Review: The Devil's Due by Bonnie MacBird

Kerry Hammond is on a Sherlock Holmes kick and decided to read a new-to-her author who puts her own twist on a beloved character.

The Devil’s Due is the third book in author Bonnie MacBird’s Sherlock Holmes series. MacBird got her start in the film industry and has numerous writing credits to her name—in addition to Emmy awards for three documentaries she wrote and produced. MacBird started her Sherlock Holmes series because of her love for Conan Doyle’s work, and readers in 17 languages are extremely glad she did.

In this installment to the series, we find ourselves in London in the year 1890. Watson takes his wife Mary’s visit to the country as an excuse to check in on his old friend Sherlock Holmes. He finds the detective being targeted by a slanderous media campaign; a reporter is calling Holmes the devil incarnate and blaming him for a series of deaths that Holmes is actually investigating. Prominent London citizens are being murdered and each of the deaths is suspiciously followed by another, this time a suicide, of a friend or loved one.

To add to the difficulty of the investigation, New Scotland Yard has a new chief and he is hell bent on closing cases. The problem is, he doesn’t seem to care about the actual investigation, or whether or not he’s caught the right culprit. With all of these strikes against him, Holmes is more than motivated to get to the bottom of the murders and catch the killer before he or she kills again.

I am embarrassed to say that this is my first read by Bonnie MacBird. After devouring the book, I am shocked at myself. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story and I’m not sure how in the world I managed to miss the boat on this series. MacBird does an excellent job of channeling Doyle’s detective and creating a mystery that fits in with the spirit of the original works.

I found the book entertaining, puzzling, fast paced, and just plain enjoyable. I’m thrilled to have discovered such a wonderful series. I’m a huge fan of everything Sherlock Holmes (come back next week for my post about my visit to Meiringen, Switzerland, the town at the base of Reichenbach Falls where Holmes and Moriarty plunged to their “deaths”). I highly recommend MacBird's series, whether you’re a Holmes fan or just like a good historical mystery.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.

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