I thought that the title suggested that the book would have some connection with the novels of Sherlock Holmes and the superior attitude that Holmes showed to Dr. Watson when he used this phrase. A similarity in name semms to be the only connection, or perhaps I missed it. I also found the surname Tulip, with the emphasis on the illustration of the flower to separate the paragraphs, a little amusing.
Enough of that. This third and final book in the Smart Chick Mystery series, with the claim that it abounds in "love, adventure and excitement," provides a good read. A bit unexpectedly, the two main characters are practising Christians and this dominates their behaviour, attitude and actions. The story is mainly concerned with the lives of these two characters and it is clear from the beginning that they, Danny the photographer and Jo Tulip a regular reporter on household hints in a popular newspaper, are in love with one another and are set to marry. So, in spite of threats, e-mails, attempted murders and fractured family ties, this book reads more like a romantic novel than a crime novel. Its conclusion is the marriage of the two lovers with the promise of a happy event as part of the epilogue.
The story is concerned with the separation of these two characters for three months. Danny is in Paris for a photographic internship sponsored by the magazine Scene It, and Jo is living with her grandmother while she recovers from a spell in hospital after being involved in an explosion which left her injured and her house in ashes. The story is told in chapters which incorporate more or less alternate short episodes, telling what is happening to the parted lovers told from each of their points of view. There are serious complications on both sides, involving electric toasters (how to clean them), threating e-mails, ruthless exploitation in the discovery and selling of a drug, difficult family relationships, the influence of a leading photographer on Danny's career and much more. Altogether it is too difficult to try to explain, but the layout of the chapters makes the plot understandable and the whole makes for an interesting read. Have a go.
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Rosemary Brown
The other two books in the series are: The Trouble with Tulip andBlind Dates can be Murder