“I stared down an overconfident Sherlock Holmes, begging him to so much as twitch.”

From Heather W. Petty’s Lock & Mori: Mind Games.

In the several weeks since her police officer father was arrested for a string of murders in the nearby Regent’s Park, James “Mori” Moriarty has focused all her attention on protecting her younger brothers from the media, the police, and her father’s supporters.  Constantly coming to her aid is Sherlock “Lock” Holmes, Mori’s sort-of-boyfriend and classmate, though Mori constantly struggles with her feelings for the young detective. When Alice, the friend and former-burglary assistant of Mori’s late mother, arrives to act as legal guardian for her brothers, Mori is relieved to have another person to keep her father away from the boys.  When a severed hand shows up in their trash cans, Mori discards the event as a terrible coincidence, but when she begins receiving threats from an unknown witness, Mori realizes the extent of the danger.  While trying to stay ahead of the police force that is trying to prove her father’s innocence, Mori and Lock race to unravel the mystery behind the threats before she is arrested for her father’s heinous crimes.  However, the closer they get to solving the mystery, the more conflicted Mori becomes about trusting Lock and sacrificing whatever is necessary to keep her brothers safe from her father.

The second book in this modern Sherlock Holmes young adult trilogy is an interesting mystery from start to finish. Petty creates a story that works well for the iconic characters and will keep readers captivated from start to finish. Mind Games moves quickly and will leave readers desperate to jump into the next book.