Blurb
She has one goal…
…to become a great detective like Sherlock Holmes.
Does she have the skills?
Helena is seventeen, feisty, smart, and keen to help others. But empathy is easy from the comfortable sitting rooms of high society. Tea, crumpets, and fancy balls haven’t prepared her for the gritty streets of 1899 San Francisco. But she wants to learn.
When a debutante goes missing…
My Review
Helena Brandywine is, as you might expect from the blurb, a rather pampered miss. A friend goes missing and Helena is determined to find her. Thus, she falls into investigating various criminal happenings in the city.
The premise was fine, happy to suspend disbelief for that. The problem is that if Helena wants to be like Holmes, it doesn’t really work on that level. Not for me, anyway. While I’m not a fan of Conan-Doyle’s work, I understand the premise and you do get the feeling that Sherlock is the sharpest brain I the room (story). Helena doesn’t give off the same vibe. She’s not by any means stupid, but often I found myself wanting her to grow up. But that might be because I’m a lot older than what I suspect was the YA target audience. There were a few places where her decisions didn’t make much sense, but you have to roll with the punches. Detective Doyle Longstreet (wonder where that first name comes from), is more suited to the Holmesian role, but then age and gender lean him towards that.
The setting is diverse, the steampunk elements on the light side, the supernatural was without explanation, but kind of fun. More importantly, the characters are generally likeable, and the mystery works.
I listened to this book on audible back in 2019, and I enjoyed it. This is the first of the Helena Brandywine adventures, and while I have brought the next three paperbacks in the series, I haven’t got around to reading them yet. I guess that tells you something in itself.
GB Williams Crime Blog 