The Exploits of the Second Mrs. Watson

Amelia Watson

by Michael Mallory

The series set in fictional Harbour Pointe and started in Joyce Spizer's debut novel The Cop Was As White As Snow is getting its legs. Plunge with P.I. Camellia "Mel" Walker and her witty gay pistol-packing partner Johnnie Blake into trouble. Meeting a client in a dark alley, Mel doesn't expect an ambush. As usual, Mel's nose for investigation and her pursuit of justice for the deceased Peter Connelly tests her bond with tough, sexy cop X-Ray Ramirez, a former small-time teenage hood Mel's deceased father (read all about it in COP) took under his wing. Mel has a way of disregarding crime scene rules that creates an interesting ongoing tension with the police department her deceased father, murdered in the previous book, loved. But Mel, whose nose for justice may soon need surgery by the mysterious Dr. Sarah Reynolds, who she links to the murder through snooping in the dead man's house, isn't being disrespectful of law and order. She has a soft spot for underdogs such as Terry Malone, a stripper with a heart of gold who owns the Skin Inn (in a humorous scene, Mel is offered a job and asked "Is you a dyke?), a connection to Peter Connelly and Peter's bank-robbing partner Buddy Danko, who also winds up dead. Did we happen to mention Peter Connelly pulled off a bank heist with Buddy and that Mel is looking for the other half of a bond he gave her as payment? Sometimes having a sense of right and wrong makes life too complicated. Particularly when your slimy attorney ex-husband plays the temporary good guy to defend Terry Malone and . . . without giving away the ending, it was a surprise that plays into a scorned woman's wish-fulfillment dreams. Spizer knows her craft.

ebook

First published July 15, 2008

About the author

Michael Mallory is an internationally-recognized authority on the subjects of film, animation and 20th century pop-culture, and the author of sixteen nonfiction books, which include The Art of Krampus, Essential Horror Movies, and Marvel: The Characters and their Universe. With the legendary American animation artist Iwao Takamoto he co-authored the memoirs Iwao Takamoto: My Life With a Thousand Characters, and has written more than 600 magazine and newspaper articles that have been published worldwide. A former newscaster, occasional actor, and frequent public speaker, Mike lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very entertaining collection of stories featuring Amelia, the never-named second Mrs. Watson, the only reference to whom, in the canon, is a somewhat peevish note by Holmes in "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" that "The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association." While the problems are interesting and the obviously tense relationship between Amelia and Holmes can be amusing, the writing leaves a lot to be desired, especially for those of us who are used to the good doctor's polished prose.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was put off by the amount of typos and spelling errors in the book. If there are enough mistakes that even I can notice them, then you know there are a whole slew of them. Sloppy work, Mallory. And what's with the plagiarized still from the Grenada Sherlock Holmes series on the cover?

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3 1/2 stars overall but I will bump it up 'cuz it's a fun book in its genre. I enjoyed Amelia Watson's character who is smart, resourceful, wryly humorous and certainly not enamored with Holmes like her husband is--rather what you would have expected of the exceedingly tolerate first Mrs. Watson. The writing is good. The mysteries are simple and rather simply solved, often turn on one clue, reminding me of Encyclopedia Brown. Harry Benbow is a fun character and would make a great on-going partner for Amelia. Character development is weak. Disappointingly, Watson is often off writing or lecturing about his stories rather than involved in solving mysteries with his wife. Typos indicate better editing is needed. I will read more of Mrs. Watson.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I preferred the first set of stories, but these are also amusing.