A good romp with interesting characters, if a little predictable. I love the Elemental Masters series but wish they were longer and maybe a little deeper plotted. ( )

I must be a glutton for punishment, because I keep returning to this series despite the fact that it's lost its original luster. I'm beyond tired of the Sarah and Nan storyline. Every book with them as the central characters tends to be repetitive, and using Arthur Conan Doyle's characters as supporting cast has become quite tired too.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until something changes: I wish Mercedes Lackey would return to the fairy tale retellings. THOSE are the Elemental books that I fell in love with, and they're definitely stronger stories than these Holmes/horror/Girl Power novels that she's been churning out for the last few years. ( )

The newspapers are shouting that Sherlock Holmes is dead, and only those closest to him know the truth. But he needs to stay dead in order to track down and eliminate the remaining members of Moriarty's gang. That leaves only the Watsons, Nan, and Sarah to try to deal with Sherlock's usual cases. Right now they have a very difficult one.

Someone is dumping the headless bodies of young women in the sewer. Each is dressed in what could be a wedding gown. Lestrade is baffled and none of the Watsons or Nan and Sarah's magical or psychical talents are giving them any help in finding out who or why this is happening.

Meanwhile, we know that a Spirit Master named Spencer is the killer. He is a high-up member of Moriarty's gang and has been trying to hold it together. He also managed to grab Moriarty's spirit and confine it in a talisman and now is working very hard to find a new body for him and transfer him from the spirit world back to the physical world.

Spencer is binding these young women to him in a sort of wedding ceremony and using their power to fill batteries he has developed. He needs the power if he is ever to reanimate Moriarty. Spencer is also trying to keep the Watsons out of the way. In fact, he sends a basket of poison fruit along with a compulsion spell in a Snow White attempt to kill Mary Watson after a physical attack on John is unsuccessful because of Nan and Sarah's intervention. Nan and Sarah's birds do manage to foil the attempt on Mary but they are pretending she is dead to give them more working room.

Nan and Sarah learn more about their abilities in this one as they use all their talents to locate Spencer and get rid of him.

I like the worldbuilding in this story. It is a very well detailed Victorian world that surrounds the various adventures and magical elements. Even some commentary on woman's rights, or rather the lack of them is inserted into this story in a few places and in the person of a spirit named Caro. Gemma Dawson does a great job with the voices and the pacing. ( )

The Elemental Masters with it's stories inspired by or retellings of beloved fairy tales and myths has always been one of my favourite series. But this current subseries inspired by and featuring the stories of Sherlock Holmes has definitely become my favourite (with the exception of Reserved for the Cat, love that book). I love how the characters have developed and their powers along with them. ( )

The latest Elemental Masters book is another one with Nan and Sarah as the main POV characters. It is set after the death of Sherlock and how those closest to him deal with it. The only good is Moriarty is also dead, but his gang lives on and they plan to exact revenge on all that have helped Sherlock over the years and they focus their attacks on John and Mary Watson. Lestrade also asks them to investigate the headless corpses of young women that are appearing in the Thames. All the threads tie up by the end of the story and if there are any more stories that feature the Watson’s they will certainly be hitting new ground with it.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley
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