With "A Study In Sable", Lackey returns us to the Elemental Masters series with a slightly different flavor. This time we step away from the charm of the fairy-tale retellings and into the realm of the Sherlockian, taking up the world's favorite Consulting Detective. 
 Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's her age. Both perhaps, but I have to admit Lackey's light fantasy has really lost much of it's charm for me. I had been enjoying this series, but the formulaic nature of it begins to wear thin. Study is competent, but no more, and has lost the fun of watching a great craftsman twist an old story into a new shape and setting. The almost ethereal flavor of the earliest books has devolved into the realm of basic nuts-and-bolts storytelling. 
 Despite it all, Lackey is still a superb craftsman, and it's a fun, light read. Her blend of fantasy, mystery and period-piece settings still satisfies the sweet tooth of fantasy lovers and hardcore fans worldwide. So dont pass it by unless you really have a lot of other things to do. 
 This reviewer still hopes she'll find a new idea for her lighter works that will spark the kind of work that has kept me picking up her titles for all these years. But untill then, well, they're still a great palate cleanser between courses of meatier fare.