The Real Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story in a British periodical in 1887, to moderate interest.  Three novels and fifty-odd short stories later, the great detective’s creator killed him off in order to devote more time to other writing projects.  But by then Holmes had become beloved of high and low alike, and supposedly the public clamored loud enough for Doyle to resurrect him in The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Fascination with Holmes continues, with fan clubs, movies, and children’s book series that either present him as a teenager or include him as a character.  Such as

The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas (Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars, #1), by Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin.  Scholastic, 2006, 260 pages. Age/interest level: 10-14.

In the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, Holmes employed a gang of street urchins to hang out in the alleys and byways and keep their ears open.  He paid them a shilling per day, which was princely earnings.  Their leader went by one name only: Wiggins.  Wiggins himself, an East-end streetwise urchin, is a major character in the Baker Street Irregulars series.  His sidekick is Ozzie, an orphan of uncertain paternity and deductive gifts not unlike the famous Mr. Holmes.  In their first adventure, Holmes is engaged by none other than the Prince of Wales to investigate a triple death at the circus (circus fatalities seem to occur rather often in Holmes literature—see immediately below).  He in turn hires the irregulars to hang out at the circus and see what they pick up.  Their major find is Pilar, daughter of the gypsy fortune-teller, who we gather will become a permanent contact.

The storytelling is a bit uneven—draggy in some spots and confusing in others—but fans will enjoy getting to know the gang.  Almost as engaging are the letter clues scattered throughout the text–and don’t miss the appendices, which give us glimpses at The Science of Deduction, Cockney Rhyming Slang, and horse-drawn vehicles of the era.  At the end of the series, which appears to be four or five books, I presume we’ll learn the identity of Ozzie’s father.

• Worldview/moral value: N/A
• Literary value: 3.5 (out of 5)

Death in the Air (Young Sherlock Holmes, #2), by Shane Peacock.  Tundra Books, 2008, 253 pages.  Age/interest level: 12-16.

London: summer 1867.  Fifteen-year-old Sherlock is emerging from the depths—for in the first volume of the series, he was forced to witness his own mother’s death while solving a grisly murder.  Now basically homeless, he is taken in by Sigerson Bell, an almost-penniless apothecary who dabbles in alchemy.  While visiting his distant, ineffectual father, a custodian at the Crystal Palace, Sherlock witnesses a terrible accident: a trapeze artist, staging an exhibition, plunges to his doom when the trapeze breaks.  But Sherlock intuits it was no accident.  Thus begins his second case, which will take him into seedy dives to confront London’s most notorious gang.  Along the way he will cross paths again with the young “knight of the streets” known only as Malefactor.  In a romantic development, he will also have his heart pierced by the lovely, well-meaning, and evidently very confused Irene Doyle.  And oh yes, he’ll face all-but-certain death.

Death in the Air has some strong characters, especially Bell.  It makes good use of 19^th century London, helpfully including a map on the end papers.  Malefactor and Sherlock himself have potential for development but don’t quite come through yet.  The plot is weakened by unlikely developments and twists and darkened by a Darwinist perspective.  “We’re all thieves, Master ‘olmes, in a manner of speaking,” observes an trapeze performer known as the Swallow.  “We’re all evil: unfair to each other, mean-spirited.  I’m sure you is no angel.  In fact, I know you ain’t.”  All of us can agree with that; Sherlock himself agrees.  But without resolution, the story seems unnecessarily dark.

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Literary value: 3

Black Ice (Sherlock Holmes: the Legend Begins, #3), by Andrew Lane.  Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2011, 278 pages.  Age/interest level: 12-up.

On a quiet afternoon in 1868, young Sherlock Holmes and his tutor Amyus Crowe are enjoying an afternoon’s fishing in the pastoral London suburbs.  Or not exactly: Crowe is fishing and Sherlock is trying to follow his tutor’s discursive style.  For we can’t assume the brilliant Baker Street detective came by his deductive genius on his own: he was taught, and this first chapter gives us a peek into his tutor’s methods.  It’s a bit too long, especially for the opening pages of a genre in which we expect action, but it’s interesting.  On their return to Holmes manor, a letter is waiting from Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s older brother, inviting them to dinner at his London club.  But the boy and his tutor encounter a shocking scene upon their arrival: Mycroft in a private sitting room, a knife in his hand and a dead man with a stab wound in the opposite chair.

It’s a frame-up, of course, and tracking down the guilty party will take Sherlock and his brother on a far-ranging chase to Moscow, into the heart of a top-secret conspiracy ring.  Some of the situations seem contrived and the conspiracy itself sounds like something you’d see spelled out in a “9/11 Truth” video online.  But the action moves swiftly, the settings are intriguing and well-researched and the author layers in some philosophical reflection.  Such as when the young detective protests his tutor’s rigorous methods: “What’s the point [of relentless logical deduction]?  That just turns me into some kind of super-predator, able to track its prey through nearly invisible signs.  Surely it has to mean something?”  Prominently displayed on the cover is the intelligence that this series is the first and only one to be endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate.  The author knows his Sherlock, and Holmes fans will enjoy uncovering clues to the famous detective’s skills and personality quirks.

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Literary value: 3.5

The Future Door (No Place Like Holmes, #2), by Jason Lethcoe.  Thomas Nelson, 2012, 206 pages.  Age/interest level: 8-11.

Holmes is not a character in this series, unless he appears in a later installment, but he is a presence.  The character is young Griffin Sharpe—who, we are informed in the preface, saved the planet at least five times, impersonated US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers in order to save their lives, and thwarted a plan to resurrect Hitler.  We’re not sure why or how, though Griffin doubtless received vital aid from his eccentric Uncle Rupert, an inventor.  It may have helped to read volume one of this series, but the confusion seems to be stirred in with the mix of genres: part time-travel fantasy, part mystery, part breakneck adventure, with both comic and preachy overtones.  Significant characters are introduced, then dropped; ditto Uncle Rupert’s fabulous inventions.  Themes revolve madly, for example:

Why did it seem that everything revolved around [Uncle Rupert] and his pride?  But then, Griffin realized, the temptation to feel important in other people’s eyes often had to do with a deep need to be loved.  He reminded himself to feel more compassion for his uncle, rather than to judge him too harshly.  After, standing in judgment of his uncle was just another way of being prideful himself.

In addition to his other gifts, Griffin is a sensitive and perceptive judge of character, even though he’s only eleven years old.  It’s all a bit much, and could use some focus.

• Worldview/moral value: 4
  Literary value: 2

The Curse of the Pharaoh (Agatha: Girl of Mystery #1), by Steve Stevenson, illustrated by Stefano Turcom.  Grosset & Dunlap, 2013, 133 pages.  Age/interest level: 6-10.

OBJECTIVE: To discover who stole an ancient artifact from an archaeological dig in the Valley of the Kings—where the sun sets and the pharaohs have slept in their tombs for thousands of years.  And beware of Tutankhamen’s curse.

Okay, no Sherlock.  But as long as we’re talking about classic English detectives (and detective writers), ten-year-old Agatha Mistery qualifies.  This is a new chapter-book series built on the classic mystery formula popularized by Hercule Poirot and Nero Wolfe: report the crime, assess the evidence, assemble the suspects, and build to a climactic scene where all the principals are gathered and the brainy detective fingers the culprit.  Agatha is the brainy one, her cousin Dash is tech support and her butler Chandler is the brawn of the outfit.  Not a standout, but the serviceable plot and exotic locales could make a mystery fan of your 3^rd or 4^th-grader.  Map included.  Next up: The Pearl of Bengal.

• Worldview/moral value: N/A
• Literary value: 3

For more mystery and detective stories, check out our reviews of The Brixton Brothers, J.J. Tully, The Case of the Deadly Desperados, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, and The Templeton Twins Have an Idea.