No One Notices the Boys (Baker Street Inquiries, 2)
Michelle Birkby’s second Baker Street Inquiry, featuring Mrs. Martha Hudson and Mrs. Mary Watson, is a gem of both plot and probing characterization. Gently ignoring the Great Sleuth, other than to point out why he’s willing to let a case slide over to these women, Birkby offers a persistent and persuasive team of two women who’ve been underestimated—and who have their own very female motivations for investigating and seeking justice.
Mrs. Hudson’s regrettable surgery for a “blockage” lands her in a semiprivate ward of a London hospital, surrounded by unusual women and apparent murders. Dr. Watson has connived to place her there. “Do what you do best, Mrs. Hudson,” he urges: “Listen, watch and learn.”
Meanwhile his wife Mary Watson, Martha’s close friend, slowly reveals a case obsessing her: young boys without much family, kidnapped and missing on a regular basis. The lads of the Baker Street Irregulars have brought this to her attention, since it threatens them as well. Cautiously, slowed by both Mrs. Hudson’s surgical wound and Mrs. Watson’s limits as a woman in polite society, the pair find links to the hospital murders and begin to sort out an essentially female crime: The criminal appears to be obsessed with lost children.
Of particular interest are Mrs. Hudson’s insights about Holmes: his methods, his connections, his addiction. In turn, he yields her a surprising amount of respect, including an explanation: “I thought it would be good training for you both, to sift fact from fairy tale, and find out what truth lies at the bottom of these stories.” And, as it turns out, what danger. Baker Street fans may find the series unexpectedly perceptive and wry.
