The Plague of Thieves Affair
This is the fourth in the Carpenter and Quincannon series written by husband-and-wife team Muller and Pronzini. It opens with John Quinncannon and Sabina Carpenter working two separate cases out of their offices in San Francisco. The year is 1896, and John and Sabina, who have been partners for five years, have often been helped in their investigations by a frustratingly clever imposter claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. When a man shows up at the office, claiming the Holmes imposter is his cousin, who stands to inherit a three-million-dollar estate if he can be found and shown to be mentally competent, Sabina agrees to find Holmes, even though she is unsure of the man’s motives.
This entertaining whodunit has plenty of period details to satisfy historical fiction fans, and the authors also offer romance fans a treat with the growing attraction between Sabina and John. This was the first in the series I’d read, and I had no difficulties getting into it or understanding their relationship. The cases were solved with aplomb, with the mystery of the Holmes impersonator a central thread woven throughout. The book doesn’t break any new ground, but instead provides a satisfying read for fans of historical mysteries.
