Gemma Doyle, co-owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium and a tearoom called Mrs. Hudson's on Cape Cod, is asked to find 11-year-old Lauren Tierney's lost kitten. The stakes increase dramatically when Lauren's mother, Sheila, becomes a suspect in a murder, and Lauren wants Gemma to investigate, a step up from finding lost kitties. Sheila accused the victim of vandalizing her garden before a garden club garden tour, leading to a physical altercation. When Sheila disappears, Lauren stays with Gemma, who interviews suspects, against the wishes of her boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton. When someone close to Gemma is harmed, Gemma doubles down in her effort to find the killer. Framed by its small-town Cape Cod setting, plenty of Sherlock Holmes lore, and details of running small a small business, this cozy has a cast of engaging characters, especially the precocious Lauren. Suggest this one to those who enjoy Kaitlyn Dunnett's Liss MacCrimmon series, which has a similar hometown feel and a main character who is also the owner of a specialty shop.

A search for a missing cat entangles an inveterate sleuth in another case of murder. After a trip to her native England, where she solved her last case, Gemma Doyle is back on Cape Cod with her boyfriend, police detective Ryan Ashburton, and her friend Jayne Wilson, who partly owns and runs Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room with her. (Busy Gemma also owns the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium with her great uncle Arthur.) Having heard of her reputation as a sleuth, 10-year-old Lauren Tierney begs Gemma to help find her missing cat. Gemma's dog, Violet, sniffs out the feline, but things don't go as easily when Lauren's mother, Sheila, is suspected of murdering her rival, Anna Wentworth, whom she had loudly accused of vandalizing her plantings before their garden club's annual competition. Horticulturally obsessed Sheila will win no awards for mother or wife of the year, but Gemma doubts she's a killer. Although Ryan has benefitted from Gemma's help in the past, his partner wants no part of her interference. It doesn't matter, for her curiosity won't let her ignore the case. Despite her lack of a green thumb, Gemma is forced to learn more about gardens when someone tries to kill her with lemonade spiked with what she suspects is a botanical poison. She digs up some other motives for Anna's murder, but can she find the evidence to back up her conclusions? This sixth installment pursues the same pleasing formula: cozy detection heavily steeped in Sherlock-ian conceits. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gemma Doyle, owner of Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, insists she's not a consulting detective. Eleven-year-old Lauren is missing her cat, Snowball. Gemma's dog, Violet, tracks the cat to a neighbor's gardening shed, but Gemma basks in the praise. Just a couple of days later, Lauren is back, offering Gemma $10 to prove her mother, Sheila, did not kill her rival for the annual trophy from the West London Garden Club. After Sheila's garden was vandalized and she accused Anna, it's natural for the police to view Sheila as a suspect when Anna is killed. Gemma can't stand Sheila, seeing her as self-centered and egotistical, and she tells Lauren the police will find the killer. But even Gemma finds it hard to resist the girl's pleas when she shows up at the bookstore, abandoned by both of her parents. She takes in Lauren and, in typical Gemma fashion, probes in the wrong places until the killer panics and attempts a second murder. VERDICT Quirky Gemma provides the humor herself in the latest cozy installment in the series, following There's a Murder Afoot. Readers who appreciate Holmes pastiches, this one featuring a woman with Holmes's intellect and lack of emotional intelligence, will enjoy the character-driven story.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Someone fatally hits Anna Wentworth in the head with a rock while Anna, a leading light of the West London, Mass., garden club, is walking her dog one evening, in Delaney's entertaining sixth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery (after 2020's There's a Murder Afoot). Garden club gossip soon pins the blame on Anna's former friend and current rival, Sheila Tierney, and so do the police. When Lauren, Sheila's 11-year-old daughter, pleads with Gemma Doyle, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop's owner, to prove her mother's innocence, Gemma, who recently helped Lauren find her lost kitten, can't refuse. Digging deeper into the abundant West London dirt, Gemma discovers sexual peccadillos, marital discord, secret agreements, and a few consummate liars. "It still surprises me sometimes what a person with a bit of internet knowledge and a suspicious mind can find out," she observes as she closes in on the culprit. Sherlockian lore enhances the easy-to-follow plot. Cozy fans and Holmes buffs alike will be satisfied. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary. (Jan.)