Book review:  The Misplaced Physician by Jeri Westerson (@RBRT) #Victorian mystery

I really enjoyed this book, which is an homage to other Victorian mystery series to which I am addicted (think authors Charles Finch, Elizabeth Peters, Anne Perry, but especially Arthur Conan Doyle). But quite unique in its own right.

London in 1895. Mrs. Hudson, the redoubtable landlady of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, comes to the detective agency of Timothy Badger and his partner in detection Benjamin Watson with the news that Dr. Watson has been kidnapped. With Holmes out of the country, she has nowhere else to turn, and Badger and Watson have made a name for themselves as detectives.

Badger is one of Holmes’ former Baker Street Irregulars, encouraged by Holmes to become a detective, and Watson, a black man, is an intuitive partner. They read the ransom note delivered to Mrs. Hudson, which says that the writer has Watson and not to involve the police or try to find him.

When they visit 221 Baker Street, they find the physician was enjoying a glass of sherry before being bundled away in a barouche coach and left wearing only one slipper. Did Dr. Watson know his captor? Why only one slipper? There is not much to go on, except for an upside down case book on the floor, opened to a particular page, and the muddy print of a hobnailed boot. When the second note arrives demanding only five hundred pounds, they learn from Mycroft Homes that this is a ridiculously low amount for such a renowned figure. The two detectives are baffled. Why was Dr. Watson kidnapped, since clearly not for the money? They enlist the help of the Dean Street Irregulars, a group of street urchins that Badger now employs, much has he once was, to locate the barouche. And then they consult with Ellsie Littleton, the reporter who had had the cases written up by Dr. Watson published in The Strand Magazine.

There are unexpected twists and turns to the plot as the detectives get so close to finding the kidnappers before losing them. And the detectives’ search is complicated by Badgers growing affection for Miss Littleton, and Watson’s infatuation with his household’s maid.

The concept of the book is original and imaginative. The characters have a humorous side, and all of them, including the minor ones, are meticulously drawn. Miss Littleton is fetchingly frustrating. The description of Victorian London is detailed, colorful, and historically accurate, and the author includes a dictionary of terms, such as bloaters and crawlers, at the beginning of the book making it easy for Kindle readers to use it.

I highly recommend this book as a fun read and an engaging Victorian mystery.

About the author:

Los Angeles native, Jeri Westerson is the author of fifteen Crispin Guest Medieval Noir Mystery novels, a series nominated for thirteen national awards from the Agatha to the Shamus. Her fifth novel BLOOD LANCE was named one of the Ten Hot Crime Novels for Colder Days by Kirkus Reviews, and her sixth, SHADOW OF THE ALCHEMIST, was named Best of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. She also has short stories in several mystery anthologies, including the upcoming SOUTH CENTRAL NOIR, an Akashic Noir anthology. She has served two terms as president of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, twice president of the Orange County Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and as vice president for the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She is also a founding member of the Los Angeles chapter of the Historical Novel Society. See more and sign up for her newsletter at JeriWesterson.com.

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