Search - Death at Dartmoor (Victorian-Edwardian Mystery, Bk 8)

The 8th book in this Victorian mystery series. This book features Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the "real life" character included in the story line. This series offers and interesting view into Victorian life, the development of forensic sciences and the difficulty in getting forensic science accepted as evenidence in the courts of the day.

Another great read in this series. Again, I enjoy the introduction of "new" crime solving techniques, and in this book, it was fingerprinting. Quite funny that fingerprinting was seen as unreliable!!

The usual strong female leads, intelligent conversations and clues, and Sir Doyle makes another appearance!

Another great book from Robin Paige. I love that they weave in real people that lived during that era, the history of Dartmoor Prison and the beginnings of fingerprinting in England. I'm making my way through this series and continue to love every book so far.

Lord Sheridan is slowly convincing the powers that be to move into the scientific age with crime investigation. He is at a prison in Dartmoor to begin a fingerprinting program, but Charles also wants to convince an inmate, Samuel Spencer, that he knows that Spencer did not commit the horrible crime he was convicted of. Much to Charles' surprise, Spencer does not want to have his name cleared. Kate, in the meantime, is trying to find some inspiration for a novel that she is planning to write. She and Patsy Marsden (who has come to visit) attend a seance at the home of Sir Edgar and his wife, Rosalind. Dire events are predicted, some of which come true, and even though Kate is investigating one mystery and Charles another, the two events eventually connect.

The literary character that plays a major role in this book is Arthur Conan Doyle who is in the area to write a new story. He is stymied, however, by the fact that he has killed Sherlock Holmes, but as he and Charles go about seeking clues, he develops his ideas for the story "The Hound of the Baskervilles". The interaction between Charles' investigation style and Conan Doyle's is quite entertaining. Another amusing aspect was the fact the locals keep calling Conan Doyle "Sherlock" much to his chagrin.

I enjoyed this book immensely and would highly recommend it.