William R. Todd

Goodreads blurb: While on a well-deserved holiday in the Lake District to get away from the toils and troubles of London, Holmes and Watson find no respite. As soon as they exit the train they hear news of a grisly murder making its way around the murmuring commuters. A local aristocrat, Mr. Darcy, has been found missing his head! And that very night, the wealthy widow finds a stranger in her home who, upon seeing her, abandons his plans and quickly leaves.

She believes the intruder to be the show more murderer of her husband who is now after a large sum of cash she keeps in the house safe. Unsure if the would-be thief is the murderer or an opportunistic burglar, Holmes devises a plan to catch the burglar, all the while investigating the murder of Mr. Darcy. Follow Holmes, Watson, and the local constable, Mr. Wickham, as they untangle the mystery surrounding a Murder in Keswick.

My review: A modern re-telling of a beloved Sherlock Holmes classic. How could I resist? Yes, we all know that this is not one of the beloved Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories, but what a joy to read nonetheless. William Todd does a fantastic job with this story. In typical Holmes and Watson style, the suspects are eliminated one-by-one. This is a delightful little mystery, and I was kept guessing right until the very end.

Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. show less

This was a good, classic Holmes & Watson tale. I think it would fit well into the original Doyle canon. I can just imagine H&W on vacation, with Holmes bored stiff until a headless body turns up. The glint of glee in his eyes must have shown to anyone interacting with him as he worked at the mystery.

Mrs. Darcy is no shrinking violet, which I liked. The ladies are still few in number and have limited roles, just as in the original stories (alas). I also liked Morwenna, who was no nonsense as show more well but in a different way from the American Mrs. Darcy. I think it was Morwenna that had my favorite line about finding dirty laundry under the bed, where her husband kicked it. She said something to the effect of her husband training her for child rearing by being lazy with his dirty clothes. Ha! I laughed out loud because it made me think of my man and how he leaves socks, plates, and empty drink containers here and there.

Initially, there are many suspects who had motive to take out Mr. Darcy. However, since we all know this is a Holmes mystery, it was very hard to ignore any little detail that might lead Holmes (and me as the reader) to the real killer. Still, the take did have a great twist near the end and I was little surprised by the final answer to the mystery. Kudos to the author for making it a little more intricate than expected.

Over all, the story has the feel and quality of the original H&W stories. I was entertained the entire time even if I was left wanting a bit more from the ladies. The story kept true to the Victorian setting. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Ben Werling is great with Sherlock’s arrogant voice as well as being great with the indulgent, easy-going voice of Watson. His female voices need some work. While there were few ladies in this story, they sounded like men. I had to pay close attention to their scenes to keep track of who said what when. Werling does do a great job of capturing the subtle emotional changes of Sherlock as well the more explosive emotions of Watson. His pacing is perfect and there are no technical recording issues. 4/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by William Todd. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. show less

This is the third Sherlock Holmes pastiche story I have read by this author, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two. The portrayals of Holmes and Watson don't strike me as wholly convincing, though they are by no means the worst I have read. The plot is decent: a headless body is discovered near Derwentwater in the Lake District just as Holmes and Watson arrive for a rare holiday away from the crime-ridden streets of late 19th century London. The solution to the mystery lies in the show more tangled love lives of two local families. I read this book as I am about to go for another holiday in the Lake District, though to be honest this story could have taken place in any rural area in England - the precise countryside is not integral to the story. show less

I saw an online article today about this free short Sherlock Holmes spin-off story and immediately downloaded it to read. It's well written and the personae of Holmes and Watson are pretty authentic (Lestrade also makes a brief appearance). The plot involves the apparent abduction of a young girl and, without giving away exact details, involves themes that Conan Doyle would not have been able to write about quite so bluntly a century ago. The mother's motivations seemed rather obscure and show more unlikely. Good, though there was a slight note in Holmes's persona that jarred with me slightly, without my being able to describe it. show less