Mrs. Sherlock Holmes

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
By: Brad Ricca

Lots of information! Which is what I liked and didn't like at the same time. The TV show Timeless did an episode featuring Mrs. Sherlock Holmes and that was when I was first intrigued by this historical figure. So when I saw this book I knew I needed to read it! It gave me exactly what I needed to know about her.

It was a fairly comprehensive look at her career, a lot of which involved helping immigrants who were being taken advantage of. It was interesting to see how she battled opposition in the men's world of law in the early 1900s.

This book also followed the case of a missing girl, Ruth Kruger, a famous case in New York that Grace Humiston took part in. Apparently that's about the time they realized that girls were basically systematically being sex trafficked (interestingly called 'white slavery')- or at least the time when the public first came to that knowledge. It was one of the main passions of Mrs. Sherlock's life- to put a stop to it- finding, rescuing, and preventing. She said, "...had I the power, I would cause to be inserted in the laws of every state an act that would make the tempting of a girl a serious offense, punishable by an adequate penalty, I would call such practice 'criminal persuasion' and I think that if the white slaver knew he violated the law at the beginning of his 'trade' there would be fewer girls in the underworld." It's sad to think how after all these years, it has only gotten worse.

Overall, it gave me a good education of what Mrs. Sherlock Holmes did, as well as information of immigration, women, and the underworld of the 1900's. However, although it was information I sought, it was also a bit too much. A tad too long of a book. And a few too many details about things. It didn't help that it was written more like a report or newspaper article than a novel- very dry. Which I suppose makes sense because reports are what the author used to write this and may have been more his goal than entertainment. It was very much a historical account. A lot like: this happened. Then this happened. This is this person. They did this. Then this. This was the result. The book cover is a little misleading to the writing style.

I much prefer Bill O'Reilly's style of writing historic accounts. I was still glad to have picked the book up, but was also glad when it was done.