The Three Locks
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- €7.49
Publisher Description
A heatwave melts London as Holmes and Watson are called to action in this new Sherlock Holmes adventure by Bonnie MacBird, author of “one of the best Sherlock Holmes novels of recent memory.”
In Whitechapel, a renowned Italian escape artist dies spectacularly on stage during a performance – immolated in a gleaming copper cauldron of his wife’s design. In Cambridge, the runaway daughter of a famous don drowns, her long blonde hair tangled in the Jesus Lock on the River Cam. And in Baker Street, a malevolent locksmith exacts an unusual price to open a small silver box sent to Watson.
From the glow of the London stage to the buzzing Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where physicists explore the edges of new science of electricity, Holmes and Watson race between the two cities to solve the murders, encountering prevaricating prestidigitators, philandering physicists and murderous mentalists, all the while unlocking secrets which may be best left undisclosed. And one, in particular, lands very close to home.
Reviews
“MacBird’s artistry will keep readers eagerly turning the pages.”
—Michael Dirda, Washington Post
“Intriguing … MacBird artfully alternates among multiple plotlines, maximizing suspense. With its deep probe into the friendship between the detective and the doctor, this is a good choice for fans of Sherlock Holmes.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Perfectly captures the essence of Conan Doyle's fiction.'
—Independent
“Bonnie MacBird’s The Three Locks satisfies a hunger for more adventures of Holmes and Watson on so many levels. Not only does she perfectly capture their voices, she captures that most critical element—their humanity. Brava!”
—Leslie S. Klinger, editor, New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
“Bonnie MacBird’s sly plot and admirable sense of pacing keeps the story twisting and turning in a way that would have kept Doyle himself turning the pages.”
—Michael Sims, author of Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes
“Though stage magic features in The Three Locks, the real magician is author Bonnie MacBird, who once again brings humour, action, rigorous period detail, and the characters we love to her latest Holmes adventure.”
—Dennis Palumbo, author of the Daniel Rinaldi series, Writing from the Inside Out
“Bonnie MacBird has conjured up a captivating three-card monte of murder, mystery and magic. The Three Locks may be her best yet.”
—Dan Stashower, author of Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle
“Skilfully intertwining three very different mysteries, Bonnie MacBird’s fourth Sherlock Holmes novel is as intriguing as it is clever.”
—Love London, Love Culture
“MacBird's series grows stronger with each book and she remains the best and most faithful pastiche writer out there today – bar none.”
—The Doylockian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MacBird's intriguing fourth Sherlock Holmes adventure (after 2019's The Devil's Due) centers on three possibly connected mysteries. The first fleshes out the backstory of Dr. Watson, who's unsettled to receive a letter and a locked box from an unknown woman, Elspeth Carnachan, who claims to have been his late father's estranged half-sister. In the letter, Carnachan states the box was given to her by Watson's mother, who died under mysterious circumstances two days afterward. Carnachan was supposed to pass the box to Watson when he turned 21, but forgot. Meanwhile, Watson and Holmes get two more puzzles to handle. One involves a magician whose wife worries that a human finger sent to her husband presages a threat to him. Another prospective client, a deacon, worries about the disappearance of a young woman he's fond of whose family members don't appear concerned. MacBird artfully alternates among the multiple plotlines, maximizing suspense. With its deep probe into the friendship between the detective and the doctor, this is a good choice for fans of Lyndsay Faye's Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
