Synopsis
London, 1932.
When Harriet White rebuffs the advances of her boss at the Baker Street building society where she works, she finds herself demoted to a new position… a very unusual position. Deep in the postal department beneath the bank, she is tasked with working her way through a mountain of correspondence addressed to Baker Street’s most famous resident: Mr Sherlock Holmes.
Seemingly undeterred by the fact that Sherlock Holmes doesn’t exist, letter after letter arrives, beseeching him to help solve mysteries, and Harry diligently replies to each writer with the same response: Mr Holmes has retired from detective work and now lives in Sussex, keeping bees.
Until one entreaty catches her eye. It’s from a village around five miles from Harry’s family estate, about a young woman who went to London to work as a domestic, then disappeared soon afterwards in strange circumstances. Intrigued, Harry decides, just this once, to take matters into her own hands.
And so, the case of the missing maid is opened…
My Review
I have a little confession to make. Yes yet another one. Although I have several of Holly’s books on my ever increasing ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t read one for quite a while…until now that is. In a departure from her usual genre Holly has turned her hand to ‘cozy crime’. ‘The Missing Maid’ is the first book in ‘The Baker Street Mystery’ series and is being billed as perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes. I couldn’t wait to dive in and so without further ado, I grabbed my Kindle, grabbed a cup if tea and settled down for an interesting afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed reading ‘The Missing Maid’ but more about that in a bit.
It took me next to no time to get into ‘The Missing Maid. In fact as soon as I started reading, I realised that I was reading something special and that I would struggle to put the book down for any length of time. I was spot on too. I loved the main character of Harry (Harriet) White and it didn’t take me long to feel as though she had become a friend of mine and I felt all protective of her. I kept wanting to jump inside the book to sort out those who were upsetting her. I loved the idea of Harry being a fan of mysteries and that she ended up ‘assisting’ Sherlock Holmes with certain cases. This was one of those books that grabbed me and didn’t let me go until long after I had read the very last word on the very last page. The more of the book that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I was so wrapped up in the story and in the lives of the different characters that I didn’t realise just how quickly the time was passing and how quickly I was getting through the book. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘The Missing Maid’ and I had to say goodbye to Harry. I found ‘The Missing Maid’ to be a gripping cozy mystery which certainly kept me guessing.
‘The Missing Maid’ is extremely well written and then some. Holly has an easy going writing style which grabs the reader’s attention from the start and entices the reader into the story. Holly’s love for her characters shines through in the very vivid and realistic way in which she describes them. She makes her characters seem just as real as you and I. Harry ended up feeling more like a friend than a character in a book. ‘The Missing Maid’ is set in London in 1932 and the story is written in such a way that you really do feel as though you have been transported back to that era. Personally I love stories that are set during the interwar years especially when the language of that time period is used. I love the way in which the author makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Missing Maid’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers and particularly to those who love cozy mysteries. I look forward to reading much more of Holly’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
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