Leonard Goldberg’s eighth book in his “Daughter of Sherlock Holmes” mysteries, “A Scandalous Affair,” is another fascinating look at England during the first World War.
This is set in 1918.
German bombers fly regularly over Great Britain as often as they can to drop bombs on civilians and military targets alike to dishearten the British people and cause them to leave the war.
It is on such a night that Lestrade visits 221B Baker St. about a case that has stymied Joanna and Scotland Yard.
A high-ranking manager at Lloyd’s of London was a conservator for Lady Jane Wellesley, an elderly woman suffering from Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
When Scotland Yard confronted the suspect, he committed suicide.
Joanna believes the case to not be resolved, for no one can find the 10,000 pounds he was able to remove and hide from being recovered. Lestrade thanks the trio for their assistance and takes his leave.
Joanna then reveals to the Drs. Watson that they are expecting a high-ranking guest: Sir William Radcliffe, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the second most powerful man in the British government.
His solicitor has made an appointment for a late-night visit to 221B Baker St., home of Joanna (Holmes) Watson and the Drs. Watson.
(The Exchequer was the government office that collected revenue and disbursed funds on behalf of the king as well as auditing official accounts and trying legal cases relating to revenue.)
His family is being blackmailed, and he needs Joanna and the Watsons to find the person responsible and make them stop.
They are bankrupting the Radcliffe family, and the granddaughter who is in the risque photographs is engaged to an influential family.
If these photographs become public, Sir William would have to step down at a time when his government needs him the most; and his granddaughter’s prospects of marriage would dry up and wither.
What proceeds is a tale of greed, blackmail and murder that only the daughter of Sherlock Holmes can bring to a successful conclusion.
Joanna has to contend with a young woman who is in love and refuses to tell the whole truth; a greedy man who will stop at nothing to accumulate wealth from those he despises; and a young actor who is at the center of the crime.
Mr. Goldberg does a great job of relaying technology and innovations that we take for granted in their early days of discovery and experimentation.
The technological advances of fireproofing safes and tanks has an interesting intersection in the novel.
I really enjoy these mysteries and like Goldberg’s continuation of the Holmes mythos.
If you want to read them, please start at the beginning, because there are interesting things in the Watsons’ personal lives that carry from book to book.
Susan McKinney is the librarian at the St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library. She received her master’s in library science from the University of Illinois. She came here from Indiana for graduate school and fell in love with the area. She has lived here ever since. She is an avid reader and enjoys mystery, suspense, fantasy and action novels.