The Hollow of Fear (Lady Sherlock, #3)

by Sherry Thomas

The woman was a holy terror: the sweetest face, the pillowiest bosom, and a perspicacity that stripped a man naked in seconds.

There was something oddly familiar about the way he contemplated cake.

“Well,” said Fowler, “I always enjoy a case more once witnesses start quoting Shakespeare, don’t you?”

The problem was not that she didn’t always understand the full spectrum of human emotions. It was that even when she did, she still gave those close to her the opposite of what they wished for.

Perhaps she had always been a monster, but even the lady monsters of the world couldn’t escape the expectations that came of being women.

“You might be surprised at the strength of the fragile. And for some people, it is ordinary life that is most challenging, not so much the extraordinary.”

I find romantic love a difficult concept to grasp—at least with regard to marriage. Men and women change. Sentiments change. Yet we are expected to make lifelong contracts based on fleeting emotions.”

Adversity didn’t improve everyone—or the world would be filled with men and women of flawless character and sublime insight.

It’s far easier for people who want the same things to fall in love than for people who want different things to remain in love.”