The Devil in the Details

A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery

By: Vicki Delany

Narrated by: Kim Hicks

The game is once again afoot in Vicki Delany’s eleventh Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery, when birthday festivities end in freezing–cold murder.

Gemma Doyle is excited about celebrating Jayne Wilson’s big day. It’s supposed to mark not only the birthday of Jayne, her partner in crime, but also that of the Great Detective himself. Following the festivities at the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, Gemma heads for the Blue Water Café, the site of Jayne’s party. To make things even better, Jayne’s wedding is only a week away.

But the much–anticipated affair quickly turns to disaster with the presence of the bride and groom’s respective exes in attendance and other unruly guests. With drama at every corner, Gemma and Jayne take a break on the chilly deck overlooking the ocean when they spot the body of a party attendee floating in the water below.

As Detective Ryan Ashburton takes a closer look at the guest list, Jayne’s wedding is in peril, especially when it is revealed that her fiancé, Andy, is a prime suspect. With the police closing in and more lives on the line, it’s up to Gemma to keep Andy from prison and save Jayne’s wedding day from ruin.

©2026 Vicki Delany (P)2026 Dreamscape Media

It’s getting predictable…

In all fairness, I believe this is the ninth in the series, but the plot is getting predictable. Gemma attends an event, murder happens at the event, loved one of Gemma gets accused, Gemma investigates more seriously, Gemma faces a near death experience because of her investigation, Gemma almost gives up, then Gemma solves it with another near death experience. I guess this is the challenge with any series: how to vary the plot but still be true to the characters. I still never guess who the killer actually is. I think the book is well written overall. It flows well and keeps my interest. There are interesting side plots with several of the characters, but I think these could be more developed. I like the humor that’s imbedded. The narration is OK but the American accents are off and sometimes kind of shrill; if this is primarily for an American audience, I would go with an American narrator who could get the majority of the accents right & potentially sacrifice the 1 British accent—who would know? Most wouldn’t. I’m gonna check out other books from this author.

Gemma Solves A Wedding Soap Opera

Gemma does it again but saves Jane and Andy in a Wedding Soap Opera against their ex lovers and it was astonishing that Andy’s new chef Martin was the killer that tried to frame Jane for the death of her ex boyfriend Robbie and tried to frame Andy for the death of his ex girlfriend Tina.

Narrator was not soothing to the ears

I have always read and enjoyed this book series. I decided to get this one on audio. The narrator was very difficult to listen to and made the story less enjoyable.