A Study in Treason
This is the second book in the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery series, this time set in 1914. A top-secret document is stolen from a guarded, secured library, where it is being copied. Joanna Blalock Watson, her husband Dr. John Watson Jr., along with the late Sherlock Holmes’s investigative partner, Dr. John Watson Sr, and members of the Baker Street Irregulars, are called in to assist Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade, Jr. Two murders, on top of the stolen documents, baffle all but Joanna. She solves the case, and the document is recovered. But then, what else can be expected of Holmes’s offspring?
Joanna’s genetic ability to know every answer is off-putting. She has no flaws, other than her constant smoking. Her husband, a pathologist, needs to be reminded of simple facts, and his father is ready to jump into action, but is often ill, a result of his age.
Goldberg has a wealth of knowledge of the Conan Doyle mysteries, but this story and the characters are too dependent on familiar names and former stories. Perhaps it would more greatly interest young adults or readers who have not discovered the originals. In a phrase: I was disappointed.
