BODY ON BAKER STREET

Body on Baker Street: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery
by Vicki Delany

Body on Baker Street: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery

Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series

Crooked Lane Books (September 12, 2017)

Hardcover: 304 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1683312994

E-Book ASIN: B06XW3K7F5

Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson are busy managing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on Baker Street and adjoining Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room in anticipation of the store’s upcoming book signing with the illustrious Renalta Van Markoff, author of the controversial Hudson and Holmes mystery series. But during the author Q&A session, dedicated Sherlockian Donald Morris verbally attacks Renalta and her series for disgracing Sherlock’s legacy, only to be publicly humiliated when the author triumphantly lashes back and gains the upper hand. That is until Renalta collapses on the table―dead.

Donald insists he didn’t do it and pleads to his friends to clear his name. Fortunately, Gemma and Jayne have no shortage of suspects between author’s bullied personal assistant, her frustrated publicist, the hapless publisher, a handsome rare book dealer, an obsessively rabid fan, and a world of other Sherlock enthusiasts with strong objections to Renalta’s depiction of the Great Detective. It’s up to the shrewd sleuthing duo to eliminate the impossible and deduce the truth before the West London police arrest an innocent man in Body on Baker Street, the second Sherlock Homes Bookshop mystery perfect for fans of Miranda James and Kate Carlisle.

Cozy Mysteries: Live, but Larger.

By Vicki Delany

September 2017

I have written (so far) twenty-five novels.  I’ve written historical fiction (The Klondike Gold Rush books) modern Gothic thrillers (More than Sorrow) psychological suspense (Burden of Memory), police procedurals (the constable Molly Smith series) books for adult literacy (White Sand Blues) and cozies (The Year Round Christmas series, and the Lighthouse Library series by Eva Gates). I like to shake things up a bit and switch sub-genres, styles and moods.

These days I’m pretty much just writing cozies and I’m enjoying them very much.

My newest book is the second in the Sherlock Holmes bookshop series, Body on Baker Street from Crooked Lane Books. (Following Elementary, She Read)

As you can tell by the cover and the title, it’s firmly in the cozy camp and is about a woman who owns The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium in the Cape Cod town of West London, located at 222 Baker Street. The business next door is Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, at 220 Baker Street.

The main character, Gemma Doyle, bears an intellectual resemblance to the Great Detective himself. Her side-kick Jayne Wilson is ever-confused but always loyal.

Sounds a bit silly? Sure it does. And it’s supposed to be. It’s nothing but fun, and what’s wrong with that?

I’ve come to realize that cozy mysteries are about real people living real lives (except for that pesky murder bit), although writ large. Everything is exaggerated. The nosy neighbour is nosier, the ditzy friend is ditzier, the mean girl is meaner. And the handsome man is, well, handsomer.  Even better if there are two of them.

After putting in my time writing police procedurals and psychological thrillers, I’m having a lot of fun writing cozies.  Keep it light, keep it funny, and have a good time with it.

Cozy mysteries are not trying to make an important statement about the human condition, or hoping to change the world. A cozy mystery tells a story that attempts to be entertaining, that’s about people much like us (or like us if we were prettier, or smarter, or younger!) and our friends and family.

So pull up a pull up a comfortable arm chair or get out your deck chair. Light a fire in the fireplace, or slap on that sunscreen, pour yourself a mug of hot tea or something icy and enjoy  the adventures of Gemma and Jayne as they try to find out why on earth someone would want to kill a visiting author in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium .

Sometimes the mystery of a book is not contained within the pages. Sometimes the making of a book or the drama of getting a book published can be as fascinating a story.
Gemma only wants to be successful at her bookstore and tea shop. She enjoys the tourists, for the most part, and her regular customers, whom she gets to know quite well. She has an unusual new store clerk who she is getting to know better and of course there is Moriarity - the shop cat.

An author signing in a bookstore can be a wonderful event. Usually one has more time to plan and advertise, but Gemma is thrown into a last minute talk and signing featuring a popular author whose latest book was just released. Not one to back down from a challenge or an opportunity, Gemma is ready for the excitement - or so she thinks. Having the author die in her store was not part of the plans. Having a loyal customer suspected of the murder means Gemma can not sit quietly back. She knows she possesses observational skills the local police force not only lacks but resents. One officer would just as well declare Gemma the murderer and be done with it.

Even when the evidence seems to point at a likely suspect, someone from the author's past, not a store customer, Gemma keeps digging, throwing herself into more danger. The ending is dramatic and tense and even if you've figured some of it out, will still surprise you.

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than twenty-five books:  clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. Under the name of Eva Gates, she writes the Lighthouse Library cozy series for Penguin Random House. Her latest book is Body on Baker Street, the second in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series from Crooked Lane.

Vicki is the past president of the Crime Writers of Canada.  Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards.

www.vickidelany.com  Facebook:  Vicki Delany & Eva Gates  and twitter: @vickidelany and@evagatesauthor

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