The Digital Renaissance: Review: Christmas on the Nile: A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Review: Christmas on the Nile: A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery

Christmas on the Nile: A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery by Anna Elliott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

The is the finale of the storyline begun in "The Curse of Cleopatra's Needle” and left hanging in "The Coded Blue Envelope.” The fact that it is a continuation of a cliffhanger means this story starts in the hole (not only because I dislike cliffhangers, but because the mid-story start was a tad disorienting). This is now my 12th Lucy James adventure and the two voices on the narration is very enjoyable and pretty much continues to “save” there series. If you are truly looking for a Sherlockian mystery, this series won’t be very satisfying (they seem to be more adventure and international intrigue for most of them). Strangely enough, even though this is a continuation from a previous story, it still takes awhile to get going as it tries to weave two distinct plot lines together … one in England with Flynn, Becky, Jack and Mycroft chasing down plans by the Sons of Ra to throw the government into Chaos (in a rehashed and somewhat unbelievable conspiracy) while Watson, Lucy, Holmes and Zoe prose their new arch nemesis to Egypt to foil a similar plan there. Frankly it seems that the series is a bet long in the tooth now (as it is repeating elements from previous stories now); however, as previously indicated, the narration was good, the characters are fun and the over all story unmemorable if suitable for a quick diversion.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ChristmasOnTheNile #LucyJamesMystery #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.