Art in the Blood

By Bonnie MacBird

London. A snowy December, 1888. Sherlock Holmes, 34, is languishing and back on cocaine after a disastrous Ripper investigation. Watson can neither comfort nor rouse his friend – until a strangely encoded letter arrives from Paris.

Mlle La Victoire, a beautiful French cabaret star writes that her illegitimate son by an English lord has disappeared, and she has been attacked in the streets of Montmartre.

Racing to Paris with Watson at his side, Holmes discovers the missing child is only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem. The most valuable statue since the Winged Victory has been violently stolen in Marseilles, and several children from a silk mill in Lancashire have been found murdered. The clues in all three cases point to a single, untouchable man.

Will Holmes recover in time to find the missing boy and stop a rising tide of murders? To do so he must stay one step ahead of a dangerous French rival and the threatening interference of his own brother, Mycroft.

This latest adventure, in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sends the iconic duo from London to Paris and the icy wilds of Lancashire in a case which tests Watson's friendship and the fragility and gifts of Sherlock Holmes' own artistic nature to the limits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Aug 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9780008129682

Bonnie MacBird

Bonnie MacBird is a produced screenwriter and playwright as well as an accomplished stage actor and writing teacher. She holds degrees from Stanford in music and film, and when she’s not writing Sherlock Holmes, moonlights as a theatre director and audiobook reader. She divides her time between Los Angeles and London. Visit her at www.macbird.com.

Reviews for Art in the Blood

[siri51 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A Sherlock mystery set in 1888 - hard to imagine he and Watson were only 35. Much violence and racing round in carriages, cocaine use and cryptic messages but of course murders solved.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With no interesting cases to challenge him, Sherlock Holmes is bored and that means depression and cocaine. Watson is unable to help. But when a perfumed letter arrives written in disappearing ink and coincidentally a call from Holmes’ brother Mycroft with a ‘request’ that Sherlock uncover the whereabouts of the Greek Nike statue whose disappearance could precipitate an international incident and which may be linked to the death of four orphans, Sherlock is on the case. With Watson in tow, he heads for Paris to meet Mlle La Victoire, the writer of the letter whose son is missing and whose father, the Earl of Pellington, is a collector of fine art and is not particularly scrupulous about how he acquires it.Art in the Blood by author Bonnie MacBird is a nice homage to the great consulting detective and a whole lot of fun to read. It is a real page turner full of twists and turns and just a rollicking good tale full of adventure and memorable characters both old and new. Definitely a worthy addition to the Holmes canon.

[lgandt · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Both Holmes and Watson using swear words? NoAmericanized ones at that? NoSherlock Holmes and Mycroft distrusting one another, Sherlock cussing at Mycroft? NoMycroft accusing Sherlock of having 'feeling' for a woman? NoMycroft letting Sherlock sit in jail, allowing a fake case against him to continue..................of Jack the Ripper at that ***cough Dust and Shadow anyone cough*******Using more French than English, and not bothering to translate for those of us who don't know much French.The descriptive scenery is good, I liked the plot enough, just not enough to finish it. Not when I have others to read. I would recommend for those who are not too particular about their Sherlock Holmes. I am not a purist, just didn't care for this one.

[unclebob53703 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The author does a good job of capturing the period atmosphere, but the story is excessively grim, and the abuse visited upon the detective, especially at the end, borders on the ridiculous.

[vesper1931 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

1888 Mlle La Victoire asks for Holmes help as her son, Emil, that was fathered by the married Earl of Pellingham has disappeared. But is there a connection between that and the theft of a valuable statue, or even the murder of children from a silk mill in Lancashire.
An enjoyable historical mystery, a good start to the series.