Winifred Merryweather, a parish teacher, awakens in a strange place after being drugged and kidnapped. There she meets Remington Hawthorne, a newspaper reporter, who was also abducted. As they search the place, they locate the four remaining members of the mystery reading club to which Winifred belongs.

The odd person out is Remington Hawthorne, whom the club members agree was included due to an article he wrote about Sherlock Holmes. As a reporter, he has to be thought unbiased. Remington surmises that their abductor is familiar with the reading club and could be an ex-member of their club. Or they’ve been abducted to a home belonging to a mysterious stranger who planned to host a mystery contest.

The group soon realizes that the residence is filled with mechanical changing rooms, trapdoors, and secret passages. As rooms shift, members of the group are separated, a means for their abductor to test each person’s personal skills at solving a particular mystery.

Throughout the puzzling and treacherous challenges that follow, Winifred and Remington are often thrown together. Winifred comes to admire Remington’s charms, while he appreciates her determination and courage. When Remington asks Winifred why she never married, she admits the startling truth: she is the daughter of a notorious villain, one who has ties to Remington’s father. But they must put that disturbing connection aside if they are to survive the dangerous ordeals ahead and learn the true identity of the person holding them all prisoner.

It’s Elementary, My Dear Winifred is a tantalizing mystery, one that admirers of Sherlock Holmes will surely love. Each character faces a different ordeal to overcome, tests that kept me on pins and needles as I tried to solve the mysteries along with them.  Being a lover of mysteries and romances, I enjoyed the personal challenges confronting Winifred and Remington, due to the ties of their pasts, along with their growing love for each other.

Miss Mae has written an intelligent, suspenseful plot, its various threads expertly intertwined, with a thoroughly satisfying ending.  It’s Elementary, My Dear Winifred  is definitely a sure-fire keeper, and one you won’t want to miss.