A Scandal in Battersea

Elemental Masters, Book 12

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Gemma Dawson

The 12th novel in Mercedes Lackey's magical Elemental Masters series reimagines Sherlock Holmes in a richly detailed alternate 20th-century England

Christmas is a very special time of year. It is special for Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward, Suki, who are determined to celebrate it properly. It is special for their friends, Doctor John Watson, and his wife, Mary, both Elemental Masters, who have found great delight in the season seeing it through young Suki's eyes.

It is also special to others...for very different reasons.

For Christmas Eve is also hallowed to dark forces, powers older than mankind, powers that come awake on this, the Longest Night. Powers best left alone. Powers that could shake the foundations of London and beyond.

It begins slowly. Women disappearing in the dark of night, women only missed by those of their own kind. The whispers only begin when they start to reappear - because when they do, they are no longer sane. And when Nan and Sarah and the Watsons are called on to examine these victims, they discover that it was no ordinary horror of the streets that drove them mad.

But then, the shadows reach for other victims - girls of good, even exalted families, who vanish from concerts, lectures, and evening balls. And it will take the combined forces of magic, psychic powers, and the world's greatest detective to stop the darkness before it can conquer all.

©2017 Mercedes Lackey (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Good Story- better if read in order

The narrator was great. I would have enjoyed the story a little more if I had read the ones that preceded it.

Great story.

great story, but once again the ending seemed not to tie up the loose endsm

fingernail chewing

it kept me on the edge of my seat. I kept talking to the characters but they, of course, would not listen to me

Another triumph for Ms Lackey

Yet again we visit our favorite psychics and a delightful Sherlock and crew. Lovely narration, chillingly good fun just in time for Halloween

Damon Alexa

The story is as great as anything Ms lackey writes; good plot, good development, great characters.
But the main antagonist 's name is too close to "Alexa" and it keeps wanting to answer.
My tablet(7" , 7th gen) kept speaking up all throughout this book

The Best One Yet

the story brought Victorian London right into my living room. it was an amazing Tale. the narration was superb. it was told just like I would have read it. I had tremendous difficulty putting it down.

love them

I love this whole series I am a truck driver and on the road quite often this series keeps me very entertained

Keeping the series fresh!

The joy of this series is that Mercedes Lackey unashamedly lifts plotlines and general characters from other sources, puts her own spin on them, and remakes them into something fresh and new, all the while fitting them seamlessly into the universe she's created that includes both magic (in the form of the Elementals) and psychic gifts.

It's fun to find Sherlock Holmes as a relatively minor character, with John and Mary Watson being more central to things. It continues the story arc of Nan and Sarah and their feathered companions, without at any point feeling like it's getting formulaic.

The reader does a brilliant job. Never any confusion about who's speaking, and she sets the tone and tells the story without ever drawing attention away from the story to her performance.

It should be noted that while almost all the books in this series interweave, with main characters from one book turning up in minor roles in others, many of them can stand alone. While someone could start with this book and enjoy it, I'd recommend listening to it only after A Study in Sable, and better yet, after The Wizard of London, Home from the Sea, and A Study in Sable.

But seriously, start with the beginning of the series and enjoy them all!

Trauma warning - reader beware

Warning: this story is largely told from the perspective of a sadistic rapist and murderer. Absolutely nauseating stretches of the book detail abduction and torture. Have enjoyed previous Elemental Masters books but this was a terrible experience.

Stretching it

I preferred the series without Holmes and more fairy tales this was a very good book that I enjoyed but the series seems to have become something it shouldn't have and I don't enjoy that