A review by carolsnotebook
The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

 

I guess we need to look at The Serpent Under in a few different ways. First, Victorian London. MacBird does a fabulous job of bringing the foggy, damp, crowded city to life. We see the people, issues, and prejudices of the time.

Second, our main characters. Holmes and Watson feel like the originals, if that makes sense. They have the mannerisms and partnership they always have. Yes, Holmes’ attitudes towards women, Roma, etc. are more modern, but he was never conventional. And here it particularly works well since it doesn’t allow him to just go along with the easy solution. We only get brief glances of Lestrade and Mycroft, which is appropriate. Heffie, a former irregular who now works with the police, is a good addition. She’s tough and reliable and very good at working undercover. The dead woman’s family and friends are all a bit odd and she seems to have been the only truly likeable one of the bunch.

Plot – We have three different mysteries that are clearly all going to be connected, that’s how MacBird’s stories often work. We have several twists and turns and the palace is almost working against Holmes, even though they called him in. The clues were woven in well and the plot moved along at a good pace. There were several suspects – or at least people acting suspiciously. The reveal was nicely dramatic.

The title is appropriate. We have a lot of snakes in this book – painted, tattooed, and live. My husband would probably not like it for that reason alone.