The Magnificent Madness of Tessa Wiggins
by Kim Krisco
1920 - Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales: Tessa Wiggins's "madness" is provoked by the adopted spirit of a two-thousand-year-old Druid priestess mentoring her to be the servant of The Earth Mother.
When Tessa defies treatment, her lover asks a childhood friend, Sherlock Holmes, to intervene. But despite everyone's best intentions, Tessa finds herself in Hellingford Asylum, where she is driven toward her final breaking point on All-Halloween.
The latest in Kim Kirsco’s interesting and well researched series of Sherlock Holmes novels featuring Tessa Wiggins.
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Wiggins was a six-year-old street urchin in London when she met Holmes. Growing up in Spitalfields she became one of Holmes’ Baker Street irregulars, getting a penny from the great detective for each bit of help or word on the street she was able to give him when he called on her. Wiggins has gone on to become something of a detective in her own right but that’s not the half of it. She is iInfluenced by the Cetics and the spirit of a priestesses named Ganna appears to her. The effect of which bestows her with ancient wisdom.
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She works as a housekeeper with her partner, a chauffeur/gardener called Clark. Meanwhile, in the Sussex Downs, Holmes is completing his magnus opus on crime and criminals, his definitive work on the human mind and methods of detection, based on Holmes and Watson’s most famous cases. Of course, not everyone wants this information being told and re-examined so publicly. One former client is especially worried.
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Watson turns up at Holmes’ cottage with a letter from Clark concerning Tessa’s ill health and well-being. Holmes cares about Tessa and worries about her mental strain, perhaps caused by guilt? Could her hearing voices be linked to a past killing?
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After Holmes’ manuscript is stolen, a professor intrigues him, and a strange visitor calls on him. Eyes are needed inside Hellingford Asylum - a mission fit for Tessa. But it’s easier to get in to Hellingford than to get out!
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There is a rescue, a cave with treasure, and even a free short story at the back of the book.
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Another enjoyable Holmes novel with likable, familiar characters from previous instalments in the series.
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About the Author
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KIM KRISCO is the author of four mystery-suspense novels: Sherlock Holmes — The Golden Years, Irregular Lives: The Untold Story of Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, and The Celtic Phoenix and now The Magnificent Madness of Tessa Wiggins. His latest protagonist is a formidable Irish woman who becomes the unlikely protégé of Sherlock Holmes.
Meticulously researched, Krisco’s stories read as mini historical novels. His attention to detail, which includes on-location research, adds a welcome richness to the tales. His fascination with ancient Celtic culture brings a mythic dimension as well.
Prior to writing full-time, Kim served as a consultant, trainer, and coach for business and non-profit organizations and their leaders. You can find out more about Kim and his books at: www. MysteryBookAuthor.com.
He and his wife, Sararose Ferguson, live high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in tiny homes that they built themselves on the North Fork of the Purgatory River. Kim reports that “living in isolation on the Purgatory River is not everyone’s heaven, but it’s a writer’s paradise.”
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