CBR Bingo is really the gift that keeps on giving! I struggle a little with the framework I’ve applied to my reading at present as I try to knock out squares, but without Bingo and CBR I wouldn’t have found Mrs. Sherlock Holmes and that would have been a real tragedy. I wanted to get CBR Bingo Remix square and wasn’t ready to tackle more Laurie R. King. Read the first one and was on board for the first 3/4 of the book but didn’t like the final direction (re: the Old Crotchety Holmes and young lady detective partnership. Eww). I thought of reading A Study in Scarlet Women buuut couldn’t find it online, so, Mrs. Sherlock it was. As defined it wasn’t my first choice but I’m so glad to have read it!!
As I find myself now a lover of non-fiction I finally find myself in a place where I feel I can give valid scrutiny, and I don’t have really anything negative to say about Ricca’s book. I knew nothing about Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston, aka, Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, and it was a pleasure to make her literary acquaintance. A lady lawyer at the turn of the century, Mrs. Humiston spent her life working tirelessly for the underdog, finding justice where none seemed to be possible. She helped immigrants, investigated peonage, stood up against corruption and was recognized for her efforts from the highest vantage points in the U.S. Despite her efforts, her story is largely forgotten to history. The book tells of her whole career but focuses on the disappearance of young Ruth Cruger and how Mrs. Humiston was involved in uncovering the mystery.
If anything negative can be said, it’s that I found the epilogue to be a little tedious. Ricca revisits basically every character in the book giving the literary version of “where are they now” a la the ending of many popular teen movies. I could have done with not finding out about many minor folks and just focusing on the key players, but I understand from a storytelling level why he wanted to round it out.
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