So here we are at the eighth instalment of Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock series of historical mysteries, and I confess, I found A Ruse of Shadows pretty hard going to start with.  I’m a fan of the author’s, the writing is excellent and the plotting is superb, but I’m…  just not feeling it any more. The story is intricate and clever, composed of several different plot-threads that are skilfully woven together, but I want more than mere cleverness when I read; I want to feel engaged by the characters and their situations, but that simply isn’t happening for me with this series now, and hasn’t for the last book or two.

A Ruse of Shadows opens with a chapter headed The Interrogation in which we learn that Lord Bancroft Ashburton (older brother of Charlotte’s lover, Lord Ingram (Ash), and formerly the keeper of government secrets who was shown to be working for the bad guys and imprisoned at the end of book… I can’t remember which one) is dead, and that Charlotte is the prime suspect in Scotland Yard’s investigation into his murder. The first chapter is filled with references to past events and characters (although there is, at least, a list of dramatis personae at the beginning of this book to remind us who is who) and as I’ve said before, I just don’t have the time (or inclination) to go back and read the previous book(s) to refresh my memory.  Despite this, I persevered and I ended up invested in the main plotline and I liked the way the story is structured.  

After that revelation in the opening chapter, we skip back a few weeks in time to witness – in detail – the events that are discussed. This happens a few times throughout the book; in the Interrogation chapters, Charlotte answers the questions put to her by Chief Inspector John Talbot, and those that follow show these events unfolding – and the reader can see where Charlotte’s account differs from what actually happened.  The princial plotline in the chapters set during the weeks prior concerns Bancroft’s plot to blackmail Charlotte into finding his former lieutenant by kidnapping Charlotte’s eldest sister and holding her in a house in Paris. As Charlotte, aided by Ash and Mrs. Watson, search for the man, the answers to a number of unsolved mysteries featured in earlier books begin to slot into place, building towards the reveal that everything has been part of a plot to put a major spoke in Moriarty’s wheel and rob him of some important bargaining chips. I admit that while I could recall some of those past mysteries and plot points, some had me scratching my head and unable to remember details.  To be fair, the author does try to include the pertinent information, but sometimes there are so many names and past references that I was overwhelmed.  I decided to just accept what the author told me and keep going – but the final chapters – in which Charlotte explains everything to her sister, Livia – pretty much lost me.

Anyone still reading these books in the hopes of progression in the slow-moving romance between Charlotte and Ash will be pleased with the way things are left between them, and there is movement in the romance between Livia and her beloved Stephen Marbleton (Moriarty’s natural son). But we’re eight books in and those are mere crumbs.

The biggest issue I’ve had with the past few books in the series remains a big issue for me with this one. I STILL, after EIGHT books, have NO IDEA what Moriarty actually wants and why he sees Charlotte as such a threat as to want to eliminate her. Well, of course he wants her out of his way so he can continue with his nefarious schemes – but not knowing what those schemes are is driving me batty; I don’t know what the stakes are so I just can’t buy in to Charlotte’s plans and schemes to thwart him.

I’ve been trying to work out exactly why this series isn’t working for me. I continue to enjoy CS Harris’ Sebastian St. Cyr books (I read and reviewed book nineteen earlier this year); I’ve been through thick and thin with Gregory Ashe’s Hazard and Somerset (seventeen full-length novels and numerous novellas and short stories); Eden Winters’ Diversion series (nine books and a handful of novellas) is a firm favourite; Nicky James’ Valor and Doyle have seven full length books and a couple of novellas to their names – so it’s not that I can’t handle long-running series. The only answer I can come up with is that the Lady Sherlock characters just aren’t working for me any more. There’s very little character development or anything about them that makes me want to invest in what is actually happening to them. This series is now entirely plot focused and that isn’t usually what I’m looking for when I pick up a book.

Having said all that – how do I assign a final grade? Perhaps this isn’t the story I wanted to read at this particular point in time, but I recognise that it’s incredibly well written and superbly plotted – the way the author pulls together all her various threads, some of them seeded many years ago – is masterful. Technically, then, A Ruse of Shadows is hard to fault. But authorial skill apart, it’s… clinical. And perhaps that is Ms. Thomas’ intention – the original Holmes is a sociopath, after all. But that is probably why those stories don’t appeal to me all that much; as I said at the start, I want more than a technical tour de force.

So. I’m going with a B-. I know that there are plenty of readers out there who will enjoy this addition to the series (the four and five star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads bear that out) and it’s impossible for me to simply ignore the author’s mastery of her craft. But for me, A Ruse of Shadows was (and I hate to say this about a Sherry Thomas book) something of a chore to get through.