A Scandal in Brooklyn by Lauren Wilkinson
Publisher - Amazon Original Stories
Published - 30/6
Price - £1.99 Kindle eBook
A top-secret experiment at a restricted virtual-reality compound pulls attorney Tommy Diaz back into the orbit of Irene Adler, an old friend with an eidetic memory, a love of true-crime podcasts, and a knack for solving the unsolvable. But this? At a remote warehouse, a VR trial goes awry when a willing test subject, alone in the observation room, drops dead of anaphylaxis—from the sting of a virtual bee. Though the tech titan behind the research believes in the power of the outrageous, Irene relies on clues, hard facts, and a level head. However, in a case this peculiar, how elementary can it be?
It’s fairly clear these days Sherlock Holmes can be fitted into the modern world. A forensic mind works well as does a rogue detective who likes to do things their own way. But could that world succeed in a story without the Great Detective. I am pleased to say Lauren Wilkinson delivers just that by focusing on The Woman aka Irene Adler in the hugely enjoyable short story A Scandal in Brooklyn.
Tommy Diaz a lawyer who by doing the right thing has had to leave LA is a man without any purpose. His old friend Irene Adler though has asked if he can assist. A friend of hers is asking about concerns for a vanished husband and that leads the duo to a strange cut-off science facility in Brooklyn where the impossible is being invented and soon after a man is found dead. They are all locked in with a potential killer who may even be the new AI being created. Irene has a few hours to solve it and avoid being killed too.
I really enjoyed this locked room mystery with a hi-tech boost. Wilkinson delivers a stylish and fast paced tale full of little nuggets. As with the best Holmes tales it’s the depth of the world that made the story come alive. Diaz as our narrator fills us in on Irene’s childhood and her marriage to the mysterious tech billionaire Martin Kraal who owns the facility. It’s a world of true crime podcasts; industrial espionage and strange inventions and crucially just as with Doyle’s tales of criminal and international incidents it both feels plausible and raises the stakes.
Refreshingly Adler is not a scheming temptress but a smart Black woman with an eidetic memory and a gift for perception of clues through observation. Already rumoured to have solved the mystery behind a Serial style podcast it’s clear she is a smart detective but this hopefully first case come more out of both helping a friend and hope her divorce with her husband will not be contested. She is warm, humoured and not one to be talked down to and whenever she takes the page grabs the attention. Diaz is the more amiable of the pair addicted to Twitter and crossing jokes with Irene. Already you want to spend time in their company.
The mystery is fun too. Throwing in 21st century ideas such as holograms, virtual reality and AI plus a number of humans with motive keeps us on our toes but ultimately logic and deduction as always finds the truth.
A Scandal in Brooklyn is a stylish, well paced and smart re-invention of the world of Conan Doyle and I really hope we see more. Hugely enjoyable and well worth a look!
