The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime is book 10 in the fabulous Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery series by Vicki Delany. This is one of my favourite cozy mystery series and features specialty bookshop owner Gemma Doyle.
Title: The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime
Author: Vicki Delany
Series: Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries book 10
First Published: January 14, 2025
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an ebook via Netgalley for review purposes. ***
Gemma Doyle and her friends are in London for her sister Pippa’s wedding. Waiting for her in the hotel lobby is none other than Gemma’s ex-husband, Paul Erikson. Paul has a rare book he wants her to see so Gemma agrees to meet him at their old shop, Trafalgar Fine Books, the following day. But when Gemma arrives, accompanied by Grant, a rare book dealer, they find Paul dead in his office.
Paul had been down on his luck, but Gemma never expected this. Had he borrowed money from people he shouldn’t have? And where is the valuable book he was so anxious for Gemma to see? It’s nowhere to be found in the shop. Because of their previous relationship, Gemma feels she owes something to Paul and vows to find his killer.
As Gemma and her best friend Jayne Wilson follow Paul’s trail of friends, enemies, clients, and ex-lovers through London to Yorkshire, she realizes the puzzle of Paul’s last days is more twisted than she originally thought.
Another fantastic mystery with the Sherlock Holmes bookshop gang
This is one of my favourite cozy mystery series – Gemma is a fun, smart amateur sleuth & I love that she’s back in London, solving a mystery with her friends. Not only is Gemma one of my current favourite main characters but the cast of secondary characters in this series also stand very well on their own.
I was especially excited when I learned that Gemma and her group were headed back to London because that meant that we would see more of Gemma’s sister, Pippa. I’m a huge fan of Pippa’s! LOL. While Gemma loosely reminds readers of Sherlock (super observant, good deduction), Pippa is definitely Mycroft (secretive, high-level government job) and she’s one of my favourite side characters in the series.
And while Gemma’s boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton is usually there beside her, this time around it’s Pippa’s husband Grant who is with her when things get murdery. I like the change, and it makes use of character’s we’ve known from past books to give the story a fresh feel. Grant was introduced earlier in the series as a friend of Gemma’s (they bonded over rare books) but he had re-located to London after Gemma introduced him to Pippa.
Another enjoyable read
As usual, the story itself is well-plotted with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the end. I found it very evenly paced and there weren’t any obviously slow sections. I usually find I can’t put books in this series down until I’m done reading and this was the case again.
While The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime can definitely be read as a stand-alone, it’s definitely much more enjoyable when read in series order, as you get to ‘grow’ with the characters and appreciate their relationships and actions in this book.
Overall, this was a fun, light mystery packed with great characters and definitely a book/series that I highly recommend.
Quote from The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime
