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  • The Three Locks

  • A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 4
  • By: Bonnie MacBird
  • Narrated by: Simon Darwen
  • Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (48 ratings)
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The Three Locks cover art

The Three Locks

By: Bonnie MacBird
Narrated by: Simon Darwen
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Summary

A heatwave melts London as Holmes and Watson are called to action in this new Sherlock Holmes adventure by Bonnie MacBird. 

In the West End, a renowned Italian escape artist dies spectacularly on stage during a performance - immolated in a gleaming copper cauldron of his wife’s design. 

In Cambridge, the runaway daughter of a famous don is found drowned, her long blonde hair tangled in the Jesus Lock on the River Cam. And in Baker Street, a mysterious locksmith exacts an unusual price to open a small silver box sent to Watson.   

From the glow of London’s theatre district to the buzzing Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge where physicists explore the edges of the new science of electricity, Holmes and Watson race between the two cities to solve the murders, encountering prevaricating prestidigitators, philandering physicists and murderous mentalists, all the while unlocking secrets which may be best left undisclosed. And one, in particular, is very close to home.  

©2021 Bonnie MacBird (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

“Bonnie MacBird’s The Three Locks satisfies a hunger for more adventures of Holmes and Watson on so many levels. Not only does she perfectly capture their voices, she captures that most critical element - their humanity. Brava!” (Leslie S. Klinger, editor, New Annotated Sherlock Holmes)

"The parade of Sherlockian pastiches testifies to the potent and lasting genius of Conan Doyle’s creation. Yet few such homages offer the twenty-first-century reader Victorian atmosphere and drama like Bonnie MacBird’s. The rivalry and frustrations that color the partnership of Holmes and Watson, their James Bond-style adventures and escapes, the great man’s ego and eccentricities, Watson’s catty wit - all are here, in the vivid atmosphere of an unusually hot London summer. MacBird’s sly plot and admirable sense of pacing keeps the story twisting and turning in a way that would have kept Doyle himself turning the pages." (Michael Sims, author of Edgar finalist Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes)

"Though stage magic features in The Three Locks, the real magician is author Bonnie MacBird, who once again brings humour, action, rigorous period detail and the characters we love to her latest Holmes adventure." (Dennis Palumbo, author of the Daniel Rinaldi series, Writing from the Inside Out)

What listeners say about The Three Locks

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good

I liked the story and would have given it five stars but the use of American words supposedly written by Watson annoyed me. Blocks describing distance in a city like London or Cambridge. Sidewalk instead of pavement. Americans are not stupid and they do not need words translated to US English. Watson would not have used “block” or “sidewalk”. Overall it is a good book.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not Sherlock Holmes!

I love the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and so I was excited to listen to this book, but I was disappointed! The Holmes in this book is more like an ordinary man than the clever, skilled and remarkable man, making the gulf between Holmes and Watson much smaller which seemed odd. The story is okay, but it struggled to keep my attention. It is worth mentioning that the locked box that you hear about in the sample hardly comes into the story, except for a bit in the middle and at the end. If you want to hear a superb new Holmes story you must read The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz - there you’ll find the true Sherlock Holmes!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great Holmes story

Another excellent story from Bonnie MacBird, who captures the spirit and essence of Holmes and Watson excellently and builds on it, which isn’t easy to do.
It intertwines two seemingly separate stories (though a little incredulously) and there’s plenty more to enjoy around them with the usual red herrings and side stories, the locked box being one of them, which barely features yet has real importance come the end.
It did get bogged down a little in the final third but I’ve really enjoyed the expanding characterisation of our protagonists in her books, and like the way she, unlike others, gives Watson plenty of air time.
Excellent narration again by Simon Darwen. A really good listen!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A puzzle too many

A three puzzle problem, which left me feeling underwhelmed. The interwoven stories are plotted well, although I could see the resolution of Dilly Wyndham story, coming a lock gate away. That adventure is also topped off with an old fashioned homophobic conclusion that I have not come across in many years. I could it coming and had no way of getting out of its offensive landing. The other main mystory, depicting intrigue in the world of stage magic felt hollow and unfinished. And finely a mystory that served to fill out some back story for John Watson felt overcomplicated. The voice work from Simon Darwen proved to be the saving grace as his performance moved the book along at a pace.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great addition to the Holmes culture

Great story, great series (honestly I prefer the others) but on the whole great.

the voice work fine. But Holmes himself could use a little more distinction to make it perfect.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Where is Sherlock Holmes?

Love this series of books by BM. I even enjoyed Simon Darwen’s narration - that is, until he tackles Holmes himself. This voice he gives to Holmes conjures nothing I have enjoyed about the character for so many decades. I’ve had to give up near the halfway mark, and will now order it in book form. At least that way I can get rid of the sixth form student’s squeaky, inappropriate voice, and conjure something more familiar and in-keeping with ACD’s creation - maybe Rathbone or Brett... Excellent book otherwise, though...

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Weak story and narration

I struggled to finish this. The story development is incredibly slow, devoid of any tension or interesting detective work. The narration is also lacking in quality, and the accents are all over the place, not at all as one would expect.

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