The Wayward Prince
A Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mystery
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- ¥1,700
発行者による作品情報
The fate of Prince Harry and the British throne lies in the hands of Joanna and the Watsons in the latest Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery from USA Today bestselling author Leonard Goldberg.
During the height of the Great War, playboy Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, vanishes in thin air while horseback riding in Hyde Park The strikingly handsome playboy prince is initially believed to have arranged his disappearance so he can enjoy a brief rendezvous with one of his secret lovers. But when his absence continues on for days, the royal family grows concerned and summons Scotland Yard, who can only recover scant, unrevealing clues.
The concern deepens when MI5 decodes a recent message from German spies in London which speaks of a captured asset that will bring great embarrassment to the Crown. There is a strong belief within the Intelligence agency that plans are underway to transport the captive prince to Berlin without delay. Despite an intensive search, no trace of the royal can be detected.
With Scotland Yard and MI5 baffled, Joanna and the Watsons are called in, and they soon find themselves entangled in a web of abortion, murder, treason, and spies, all of which is seemingly being orchestrated by an arch-enemy of the long-dead Sherlock Holmes. In their race to rescue Prince Harry, it becomes clear that the mastermind behind the maze of crimes has a singular motive in mind. He desires overdue revenge in the form of Joanna’s death.
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Goldberg's middling seventh mystery featuring Joanna Blalock, kin to Conan Doyle's iconic detective (after 2022's The Blue Diamond), fails to paint its heroine as a convincing sleuth. In 1918, Joanna is summoned by Prime Minister Harold Lloyd-Jackson to help stave off "a looming disaster": Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, has been missing for days, raising fears that he's been abducted by the Germans. (British intelligence has decoded messages from German spies in London discussing a plan to embarrass the Crown.) Blalock takes the case, accompanied by her husband, John Watson (Dr. Watson's son), and must overcome reluctance from Harry's retinue to reveal aspects of his private life, including the identities of the prince's numerous paramours, before she can make any genuine progress. There's little suspense overall, and Joanna makes a series of deductions based on flimsy assumptions that undermine the intended portrayal of her as an intellectual equal to her father. Readers have a bevy of better gender-flipped Holmes tales to choose from, including the Enola Holmes YA series.
