Miss Alvermina Holmes, daughter of Sir Mycroft and niece to the famous Sherlock, is summoned to the British Museum in the dark of night. Bored with her scientific experiments, and trying to get something to take her mind off the fact that her mother abandoned her and her father over a year ago, Mina decides to accept the invite.
When she arrives, she finds that another young woman has received the same summons. Miss Evaline Stoker, the younger sister of author and theatre manager Bram, has vampire hunting in her blood, and several illustrious ancestors who hunted the supernatural scourge during the Regency era. Unfortunately for Evaline, there are very few vampires left in England, and despite all her enhanced strength and speed and the training she does, she’s never actually come across one yet. She’s also deeply uncomfortable at the sight of blood, another drawback for any slayer of the undead.
The two young ladies discover that their summoner is none other than Irene Adler, now employed as a curator at the Museum, when she’s not trying to help the royal family sort out tricky situations. A couple young women have been found dead, apparent suicides, but Miss Adler suspects foul play. A clockwork scarab was found in the possession of both the women. A third young woman has disappeared, and Miss Adler has been tasked by Princess Alexandra to do everything in her power to ensure that the girl is found alive. Adler wants to recruit Mina and Evaline as her agents.
I may have to check this out. :)
I was actually pleasantly surprised. Barring the unnecessary Dylan subplot (which I can’t go into detail about as it would be spoilery), it was a very decent setup for a new series.
Ooooo….this sounds like a premise that could go horribly wrong. I’m buying it.
Ooh, will have to look into this one – just on the third book of a trilogy about a DIFFERENT niece of Sherlock Holmes – A study in Silks – Emma Jane Holloway. If you like Sherlock AU, may I suggest the Mary Russell series by Laurie King?
I got the Emma Jane Holloway books through NetGalley, and have read the first one so far. As nieces of Sherlock Holmes go, based on just one novel, I preferred Gleason’s take. Partially because the Holloway book was just so LONG. It took too long to get to the point.
Your review was so compelling I was going to buy it but the $10 kindle price scared me off. However this author also has a well-reviewed book out on self publishing for $4 so I’m in for that.
Interesting however because one of the big self publishers digs against the big publishers is that they price their kindle books way too high. Although that is probably only interesting to me ;)
The e-book was just on special offer for the Nook, which may mean that some of the other e-book retailers will match it. While I enjoyed it, I would probably have waited until it was on sale to get it, if I hadn’t got it as a present.
OK nobody cares other than me but the book by this author (technically it’s a compilation and she is one of the authors) is FANTASTIC. The Naked Truth about Self Publishing. I’ve been reading every book on the subject and with the exception of APE all are retreads of the same material: invest in professional cover art, copy editing, and have a website. This one covers all of the tactical issues and is written by experienced professional authors. How to make the USA Today bestselling list, how to rank on Amazon, how to create a successful writing group, things that work, things that don’t.
Honestly it’s spectacular.
I know she’s been very successful with self-publishing, so I’m not surprised that she writes well about it.