Queen’s Gambit: A Mystery Featuring Margaret Harkness

Set in 1897, Edgar-finalist Harper’s overblown sequel to 2018’s A Knife in the Fog starts off slowly, filling in details of the anarchist movement in Russia and Germany during the late 19th century before introducing the protagonists: novelist and radical journalist Margaret Harkness, and Joseph Bell, who was Conan Doyle’s inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. Margaret is dreaming of buying a ticket for the warmer climes of Australia when she receives a letter from Bell asking her to join him on a mission to Berlin. The two are requested by the German government “to smoke out the traitor” who’s in league with anarchists. This investigation puts them on the trail of a trained assassin and leads back to London as the city prepares for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. But the killer is not the only one being stalked. The derringer-packing, cross-dressing Margaret may find herself in the crosshairs of a lethal new weapon as she races to save the queen. Harper freely draws other historical figures into this melodramatic tale, taking a few colorful liberties with the facts. Fans of late Victorian crime novels not expecting too much will be satisfied. [em]Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Agency. (Sept.) [/em]