The Lady Sherlock Books in Order: How to read Sherry Thomas’s series?

Written by American novelist Sherry M. Thomas, The Lady Sherlock series gender-flips Sherlock Holmes into Charlotte Holmes. Charlotte Holmes creates the fiction of a “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective” and masquerades as his sister to investigate crimes in Victorian-era London with the help of a female benefactor and a handsome gentleman.

How to read The Lady Sherlock Series in Order?

Every entry in the Lady Sherlock book series works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other.

1. A Study In Scarlet Women – When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte Holmes is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. Under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, she’ll have help from friends new and old-a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her.
2. A Conspiracy in Belgravia – Lady Ingram, wife of Charlotte’s dear friend and benefactor, wants Sherlock Holmes to find her first love, who failed to show up at their annual rendezvous. The case becomes even more personal for Charlotte as the missing man is none other than Myron Finch, her illegitimate half-brother.
3. The Hollow of Fear – First, Charlotte’s half-brother disappears. Then, Lady Ingram, the estranged wife of Charlotte’s close friend Lord Ingram, turns up dead on his estate. And all signs point to Lord Ingram as the murderer. With Scotland Yard closing in, Charlotte goes under disguise to seek out the truth. But uncovering the truth could mean getting too close to Lord Ingram–and a number of malevolent forces.

4. The Art of Theft – Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork-or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas. But nothing is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake.
5. Murder on Cold Street – Charlotte finds herself in a case strewn with lies and secrets when Inspector Treadles is found locked in a room with two dead men, both of whom worked with his wife. Not to mention, how can she concentrate on these murders, when Lord Ingram, her oldest friend and sometime lover, at last dangles before her the one thing she has always wanted?
6. Miss Moriarty, I Presume? – A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes’s doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth. Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty’s daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte’s longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte-or is it the other way around?

7. A Tempest at Sea – After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking, and she might be able to go back to a normal life. Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder takes place on the ship.
8. A Ruse of Shadows – Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip. Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive.

If you like our Lady Sherlock reading order, you may be interested in reading more Sherlock adjacent stories and we’ve got some suggestions for you in our list of book series set in the world of Sherlock Holmes. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.