The Brothers of Baker Street is the second mystery by Michael Robertson. It concerns the barrister brothers Nigel and Reggie Heath whose chambers happen to share the same address as the fictional Sherlock Holmes - 221b Baker Street.
The first in the series, The Baker Street Letters, (and there is a third book scheduled to come out in April 2013) had the brothers flying to Los Angeles in response to a cry for help to Mr. Holmes from a young woman who wants the detective to help her find her father.
This next tale takes place in London and involves robberies and eventually a murder by a Black Cab driver. It all has to do with revenge, GPS equipment, and therapy groups. Just as in the first book, a letter written to Sherlock Holmes plays a big part in the mystery.
It is all quite a romp and Mr. Robertson seemed to write with a lighter touch this time. Although I will warn you that for some reason, in the first few pages, he gives away the identity of the murderer in the first book. That is why I feel compelled to read a mystery series in order of publication. I don't want any spoiled surprises.
Anyway, as a bonus, I learned what taxi drivers have to go through to get their license to drive a Black Cab. It is quite a strenuous and expensive path. All drivers must pass a test - known as the Knowledge - as to the locations of the streets and places of interest within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross in central London. This means learning 320 routes, 25,000 streets, and 20,000 landmarks. It can take from two to four years to pass the Knowledge.
Pretty cool, eh? London's taxi drivers are very proud of their expertise and reputation for safety. This is why with a criminal cabbie running amok in the city, everyone from other cab drivers to Scotland Yard to the press and especially the Heath Brothers are up-in-arms and bent on catching the killer.
I didn't get as much time to read over the weekend as I would have liked, but I am happy to report that the two books I started are excellent.
The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Robertson is a much smoother read than his first mystery concerning London brothers and solicitors Reggie and Nigel Heath. Their law chambers share the same address as Sherlock Holmes - 221b Baker Street. Letters still come for the great detective and part of the lease agreement states that all inquiries will be answered with a polite form letter. In Robertson's first book, The Baker Street Letters, disobeying the strict rule in the lease that absolutely no contact shall be made with any of the letter writers, Nigel and Reggie end up in Los Angeles investigating an appeal for help made to Holmes. In this next episode, the action takes place in London and concerns the Black Cab Killer and the reappearance of Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty. Or at least a reasonable facsimile of that evil genius.
I see that a third in the series, The Baker Street Translation, is due out in April. Oh good.
The other book I started is How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell. I am barely 30 pages into the book (or at nine percent as my Kindle tells me), and already I can see that this is a book I want to own. It is a fascinating look at the über-essayist's life and writings. I want to flip back and forth and mark certain passages. I want to look at certain photos again. The downside of the Kindle is that this is difficult to do for an Old School reader such as I.
So, as I write this, the hardcover edition of How to Live sits in my cart and is ready to be ordered from Amazon.
How did your weekend reading go?
Knowing that I have two new books to read for the weekend gives me the same flutter of happiness as does knowing that I have mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer.
From the library, I downloaded to my Kindle How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell. I was tipped off about this title in a post by Jenny at Shelf Love. It is 400 pages long and I hope I can finish it before it will disappear in two weeks from my e-reader.
Also from the library, I brought home The Brothers of Baker Street, the second mystery by Michael Robertson that follows the investigations of Nigel and Reggie Heath, two London solicitors.
I am set for the weekend.
This is a brief musing on the recently read The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson.
The plot revolves around brothers, Nigel and Reggie, both London solicitors, who happen to have offices on Baker Street. Part of the lease agreement requires that letters written to that most famous resident of 221b Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes, be answered. A form letter will suffice. But Nigel finds one written two decades earlier by an 8-year-old girl asking for Mr. Holmes's help in finding her father. And then there are two more recent follow-up letters.
Against the terms of the lease which state that under no circumstances is personal contact to be made with any letter writer, Nigel, the looser cannon of the two brothers, heads to Los Angeles to see what he can find out about this lady in distress. In the meantime, a body is found in Nigel's office, and off goes brother Reggie to L.A. to find Nigel.
I was thinking the mystery was going to take place in London, but if it had to be somewhere else at least it was in a location I knew about. The murders and the mystery all boil down to money, of course. There is a nice twist at the end and the futures of the two brothers are left up in the air. Nigel opts to stay in the U.S. while Reggie goes dutifully back to Baker Street.
Because I am familiar with the places and street names in the area of L.A. that the brothers found themselves (Reggie checks into the lovely Bonaventure Hotel) it made for a fun read. There were a few holes - would a cab driver wait for 20 minutes while Reggie finds a dead body and runs through the park chased by joggers who think he is the murderer? Would someone who suffered serious injuries in an explosion, be able to get out of his hospital bed and wander freely about the hospital?
Oh, well, that's why it is called crime fiction.
One annoying bit: no one in the story ever left a room or a car or a restaurant - they exited.
There is another character, Laura the actress, who is Reggie's girlfriend only she used to be Nigel's. She also winds up in L.A. and is on the case with Reggie. She seems to have more sense than both of the men put together. (No surprise there!)
There is a second book in the series, The Brothers of Baker Street. It appears that the action in this one takes place in London. I have added it to my reserve list at the library. I will be interested to see in what sticky wicket the brothers find themselves this time.
