.

What’s it about (in a nutshell):

A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas is the 7th Lady Sherlock mystery series book. In this installment, Charlotte Holmes, whose alter ego is Sherlock Holmes, takes a job to find a dossier for the crown. This job takes her to the RMS Provence, sailing from England to Port Said in Egypt. While on board and in disguise, a murder takes place that requires the mind of Sherlock Holmes to solve.

My Reading Experience:

How had I never heard of this series? I love Sherlock Holmes stories, Enola Holmes stories, and women empowerment stories. So, a series where Sherlock Holmes is the alter ego of a woman named Charlotte Holmes is the perfect read for me. The fact that I pushed all my other reading aside and picked this book up immediately upon receiving it speaks volumes, as many of you know. And to top it off, I couldn’t put it down once I started it, as it was everything I hoped for and more!

I loved the many twists and turns, not to mention the jaw-dropping reveal at the end. I did not see that coming as I was distracted by all the red herrings along the way. I love a clever mystery, which definitely falls into that category.

And lastly, but surely not least, I love that Sherlock Holmes is actually a woman using the alter ego/alias of Sherlock Holmes so that she can do what she does best in a society that wouldn’t accept that from a woman. I’ve never imagined Sherlock Holmes as a woman, and now I can’t imagine anything but. I just love that whole idea. It makes me positively giddy!

Characters:

Charlotte Holmes is a shockingly modern woman during a less-than-modern Victorian era. I absolutely fell in love with her cheekiness and wit and couldn’t get enough of it. I also admired her determination to do things her own way despite what society thought. During that era, to rebel like that was huge. Charlotte is brilliant, a master of disguise, and nothing even close to a wilting flower in dangerous situations. I would even conjecture that Charlotte is not the type of woman to ever experience a case of the vapors.

Charlotte Holmes and her many support characters are all very well developed. Still, at the same time, enough is held back to ensure a surprise reveal. I loved how unique each character is, no matter how small their role in the story.

Narration & Pacing:

The pacing is medium to fast, which worked well for me as a reader. I was so immersed and fascinated with it all that I might not have noticed if it had been more slow-paced. And that is very rare for me.

The narration is limited third-person and is tightly focused on Charlotte Holmes for most of the book. It does diverge to her sister Livia (who also happened to be on the ship) for a few chapters throughout, but otherwise, it stays with Charlotte. And it is told in a Holmesian style that is refreshingly easy to read.

Setting:

The setting is the RMS Provence – a ship headed from England to Port Said in Egypt. I enjoyed that it is a locked room mystery on board a vessel which is also a self-contained environment. That’s one of my favorite types of mysteries. 

It is told superbly with all the believability of an authentic Victorian-age passenger ship. Of course, some suspended disbelief is required of the reader, but I made that leap happily, as I’m sure any reader will.

Read if you like:

  • Holmesian style mysteries
  • Locked room mysteries
  • Women empowerment stories set in Victorian England

Overall Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Originality10
Writing Quality10
Pace10
Character Development8
‘Couldn’t Put It Down’-ness10
Use of Setting10
All scores, except the overall rating, are on a scale of 1-10. The overall rating is converted to the standard 5-point system.

21 Replies to “The Lady Sherlock Series | A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas #BookReview #SherlockHolmes #Mystery”

  3. energyrae says: Reply

    I had never heard of it until recently either, but I’m definitely starting it. I’m so glad you enjoyed this!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. WendyW says: Reply

    I loved this too. I just downloaded the first book in the series from my library. I want to read all the rest of them soon.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Carla says: Reply

    Wonderful review, Tessa. I am behind by two books in this series and now am excited to catch up after reading this review.

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply to Tessa @TessaTalksBooks Cancel reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.