The Illustrious Client

Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary Watson series #2

by Sandra de Helen

Book Two of the Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary Watson series, THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENT, shows us the private investigator and her sidekick sharing an office, and introduces their receptionist, Lix. They are hired to influence a young international pop star, Oceane Charles, to pry her away from her older, richer, player of a girlfriend. The cast is made up of people with various ethnicities and backgrounds, and of course the job soon includes solving a murder mystery. Along the way, Mary discovers her latent lesbianism. Set in Portland, Oregon on a superyacht, in a hospital VIP room, at Rose Festival, and other fun places.

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2013

About the author

I still have the book from which I learned to read at the age of four. It is Now We are Six by A. A. Milne. I am a voracious reader, and now I write and read every day.

Reviews

[Ruth Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are times that I omit checking the content too closely when agreeing to do reviews. This means that I occasionally read something out of my comfort zone, and this certainly was. I will restrain myself from complaining, however, because when I agree to review a book, I can "ignore" the content I don't prefer. But I will tell you from the outset that this does deal with lesbianism, but it does not go into great detail. I would not call it overly graphic, but I just want to ensure that my readers know this before they pick it up. The profanity is not a major issue, but there are a couple of "hardcore" words. If any of this is an issue, I would recommend you abstain from reading the book.

Now that the potentially objectionable content is out of the way, permit me to tell you the positives. A female version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is quite an intriguing idea. I believe I would have more entertained had the story happened during Sherlock Holmes's time, but that is just a personal preference. I didn't read the first book, and I possibly would have enjoyed the book more if I had read book one, but I had no trouble following the storyline nor the characters.

One thing I truly appreciate is the diversity of the book. While I am uncomfortable with the aspects already mentioned, I still can say that multiculturalism is a definite strength of this book. The mystery was a bit weak at times, but I can say that the details included certainly qualify it to be a "cozy mystery." The other details I suggested may boot it out of that genre, but there are no gory details. It may not be my all-time favorite genre, but the characters are interesting if nothing else. If you are looking for a quick read (and the cautions at the beginning of the review don't bother you), this book would be a good fit for you. It is one you can sit down and read in one sitting. And the author certainly shows promise since she made me actually care about the fate of the characters in the story.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

[Megan]

One of the many good things about this, the second novel in the Shirley Combs/Dr. Mary Watson series, is that it stands alone very well. Conversely, perhaps the best way to review this novel is by contrasting it to its predecessor.

Let’s start with the Holmes/Watson comparisons. In the first book, de Helen refers to the original iconic detective no less than 15 times. Well, guess how many comparisons she makes this time? Answer: zero. What this means is that the author has become more confident in her talents and more creative in her thinking. Ditto about her “explanations” about inconsistent point of view. Although her narrative shifts once or twice from Dr. Watson to omniscient, the author genuinely tries to stay within Watson’s experience. Not perfect, but a vast improvement.

The plot is fairly complex, as was the previous book’s. Shirley is hired to dissuade a famous young pop star, Oceane, from her romance with international playgirl Zaro, who was once (disguised as a male) a soldier in the Afghan army. But when Zaro is attacked with acid, the sleuth’s job becomes one of finding the culprit. Although, as I said, the story is a good one, the main merit of this book is the growth of Mary Watson. Although in the first book there were a couple of exquisitely tiny hints that Mary might not be quite as asexual as she believes, in this book she discovers, quite by surprise, her lesbian identity. Although from puberty, she assumed she was simply asexual, she suddenly found that “something had awakened in me,” when she met real estate agent Beth Adams. The idea of a romance—maybe even a sexual relationship!—causes her to gush, “I was excited to the point of near-hysteria.” This is really good stuff; details that are all-too-rare in lesbian fiction, although we have all been there.

Sadly, the same can’t be said of Shirley. She remains a cold and pretty uninteresting fish. She has, as Mary notes, “a coolly intellectual mind,” but that’s about all, unless you add the fact that she wears Birkenstocks with socks, but doesn’t everyone? And anyway, we found out about that in the first book.

A touch worth noting, Shirley’s new “administrative assistant” has the greatest first name in lesbian literature: Lix. Hopefully in the next book we will learn her last name and some backstory. And maybe some more about Shirley, too. Or maybe Lix and Shirley will get it on. Whoo weee. I can’t wait. And Lix should get her own series. You heard it all here first.

Finally—and I rarely comment on this—the formatting of the e-book for this novel is the most sophisticated I have ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot. It may presage the day when e-books can look identical to print versions.

Negatives? Well the POV thing is still a little glitchy, as is Shirley’s lack of real individuality. And now that Sherlock himself is absent from de Helen’s pages, maybe it is time to stray from rewriting actual or nearly actual Conan Doyle titles.

Bottom line, give this one close to a 4; it is certainly worth a read. With the author continuing to hone her talents, I am looking forward to the next one.

I read a review copy of The Illustrious Client, which was kindly provided in e-book form by the publisher through Lesbrary.

Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.

[Peggy Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in deHelen's series based on the famous Sherlock Holmes stories, "The Illustrious Client" continues the adventures of Shirley Combs and her sidekick Mary Watson as they live, work and solve mysteries in modern day Portland, Oregon. This time the team is hired to convince international pop star, Oceane Charles, to leave her girlfriend, Zaro, whose past is littered with women loved and left--or murdered. The game is soon afoot as Zaro is attacked, a couple murders occur and the list of suspects grows. A fun addition to the series.