The wayward prince

Goldberg's middling seventh mystery featuring Joanna Blalock, kin to Conan Doyle's iconic detective (after 2022's The Blue Diamond), fails to paint its heroine as a convincing sleuth. In 1918, Joanna is summoned by Prime Minister Harold Lloyd-Jackson to help stave off "a looming disaster": Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, has been missing for days, raising fears that he's been abducted by the Germans. (British intelligence has decoded messages from German spies in London discussing a plan to embarrass the Crown.) Blalock takes the case, accompanied by her husband, John Watson (Dr. Watson's son), and must overcome reluctance from Harry's retinue to reveal aspects of his private life, including the identities of the prince's numerous paramours, before she can make any genuine progress. There's little suspense overall, and Joanna makes a series of deductions based on flimsy assumptions that undermine the intended portrayal of her as an intellectual equal to her father. Readers have a bevy of better gender-flipped Holmes tales to choose from, including the Enola Holmes YA series. (July)

The daughter of Sherlock Holmes encounters still more historical figures and another blast from her late father's past. As her admiring husband, Dr. John Watson Jr., puts it, Joanna Watson "sees things which others do not." So it's only natural that Sir Charles Bradberry, the commissioner of Scotland Yard, would arrange a meeting with her at 10 Downing St. when Prince Harry, the son of George V, who's third in line to the British throne, goes missing in May 1918. Joanna instantly suspects that His Royal Highness has been kidnapped, and indeed a ransom note soon appears, setting up a phone call in which the kidnappers demand the fabled crown jewel the Sovereign's Orb for the prince's safe return. As Joanna matches wits with the kidnappers and tosses off a barrage of casual deductions, her husband learns that the death of barmaid Martha Ann Miller following a botched abortion at St. Bartholomew's, where he's director of pathology, has surprising links to the abduction. But the biggest surprise is yet to come: The identification of the brains behind the kidnapping as Col. James Moriarty, whose brother so memorably encountered Joanna's father at Reichenbach Falls. The crime is clearly personal for Moriarty, and identifying him as the mastermind makes it personal for Joanna, too. Though the supporting criminals are obvious from the beginning and the constant thrust and parry between Joanna and the forces of evil can become tiresome, Goldberg, as usual, keeps up the pace on every page and in virtually every pregnant remark from Sherlock Holmes' daughter. An appealing installment for franchise fans and newcomers alike. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.