Stoker & Holmes #2 The Spiritglass Charade

Presenting Stoker & Holmes #2 The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason.

Here is the summary of the book:

After the Affair of the Clockwork Scarab, Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes are eager to help Princess Alix with a new case. Seventeen-year-old Willa Aston is obsessed with spiritual mediums, convinced she is speaking with her mother from beyond the grave. What seems like a case of spiritualist fraud quickly devolves into something far more menacing: someone is trying to make Willa "appear lunatic," using an innocent-looking spiritglass to control her. The list of clues piles up: an unexpected murder, a gang of pickpockets, and the return of vampires to London. But are these events connected? As Uncle Sherlock would say, "there are no coincidences." It will take all of Mina's wit and Evaline's muscle to keep London's sinister underground at bay.

Stoker & Holmes are back and more than ready to tackle a new case. Eveline Stoker & Mina Holmes. Reluctant partners and polar opposites. And are more than ready to see what Princess Alix has for them. After Egyptology, The Spiritglass Charade garners a study of the spirits as this next generation dynamic duo looks onto young Willa Ashton, who is dabbling into spirit mediums, believing to be communicating with the spirit of her late mother, if she and the medium are to be understood.

The game is afoot and crack on they go. The two sleuths going about it in their own way as they find the perpetrator and get to the bottom of the case. One prefers cold hard facts and reasons, the other is much more attuned to hunting for answers and asking later. Mina and Eve go about it their own way and while one doesn't like the other, they respect each other enough. Of course what started as a simple case turns deadly as more and more twists and turns are unearthed, and secrets come to light.

The time-traveler Dylan, Inspector Grayling, the notoriously handsome thief, Pix make their appearance noted. Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Bram Stoker do too and the author must be credited in her technique to take history, fiction and steampunk and masterfully concoct a well compact tale. As Uncle Sherlock says 'there are no coincidences', thus it is not coincidence alone that Mina and Eve got paired up together. As it is going to take the Holmes' wit and the Stoker muscle to tackle the dark and dreary reaches of London underground.

"An exhilarating and exciting romp for Stoker & Holmes"

Genre :      Young Adult, Thriller, Steampunk, Paranormal, Historical Fantasy

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Release Date: 7th October, 2014

My Copy: publisher and edelweiss

Rate:              5/5 (It was Amazing)

Other Books in the series (review links):
                #1 The Clockwork Scarab 

Buy:           Amazon | Book Depository