Review of "Mrs. Sherlock Holmes" by Brad Ricca

Title: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes

Author: Brad Ricca
Release date: January 3, 2017
Rating: 3.5/5
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book Summary: 

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes tells the incredible true life story of Mrs. Grace Humiston, the New York lawyer and detective who solved the famous cold case of Ruth Cruger, an 18-year-old girl who disappeared in 1917. Grace was an amazing lawyer and traveling detective during a time when no women were practicing these professions. She focused on solving cases no one else wanted and advocating for innocents. Grace became the first female U.S. District Attorney and made ground-breaking investigations into modern slavery.

One of Grace's greatest accomplishments was solving the Cruger case after following a trail of corruption that lead from New York to Italy. Her work changed how the country viewed the problem of missing girls. But the victory came with a price when she learned all too well what happens when one woman upstages the entire NYPD.

In the literary tradition of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, Brad Ricca's Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is a true crime tale told in spine-tingling fashion. This story is about a woman whose work was so impressive that the papers gave her the nickname of fiction’s greatest sleuth. With important repercussions in the present about kidnapping, the role of the media, and the truth of crime stories, the great mystery of the book – and its haunting twist ending – is how one woman can become so famous only to disappear completely.

Summary pulled from Goodreads.com 

Review:

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes started off as a page-turner that eventually fizzled into a telling of history that didn't include the reason I picked up the book. I was hooked by how Ricca told this story as fiction, but something was lacking that kept me from finishing the book in its entirety. 

Ricca was meticulous in how he told Ms. Grace Humiston's story, and I appreciated how he structured the information. First, it set the scene of the most pivotal case: Ruth Cruger's disappearance in New York in 1917. It provided the early drama and backstory needed once we returned to the case later on.

It then set the stage for why we, the reader, are learning of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes herself, Mrs. Grace Humiston. He showed the reader her character through the types of cases she normally worked on prior to accepting the Ruth Cruger case. We learned that Grace was empathetic and cared for those that didn't have the means or the way to defend themselves. We also learned that she would go to great lengths to solve a case: including hiding in the trees to uncover the illegal work conditions of what was labeled a "white slave" operation. 

Finally, Grace herself on the case synthesizes all the information the reader has grown to know about her and the missing girl, Ruth, and the end to the cold case that had been captivating New York during this period.

I enjoyed how Grace's story was almost presented like a fictional novel, but like others who read Mrs. Sherlock Holmes didn't find the "Holmes" connection to be anything more than an interesting title. Through the story, Grace proved just how great of a detective she was, but it was more through her grit, perseverance, and unwillingness to take "no" for an answer rather than the deduction skills that we know through the Sherlock Holmes stories. 

I admire Grace, not as a Sherlock Holmes-esque character, but as someone who followed her gut and intuition and allowed herself to stand out from the pack.