Stumbled across this on Netgalley and as a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and M.R.C. Kasasian thought it would be right up my street, and it definitely didn't disappoint! Some really well written characters that seem to have been established in previous books, as well as intertwining the great man himself who manages to contribute without overshadowing. The story becomes a little predictable, but then that may be due to my excellent deductive reasoning ;-) worth reading and time flew by!

I loved this fresh take on Sherlock Holmes. This story is told from a female perspective but without resorting to changing history and making Holmes or Watson a woman. Kudos for originality, for language that feels authentic yet not outmoded, for fresh puzzles and for the nostalgia.

There are plenty of interesting characters and situations, giving Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair a pleasant twist from the norm. I really enjoyed Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair, and will definitely be giving the previous four books in the series a read.

Another excellent addition to this entertaining series, I was glad to catch up with the characters and appreciated the fast paced and gripping plot.
Can't wait to read the next story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

It seems like every character from the Sherlock Holmes stories has been given their own series and, you know what, I’m good with that. And, in Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair (A Holmes & Hudson Mstery Book 5),Mrs Hudson gets to show her own rather prodigious detecting skills with the aid of her own Dr Watson, Flotsum who is an extremely likable character. This is a fun addition to the Holmes iconography. It’s the first book I have read of the series but it won’t be my last.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

This is the fifth in the series that features the famous duo Holmes and Watson, but these novels are slanted from the perspective of their two female domestic servants - the equally canonical Mrs Hudson and the unlikely named maid Flotsam (which serves as both her given and family name) who narrates the story in the first person. Flotsam, aged just 17, is intelligent and articulate, and is often employed by Holmes more as a PA/secretary than a humble housemaid. Hence, she has a good perspective into many of their cases as observer and enlightened commentator, and there is also enhanced involvement by the astute streetwise Mrs Hudson, who always seems to intuitively know just what is going on. There appears upon the London scene a potential rival to the great Sherlock Holmes who wows society with several successes in solving some crimes. When the matter that is known as the Blue Daisy Affair is apparently solved by the newcomer, then it seems that Holmes’ reputation at the country’s leading detective is indeed under acute threat.
While some of the situations and cases that are brought to the attention of Holmes and Watson seem a little contrived, the author has the characters of both the detectives accurately rendered and creates an entertaining, if perhaps not always entirely accurate milieu of late nineteenth century London. The story rattles on in congenial fashion and is an undemanding read.

This was the first book in the series that I have read. I did not have amazing expectations from it. I mostly liked the connection with Sherlock Holmes. The entire action was interesting; however, I had the impression that the length was too much. The entire story could have been told without all those extra pages.

I did not like the character of Flottie. I get the idea that it was difficult for the women in that era but Flottie with all that extra attention given to her as a housekeeper, and all the courtesy she receives is a bit too much to be believed and make it real. Victorian London description was something very well shaped. The feminine character that I loved most was the one of Mrs. Hudson.

I enjoyed the fact that the book can be read perfectly as a standalone, and you have no trouble keeping up with the plot.

So refreshing to centre more around Mrs Hudson for a change. Great idea the premise of this book. Really funny in places, and was such a cosy read. I hope there is more

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot (there are others like that out there if that's what you are looking for!)

I've always loved stories involving Sherlock Holmes (having read the original Conan Doyle novels in my teens), so was delighted to find this title. I did not realise when I requested this book that it is part of a series - however there is enough background detail to make it work just fine as a standalone read.

I loved the premise of this novel - that Mrs Hudson is also a detective in her own way as approriate to her station in life (alongside Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson of course) and is developing her protege "Flotsam" to follow in her footsteps - in both household and detective work

There are several strands to the plot, and the whole "feel" of the book has a great period authenticity. I did eventually guess what was going on in the main plot strand, but still found the whole book very enjoyable.

I will now be seeking out the previous novels in this series, and look forward to reading the next!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

First time reading a book in this series and I enjoyed it very much. Interesting take on the household of Sherlock Holmes and liked the historical details. Complex characters with excellent observation skills.

This 5th installment of the series is as fun and entertaining as the previous ones. A fun spin-off for Holmes fans. I love that Mrs Hudson is so well connected and quietly clever. In this book, Miss Flotsam is in the spotlight as she assists the very busy Holmes and Watson and becomes quite the heroine.

Light enjoyable read about the downstairs staff in Holmes and Watson's establishment and how they also go detecting. Suspend belief about aspects of being a maid, especially, in Victorian times but who has a huge exposure to Society seemingly flipping from one end to the other seamlessly and you can thoroughly enjoy the read. Said maid, Flottie, as well as the famous housekeeper, Mrs Hudson, find themselves embroiled in the Suffrage Movement and a possible assassination attempt, accusation of a Society young man of murder of a maid and the entrance of apparent serious competition for Holmes, Holmes and Watson have other important cases to attend to and fly in and out at random. This story does stand alone but the previous four books would probably help us understand Flottie a bit more - she's still only 17 but clearly come a long way already. Descriptions of Victorian London and society are well constructed, at least as far as we understand life to have been and the plots develop nicely. Apart from the unlikely acceptance of Flottie by even Holmes as a worthy assistant, this is certainly a series that I'd like to continue reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review

Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair is the fifth book in the cozy English mystery series by Martin Davies. Released 4th Nov 2021 by Canelo, it's 305 pages and is available in ebook format. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is on the surface a nice tie-in series starring the redoubtable Mrs. Hudson (of 221B Baker St. fame), and featuring lots of nice Holmes and Watson cameos. As always, this installment also features Mrs. Hudson's assistant Flotsam who has blossomed into a capable, honourable, intelligent, and fearless protagonist in her own right.

There are several disparate plot threads - Russian spies, assassination plots, women's suffrage, rigid social class divisions - and they all twine ever more tightly together to reach a satisfying climax and denouement. The author weaves fictional characters and events so skillfully around real historical characters that it's not always easy to figure out where fact shades into fiction.

Despite being the 5th book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone, and I had no trouble keeping up with the plot.

Four stars. This would be a good choice for public library acquisition as well as for fans of historical British cozies. It would also make a good choice for bookclub discussion or a buddy-read for online cozy enthusiasts.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

If you are expecting a typical Holmesian style mystery, this book is not it. It is however a delightful little cozy involving his housekeeper and her helper. It's a quick read and the mystery itself is pretty easily solved early on but its a fun read nonetheless. There are four other books in this series but this reads well as a standalone. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

My interest wasn’t really captured by this book. Apparently this is the fifth offering in a series. I didn’t necessarily feel like I was kissing essential information from previous entries, but neither did I feel completely comfortable with these characters. I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, but wasn’t very connected to this iteration of the great detective - both Holmes and Watson felt off right from the beginning, and that soured my reading experience. All in all, I wasn’t really a fan and likely won’t be checking out any others in this series.

Holmes and Hudson Mystery #5

September in London, and the city basks in a glorious Indian summer. Sherlock Holmes has more work than he can handle, and when the Home Office ask him to sniff out a plot by Russian Assassins on radical politician George Dashing, Holmes and Watson find themselves distracted by more pressing cases. Meanwhile, there is scandal at the home of Dashing's great political rival, Sir Henry Catanache. When Sir Henry's maid goes missing, his son is the prime suspect.

This is the first book in the series that I've read. Mrs Hudson is Sherlock Holmes' housekeeper. Floatsam is seventeen and she was rescued from the streets when she was quite young. The story is told from Floatsam's perspective. Sir Henry Catanache's son, Oscar, has been arrested and charged. charged with murder and could end up being hung for the crime. Sherlock Holmes has more work than he can cope with, and he can now pick and choose who he works for. There's a lot going on in the book but it's still easy to follow. This book does read well as a standalone.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Canelo and the author #MartinDavies for my ARC of #MrsHudonAndTheBlueDaisyAffair in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun, fun book…

The Sherlock Holmes stories were some of the first mysteries I graduated to after Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew, and I loved them. But I’ve always felt that a lot of Holmes pastiches (Laurie R King’s Mary Russell series aside) fall a little flat. So I was very pleasantly surprised by Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair, which is the fifth in the Holmes & Hudson series by Martin Davies. It is simply a thoroughly enjoyable book!

Davies speculates on what might happen in the Holmes universe “if the real brains of Baker Street weren’t Sherlock’s” – but actually were Mrs. Hudson’s. In the process, he breathes life into two delightful characters, Mrs. Hudson herself, and Mrs. Hudson’s orphaned protégé, Flotsam. The story itself revolves around a gruesome murder scene – the blood-spattered room in which a former housemaid has apparently been murdered by the scion of the house she used to work in. The case seems to be perfect for Holmes, so imagine the shock when the Catanaches hire the trendy new detective in town, Laurence Martin, to establish their son’s innocence, rather than Sherlock himself. Holmes and Dr Watson are pretty busy anyway with a couple of other cases, including a Home Office “special request” that weaves in and out around the main storyline. But Mrs. Hudson and Flotsam have no intentions of ceding the field to some upstart detective – so they investigate and all turns out well.

I enjoyed pretty much every minute of Blue Daisy, which I read far too late into the night. The story is told from Flotsam’s point of view, and she’s a smart, funny, and engaging narrator. I enjoyed watching her investigate, do a bit of code-switching, and grow up some along the way too. I very much hope there will be more books in the series – inquiring minds want to know how Scraggs’ new enterprise works out – and more about his relationship with Flotsam too! And I have now also added the first four Holmes & Hudson books to my “To Be Read” list, which is already far too long – sigh. Finally, please note that I received an advance review copy of Mrs Hudson and the Blue Daisy Affair from the publisher, Canelo, and from NetGalley.

I like this series and how Mrs. Hudson and her assistant are the primary ones solving the mystery, with the assistant, Flottie, taking the lead in this book. The mystery kept me guessing.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m returning to this entertaining series to find Flotsam is now seventeen years old, and is regularly engaged by Sherlock and Watson to help with their investigations by providing her analyses and observations, or to help with interviews under stairs. Mrs. Hudson has done a terrific job with Flotsam’s education, so while still a housemaid, she can converse well with Lords and Ladies.
This case opens with two different parties asking Sherlock to ensure a dashing young gentleman, coincidentally sporting the name George Dasher, be safeguarded till he can deliver an important speech supporting women’s suffrage. But Sherlock is already engaged on two other time-consuming cases, when yet another one falls into his lap thanks to Watson and Flotsam getting pulled into an investigation of a missing and possibly murdered former housemaid of a Lord with opposing views to Dasher, whose son is thought to be her murderer.
Both cases intersect, and Flotsam gets to ask questions, and assist when the parents of the accused man engage another up-and-coming detective making waves in London.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Though Mrs. Hudson was less prominent in this case, her brilliant brain was still sorting through details, and her expressive eyebrow twitched when aspects of the murder investigation did not make sense. Flotsam’s learning to navigate different levels of Society, and her flamboyant friend Hetty Peters had me in stitches when the two young women had to break into an exclusive location.
The mysteries were fun to figure out, and though I had solved certain parts of the cases before Flotsam did, I had fun watching her get there herself, and sadly, learn firsthand about the duplicitousness of others she had previously held in esteem.
I am going to have to catch up on previous instalments of this series, as this was such fun to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Canelo for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I am enjoying this series more and more with each book I read. I think I have slowly accepted the alterations to the classic personalities of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that allow them to be so much more personable and accommodating for Mrs. Hudson and Flotsam to deal with. This specific story has Flotsam taking a much larger part of the active investigation and it is written in such a way that I believed her capable of the things she tried to do. Mrs. Hudson has bits and pieces she is involved in looking into but the majority of the clues are left to Flotsam. If you like to read mysteries, but don't want to suffer through details and descriptions of murders, you will be glad to know that this is definitely a reader friendly series.

In case this is your first time reading a book from this series you need to know that Mrs. Hudson is the housekeeper for Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson. Flotsam is (now) a seventeen year old girl who was rescued from the London streets when she was quite young and eventually landed in Baker Street as the kitchen maid learning her job from Mrs. Hudson. At this point in the lives of these characters Holmes is working on solving several cases at once, Mr. George Dashing has returned to England and immediately begins to stir the pot of controversy and a new detective begins to show on the horizon with the possibility of taking away cases from Holmes. It's a beautiful beginning of fall in London and there are exciting and dangerous things swirling above and below the surface of that great city.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for an e-galley of this novel.