Finished The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss
Third of a trilogy. Goss maintains a light and light-hearted approach to her premise, the daughters (actual or created) of famous fictional 19th century men band together forming the Athena Club: Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Justine Frankenstein, Catherine Moreau, Beatrice Rappaccini, and their newest members, Lucinda Van Helsing and Alice, also known as Lydia Raymond. (While the others may be easy to guess, that last derives from "The Great God Pan.") Not that there isn't any darkness, but the main viewpoint character is Mary Jekyll and while she has her self-doubts she is not easily cowed or long intimidated.
The long distance traveling of volume two, which rather attenuated the narrative, doesn't apply here. We're back to a brisk, event-filled narrative that touches on the inner life of each young woman in the context of trying to find and rescue the kidnapped Alice and the Club's friend, Sherlock Holmes. Along the way other famous and not-so-famous characters interact with the Club members, including Ayesha, Margaret Trelawny, Queen Tera, Moriarty, Dr. Seward, Lord Godalming, and others, not least of whom are several of the Baker Street Irregulars and a certain physician friend of theirs and Holmes.
I'm not going to tout this as a classic fantasy trilogy, but the search of her main characters for their place in a world that may view them as monsters, their developing friendship and resourcefulness, and Goss' wit and invention make these very readable and entertaining girls' own adventure novels. And for anyone wishing for a bit more substance, the submerged commentary on the social position of women in the 19th century reflects on their position currently, and makes for a satirical and sometime humorous undercurrent.
Randy M.