Another of the books that arrived on the last Game Day was Arrowood, by Mick Finlay. The main character is someone who does not like Sherlock Holmes. At all. He maintains that Holmes only takes the cases he knows he can solve, and then has a partner who writes them up for the local papers. He also moves in the higher levels of London society. Arrowood does not, and he takes on cases because he needs the money. He too has a 'Watson', and a housekeeper (it's his sister, who arrives one day unannounced, unexpected, and not really welcome ... with her suitcase. And her tuba). His 'Baker Street Irregular' is a young lad of just nine years. Well written, with a good story, but be aware that this is a dark, dark read. Times are violent, young girls are kidnapped and sold to brothels, brutal fights and beatings happen for little or no reason, someone can be killed and dumped into the river just because the boss thinks he might have said something to someone. This is definitely not a cozy!

Posie Parker is headed to Venice for her wedding. Turns out to be anything but idyllic as there is a fire in the house (palace, actually) where she was to stay, and then a murder in the house where she and the others have been put up. There are hints that her intended is not the man she believes him to be, and a returning character who really isn't, but says so right up front (think spy, undercover, etc). I rather like this series, there are good characters and wonderful descriptions of the city, but I found Murder in Venice, the sixth in the Posie Parker Mystery series, by L.B. Hathaway, to be a bit darker than the earlier stories.

Reading Hermit With Dog