The Bughouse Affair (Carpenter and Quincannon, #1) (Carpenter and Quincannon, #1) (Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery) (John Quincannon, #4)

by Marcia Muller

[kimbacaffeinate]

The Bughouse Affair the first book in a new historical mystery series set in San Francisco during the 1890’s offered up interesting characters and two cases that become intertwined. The tale features former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon, a former secret service agent who together have opened their own detective agency. I quickly became caught up in the mysteries and the character claiming to be none other than Sherlock Holmes himself.

The detective offices of Carpenter and Quincannon have two cases they are working on. He is working on a case for an insurance company where a series of burglaries involving insurance holders leads them to believe someone has gotten a hold of their client list. She is trying to catch a clever pickpocket who is robbing people at Chutes Amusement Park and affecting their business. The two cases seem completely unrelated but clues begin to make them fear otherwise. While trying to apprehend the housebreaker, Quincannon is detained by a man professing to be the dead man Sherlock Holmes. The tale that unfolds was suspenseful, witty and reminded me of old detective novels.

Muller and Pronzini did an excellent job of introducing us to Carpenter and Quincannon. I got a real sense for these quirky detectives, and found them to be amusing and confident. I loved how Holmes unnerved them, especially the overly confident, easily ruffled Quincannon. Sabina is still morning the loss of her husband, a former detective at Pinkerton and he has made his feelings for her well known. I found their banter to be delightful and funny. While there is no romance in this first book, the possibility is there. Holmes or whoever this man is was perfectly portrayed as the pompous, long-winded detective himself. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes involving him and his clever sleuthing skills. The cast of suspects, informants and clients all added to the tale and were well fleshed out as well.

The world building and use of period language was very well done. The author(s) descriptions of both San Francisco and the people of this era came to life. The plot unfolded at a nice pace, and escalated towards the end with a few twists to my delight. I did figure out the case, before it was revealed and thought the how and why was clever. I found the terminology for criminals, and other creatures that inhabited the shadier streets to be fascinating. It does slow the reading pace as there are a lot of terms, suspects, places and facts to take it but it was such fun! I am looking forward to their next case.
I want to thank Tor/Forge for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review. Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer