Death in the Air

By Shane Peacock

Rating: 4 1/4 stars

This is book two in the Boy Sherlock Holmes series, or his 2nd case, as they refer to it. Still reeling from his mother's death, Sherlock has taken up a post as apprentice to an alchemist, Sigerson Bell. One day at the Crystal Palace, Sherlock is eyewitness to the fall of a famed trapeze artist, Mercure, and he notices the trapeze bar has been tampered with. This leads him onto the path of uncovering the suspects to attempted murder...when a second crime, a theft of thousands from the Crystal Palace, is found to have occurred around the same time. Are the two crimes connected? Is the famed ruthless Brixton Gang involved? Sherlock is soon up to his ears in the investigation and as we know, Sherlock always solves the crime. This series continues to develop Sherlock Holmes from the boy who is just beginning to learn the various subjects he will need to know to become the world's greatest detective. It is fascinating to think of Sherlock as a boy who can be frightened and manipulated and helpless, but this author does an admirable job showing us that undeveloped boy and the forces that shaped him for the future. Fascinating reading.