Charlotte Sapori has led a wonderful life safely tucked in the bosom of her family.

Her mother, Irene Adler, is a renowned opera singer, while her father, Lucca Sapori, does important government work that frequently takes him away from them. Charlotte is close to her older brother, Nicco, and they are both doted on by their parents. All is well until her mother receives an unexpected diagnosis which shakes the family’s core.

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Knowing herself to be dying, Adler confesses to Charlotte things that have long been kept from her, telling her to find and read her diary. A distressed Lucca Sapori tells his daughter to read his as well. And by the way, Lucca Sapori is not his real name; in fact, she may have heard of him; he is actually the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

Charlotte finds both diaries and plunges into the hidden world of Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes as she discovers what brought them together and how they managed to stay together for thirty years, having to battle the odds.

My Review

When Charlotte Sapori’s mother, the renowned opera singer Irene Adler, is diagnosed with a serious illness, she decides the time is right to give both her diary and that of her husband Lucca Sapori, to their daughter Charlotte. Knowing that she hasn’t got long to live, Irene tells Charlotte to read them both after she passes away.

It’s then that we are plunged into the mysterious worlds of both Irene and Sherlock Holmes (who is of course Lucca Sapori) and the book is divided into chapters from both points of view. But first we must go back even further to when the couple first ‘met’ briefly. The prologue – A Very Bohemian Scandal – is the first introduction to both of them, but Holmes was in disguise. Years later Irene confesses that she knew who he was at the time, something which fascinates him – she must be a remarkable woman to have rumbled one of his famous disguises.

Seven years later Irene is being pursued by the man who murdered her husband in London. She saw him clearly, so she has escaped to Milan, where she had previously performed at La Scala for many years. But she is not safe. It is here that she meets Holmes again, who swears to protect her, so they pretend to be husband and wife and hide out with Sherlock’s friends on their farm. They initially detest each other and argue constantly, but in the words of Queen Gertrude from Shakespeare’s Hamlet ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks’, and their hatred soon turns into admiration and finally, love.

I have to say at this point that I still can’t quite visualise Holmes (in any guise from Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch) as a lover, a husband and a father. He is often portrayed as being direct to the point of rudeness, unable to sustain relationships with women, and uncomfortable in social situations, to the point of exhibiting many of the signs of Asperger’s. This includes his high IQ but EQ (Emotional Quotient) of almost zero.

The author, incidentally, is a talented pianist, having learnt the piano from age six, playing the music of some of her favourite composers, Beethoven, Schubert, Stephen Foster, and Richard Wagner, who all strongly feature in her novels. I have a feeling that Sherrinford is a ‘nom de plume’, supposedly being the name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had originally considered for his great detective before finally settling on Sherlock. It is also suggested that Sherrinford Holmes would be a third brother, but I digress.

Song For Someone is an entertaining romp through the imagined world of our favourite detective, seen through the eyes of Irene Adler, as well as through Sherlock himself. I can see that the author has done a huge amount of research to stay faithful to the spirit of the characters, while allowing Sherlock to fall in love and become more human and empathic (well up to a point anyway). I hope we see this on TV very soon – it would make a great series.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

KD Sherrinford was born and raised in Preston, Lancashire, and now resides on The Fylde Coast with her husband John. She was employed by Countywide for over 20 years and became a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents. Retirement finally gave KD the opportunity to follow her dreams and start work on her first novel. Song for Someone. KD recently completed her second book in the Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler mystery series Christmas at The Saporis. The third Meet Me In Milan will be published this summer.

KD’s Links
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kdsherrinford/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/KDSherrinfordAuthor.co.uk
Twitter : https://twitter.com/KDSherrinford
Website : https://www.kdsherrinford.co.uk

Song for Someone
Book Links
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63901509-song-for-someone
Buy Links – https://mybook.to/songforsomeone-zbt