Murder on Cold Street (The Lady Sherlock Series)

“Inspector Treadles, Charlotte Holmes’s friend and collaborator, has been found locked in a room with two dead men, both of whom worked with his wife at the great manufacturing enterprise she has recently inherited.
Rumors fly. Had Inspector Treadles killed the men because they had opposed his wife’s initiatives at every turn? Had he killed in a fit of jealous rage, because he suspected Mrs. Treadles of harboring deeper feelings for one of the men? To make matters worse, he refuses to speak on his own behalf, despite the overwhelming evidence against him.
Charlotte finds herself in a case strewn with lies and secrets. But which lies are to cover up small sins, and which secrets would flay open a past better left forgotten? Not to mention, how can she concentrate on these murders, when Lord Ingram, her oldest friend, and sometime lover, at last dangles before her the one thing she has always wanted?” Blurb from Amazon.com
Okay, firstly, in prior books of the Lady Sherlock series, Inspector Treadles had not been a friend to Charlotte. In fact, he had contempt for women’s liberation, especially towards Charlotte because she was a “fallen woman,” as well. Oh, the scandal that she caused just to get out of getting married. Yes, Charlotte did save Lord Ingram in the previous book and that is how Inspector Treadles figured out Sherlock Holmes’s true identity (The Hollow of Fear #4) but he still had contempt for her. Now that he’s in dire straits and got arrested by Inspector Brighton, the Scotland Yard investigator, and oh, his wife took over the family business, he suddenly saw past the errors of his polar ways? Meh, could happen but this entire story felt disjointed. The ending where Charlotte solved the mystery, the police let Inspector Treadles go because “Sherlock Holmes” solved the case? That’s fine except, she presented a theory, posing as Sherlock Holmes. There was no hard physical evidence I suppose the broach from Mr. Cousins proved there was arsenic in the blood system but how did he obtain the meds? He did in fact receive them from the pharmacist so how did that connect the dot to Mr. Sullivan? We need hard evidence that it was Mr. Sullivan who laced the pills or how was Mr. Sullivan was directly able to kill off the Cousins (father and later, son).

Next came Mr. Longstead, Alice Treadles’ advisor, when she took over Cousins Manufacturing. He seemed indifferent towards Alice Treadles. He did not go out of his way to defend her, even after seeing or hearing how the male underlings, did not support her decisions. They would undermine her at every turn. Okay, his niece did state her uncle, Mr. Longstead can be obtuse but is that by choice, one has to wonder. I wonder and I count.
Another gripe I have with the story is Inspector Treadles’ reputation, his wife’s reputation, his career, his life are all on the line and he still chose to remain silent and not give full disclosure as to what happened on the night of the murders. Seriously?! I personally would be trying to sort things out and tell the wife or police everything to help the case and clear my name and being charged with a capital crime.

Next, we come to Livey, or her formal name, Olivia. She used to be a secondary character, which is totally understandable. However, in this story, she is way in the blended background. One of the delights of this series is Livey and Mr. Stephen Marbleton and their coquettish ways. Oh, even Lord Ingrams and Charlotte’s salacious bantering and inuendos are tantalizing. Now, Lord Ingram is like Pepe Le Pew going after Penelope the Pussycat. Even Charlotte is thrilled but unnerved. Thankfully, they do celebrate their carefully veiled union until Lord Ingram gets his current union with his wife, formally uncoupled.

Finally, the ending was rushed and more information trying to tie Moriarty in felt a bit forced. It wasn’t natural, as we were reading it, there was no foreshadowing. For Sherry Thomas’ next book, I do hope she makes it up to us who are following the series and gives us more Livey and Stephen Marbleton, and the plot and solving the mystery are more plausible. If Moriarity is coming back into the story, I do hope he actually shows up rather than just get mentioned.