REVIEW: The Cat of the Baskervilles

The Cat of the Baskervilles
Author: Vicki Delaney

West London, MA is gearing up for the tourist season. The West London Theater Festival will feature the stage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles, starring an aged British film star, Sir Nigel Bellingham. Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookstore and Emporium, and her friend Jayne, who runs the Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room next door, volunteer to help with fundraising and publicity for the Festival. At an afternoon tea fundraiser catered by Jayne, Sir Nigel is obviously drunk and completely flubs his lines during an short performance for guests. After the fundraiser, Sir Nigel can't be found. The actor is found dead at the bottom of a nearby cliff. Could he have been drunk enough to fall? Or did someone push him over the edge? Sir Nigel was obviously a cantankerous, alcoholic, washed up actor....but did someone have enough of a grudge against the old man to kill him??

I enjoy this series. I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan, so I like the idea of a Sherlock themed bookshop and tea room. The Hound of the Baskervilles is also one of my favorite Holmes stories. The mystery in this latest book moves along at a nice pace and there are plenty of suspects and plot twists, including Jayne's mother Leslie being a prime suspect. I like the background theme and the characters (although I think Gemma ia a tad on the rude side). Moriarty the shop cat is awesome and shows much cattitude. The background characters are all quirky and interesting. I like how the two main characters complement each other. Gemma is direct, very organized and details oriented,and very observant. Jayne is a bit ditzy, tends to fall for the wrong type of men, and is more flexible and impulsive. As best friends and business partners, they work very well together. Where one is weak, the other is strong. All in all, a nice entertaining cozy mystery!

The Cat of the Baskervilles is the 3rd book in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series. Vicki Delaney is the author of many mystery novels, including the Year-Around Christmas cozy series and the Constable Molly Smith series.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Crooked Lane via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**