On a cold London morning in 1897, a young woman awakes on the ground outside the British Museum. She has no memory, and nothing that indicates her identity.
She does have a splitting headache, a lump on the back of her head, and a dim memory of having shot someone. She also quickly finds she has a talent for analyzing people's appearance and behavior for useful information that helps her survive. Unexpectedly, the police constable, John Kelly, who finds her decides that he trusts her. They piece together what they can, and then he's going off duty, and she's off to see what she can track down of her identity.
After walking around the outside of the museum, she sits on a bench, and is approached by a man who proceeds to talk seeming nonsense to her, and walks away when she doesn't respond as expected. Then she finds a card with the name of a doctor on Harley Street, which she puts in her purse for later consideration. Her clothing is not really presentable after her night sleeping on the sidewalk, and she inveigles a way to borrow clean clothing. With no other real clues, she decides to go see the doctor, in the hope that perhaps he can help with her memory.
But the doctor and his minions try to drug and kidnap her, and she barely escapes. Soon she is dodging villains, encountering John Kelly again, and meeting his little sister, Becky, and deciding, finally, to consult the one person in London whose name she remembers for sure--Sherlock Holmes. The conspiracy surrounding the British Museum turns out to relate back to a previous adventure, and as Lucy's memory gradually returns, she begins to understand the danger she's been in, and the importance of resolving this case.
John Kelly has his own related adventures, which become more and more entangled with those of Lucy and Holmes. I gather he and his sister, Becky, are going to be regulars going forward, and they are a welcome addition.
This is, in my opinion, a very good, satisfying Holmes pastiche, with Holmes, Watson, and Lucy all well portrayed, excellent characters.
I received this book as a gift.
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