Eye of the Crow

By Shane Peacock

Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Reviewed by Noelle

This is the beginning of a new series, The Boy Sherlock Holmes. While some other series have taken flight based on the Baker Street Irregulars or Sherlock's sister Enola, this is the first to actually tackle Holmes himself as a boy. Peacock imagines the boyhood of Holmes being a rather dark and dreary affair, living with his parents who are barely scraping a living. His older brother Mycroft has long been out of the house, and Sherlock is supposed to be attending a private school, but he spends more time hanging around Trafalgar Square than otherwise. This becomes his undoing when he learns of the murder of a beautiful young actress. Fascinated by the crime, Sherlock is there when the accused man is taken to jail, and when the Arab meets his eye, he speaks to Sherlock. Instantly, Sherlock is arrested under suspicion of being an accomplice to the murder. Suddenly thirteen year old Sherlock must use all of his powers of science and deduction to find a way out of prison and clear both his name and Mohammad's before Mohammad's trial. With the help of a new young lady friend, Irene, and from Malefactor, the leader of a local gang, Sherlock manages to break out of jail and to begin his attempt to solve this mystifying crime. But solving the mystery will bring danger to his friends, family and to himself. Will the solution be worth the sacrifice? Peacock has woven a good mystery with a plausible background for Sherlock Holmes--which was a secret Holmes guarded jealously as an adult. Readers will be bourne pellmell to the conclusion, which is both triumphant and disenchanting for the young sleuth. A good start to a new series. The second mystery, Death in the Air, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2008.